Honor and Betrayal : The Untold Story of the Navy Seals Who Captured the "Butcher of Fallujah"-and the Shameful Ordeal They Later Endured (9780306823091) (33 page)

This adds up to a spectacularly influential news distribution operation constantly promoting the editorial opinion that the US military really ought to think again on this one. And that was especially true of the
Navy Times
, not only because of its circulation of fifty-five thousand but also because of precisely who that number may include.

Particularly as the largest newspaper publisher in the United States, Gannett Company Inc. of Tysons Corner, Virginia, owns the
Navy Times
. They also own
USA Today, USA Weekend
, the
Arizona Republic
, the
Indianapolis Star
, the
Cincinnati Enquirer
, the
Tennessean
, the
Courier-Journal
(Louisville, Kentucky), the
Democrat and Chronicle
(Rochester,
New York), and the
Detroit Free Press
, not to mention twenty-three television stations—NBC's largest group owner of affiliates.

And on Christmas Eve another deep, dark conservative voice came crashing into the fray. Jed Babbin, editor of the revered conservative weekly
Human Events
, which was for years President Reagan's favorite reading, let fly with both barrels when he unleashed a blistering editorial and began a Save-the-SEALs petition that pulled in ninety thousand supporters in the first week.

Babbin, once President George H. W. Bush's deputy undersecretary of defense, forwarded his petition directly to the Pentagon, to Secretary Gates on behalf of
Human Events
.

Excerpts included:

We at Human Events hereby request your personal intervention to dismiss the charges against the SEALs ... they captured and detained Ahmad Hashim Abd Al-Isawi, one of the most barbaric and dangerous terrorists in Iraq. ... You are next in line, above General Petraeus in the chain of command ... you can, legally, intervene ... and direct they be returned to duty. We respectfully request that you do so forthwith. To stake the honor and fighting future of these three men ... is manifestly a gross injustice.

Right before Christmas and with almost gleeful abandon, another widely respected conservative publication, the
American Spectator
, joined the fight. This important right-wing monthly, which has published authors such as Tom Wolfe, P. J. O'Rourke, George Will, Patrick J. Buchanan, and the late Malcolm Muggeridge, launched forth with an editorial by the magazine's eminently respected founder and editor, R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr., under this headline:

THE CURRENT CRISIS

WAR IS HELL—NOT LITIGATION

Among the carefully worded prose of a very fine writer were the following statements:

Are these trials really necessary—it is, I think, pretty well established that terrorists do not always tell the truth. General Cleveland had it in his power to tell lower level commanders simply to avoid bloody lips in future—but he set in motion a destructive process. Secretary Gates can end this abuse of power by simply doing what Cleveland failed to do.

Let us get these courts-martial canceled. The guy who should be appearing in the dock is Ahmad Hashim Abd Al-Isawi, whose lip has doubtless healed.

The
American Spectator
, when roused, has earned the reputation of a doughty fighter. Its controversial article in 1994 concerning Clinton-accuser Paula Jones was the basis for a sexual harassment lawsuit that started the chain of events resulting in President Clinton's impeachment. Why in the world the military was happy to cross swords with so many irate and distinguished wordsmiths will, perhaps, remain forever a mystery.

Meanwhile the furor in the US media continued. The fourth-largest circulation newspaper in the United States, the
New York Daily News
(a half-million a day), thundered into print with a damning editorial headlined,

SAVE THESE SEALS: NAVY COMMANDOES RATE HONORS,

NOT COURTS-MARTIAL FOR TERROR ARRESTS

And this newspaper—America's first tabloid—is enormously respected in New York, where its old art deco skyscraper headquarters, the Daily News Building, still towers nearly five hundred feet above East 42nd Street. Beneath the black glass domed ceiling of the lobby stands the world's largest indoor globe.

Its opening tirade, concerning Matt, Jon and Sam, shook the place to its granite foundations. Anyone who did not know about the three SEALs before the end of the year, 2009, most certainly did now. The
Daily News
editorial dripped with outrage and scorn toward the military.

They opened with a demand:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates must intervene to prevent an injustice that turns the world on its head.

It continued in fighting mode:

How can those who opened an official investigation of this trifling matter sleep at night? ... It is bad enough that these men have been subjected to the indignity of formal criminal charges. Even an acquittal at trial would be a travesty. Why must they answer the charges of a terrorist?

It is perhaps worth noting that the
Daily News
did not get into the issue of “guilty or not guilty.” They wrote the editorial assuming the worst-case scenario:

EVEN IF THEY WERE GUILTY: SO WHAT?

And that was the message they trumpeted to their estimated 2.5 million readers all over the city. On that cold winter weekend, in every one of New York's five boroughs, the issue of these three Navy SEALs eclipsed all others. In fact, the courts-martial seemed for a while to be a New York story, even though it was rooted more decisively in Washington, DC.

But the
New York Daily News
carried a big stick, and it was fresh out of carrots. The voice of the city had spoken—well, bellowed—from the top of that 42nd Street skyscraper. The editors wanted action, a thorough military rethink. The US Navy SEALs belonged to the nation, not to a few yellow-braided officers. They were America's platoons, every father's supermen. And big people better start listening, or else the
Daily News
, winner of ten Pulitzer Prizes, would most certainly want to know why. Loudly. And they were by no means alone.

The fact was that the courts-martial of Matt, Jon, and Sam had become a silver-plated, coast-to-coast national scandal. In a sense it united the entire country. Because only the most flagrant, human-rights
liberal could possibly have sided with the powers that sought to humiliate the men from Camp Schwedler. The nation wanted the charges dropped.

And the media onslaught was relentless. And it was not just the printed word that was being aimed with such venom at the Pentagon. The story broke on FoxNews, and that organization had already allowed one of its biggest hitters, radio/television host Sean Hannity, the best-selling author and conservative political commentator, to conduct a major live interview with Neal Puckett.

During the exchange the interviewer, trying to clarify his thoughts, asked, “The al-Qaeda training manual says that members must complain of torture and mistreatment inflicted on them. It's part of their training, correct?”

Puckett replied, “It's to be expected in every situation in which they're captured.”

       
HANNITY:
HOW do we even get ourselves in this situation?

       
PUCKETT:
By listening to the Iraqi complain, taking his complaints seriously, investigating our own people, America's fighting men, and taking a terrorist's word over theirs
.

       
H: SO
we handed over this terrorist, this murderer to the Iraqis, and then he's given back to the Americans—then all he has to do is accuse the Navy SEALs, and they get put on trial for doing the job they're supposed to do?

       
P:
Look, seems like this guy had blood on him. Someone just had to say, if any of you guys are responsible, knock it off. I don't want to see this happen again. That assumes they think the SEALs did it, which they actually didn't
.

       
H:
Taking the word of a murdering terrorist over our Navy SEALs. It just doesn't make any sense to me.

Generally speaking it was a tough call for the broadcast media because they, by the nature of their business, need live principals on the screen at all times. But there was zero chance of bringing in the three future defendants. Fox and their rivals would have to press on with
lawyers and experts, with camera crews and reporters “door stepping” both the Navy base and the Virginia SEAL HQ.

Christmas in 2009 was a worrying time for the families. But Jon did his best to make light of the potential disaster that he faced. The biggest problem was he had no answers for his parents, brother, and girlfriend. No one had yet shown him the other SEALs' statements. The lawyers were still poring over the discovery documents, but no one had yet shown him anything significant.

Matt, who faced a far more serious situation, made his way home to Ohio, but he did not feel much like skiing. Congressman Burton was concerned about the lack of cooperation that General Cleveland was showing toward Congress. This weighed upon him throughout the vacation as he agonized about the content of the letter he must write back to the SOCCENT commanding officer at MacDill Air Force Base.

But he was determined “to convey the American people's perception that the General was unfairly prosecuting three heroes, based, at least in part, upon the word of an inhumane monster.”

His letter, dated January 4, 2010, ultimately read,

Dear General Cleveland,

I received your letter of December 15th 2009, regarding the pending courts-martial of Petty Officers [McCabe, Keefe, and Gonzales]; and I appreciate your office's attempting to set the record straight, and clarify what you describe as the “incomplete and factually inaccurate” press coverage of the situation. Having reviewed all of the material you provided, I still have to strongly disagree with the decision of your officers to pursue punishment of these Navy SEALs.

               
Ahmad Hashim Abd Al-Isawi was one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq; responsible for the murders of innocent American civilians and numerous attacks on American and coalition forces. The injuries to Mr. Al-Isawi were, as you readily admit, relatively minor, and certainly pale in comparison to the brutality of the crimes he helped perpetrate.

               
While Petty Officers [McCabe, Keefe, and Gonzales] may have been wrong to not fully cooperate with investigators, it seems to me that the punishment still far exceeds the crime. In my opinion, prosecutorial discretion should have been exercised.

               
Beyond the fates of the three individual sailors, I have some general concerns about this case that are only reinforced by your letter. First, the fact that fellow US service personnel initially raised the accusations ... strongly suggests that we have created a culture within our Armed Forces where our military personnel are now more concerned about protecting themselves from legal jeopardy for every action or statement, than they are about fighting the enemy.

               
Our troops and these SEALs need to be bold and decisive in combat; not hesitant and over-thinking every action for fear of prosecution. We are in a war that we must win against a determined and patient enemy, who already believes we do not have the will to do what is necessary to defeat them.

               
Second, because of the intensive media coverage of this case—even if it is incomplete and factually inaccurate as you describe—this is the public perception of the case: the American people are outraged by the courts-martial of individuals who should be hailed as heroes.

               
In fact over 30,000 Americans have signed my online petition calling for an end to this prosecution.

               
Perhaps even more alarming than the decline in morale this case has caused the country, is the boost in morale and confidence that this case gives to al-Qaeda terrorists, who, as I said, already believe America does not have the will or stomach to do what is necessary to defeat them.

               
General Cleveland, you are a distinguished soldier and former Special Forces operator yourself. I have the utmost respect for you personally. But in this case the American people's perception is that you are unfairly prosecuting three heroes, based, at least in part, upon the word of an inhumane monster. Al-Qaeda's own handbook instructs their operatives to allege abuse if detained by American forces.

               
In fact al-Qaeda operatives are trained to self-inflict injuries for the sole purpose of accusing U.S. forces of abuse. We've seen repeated cases
of this since the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan began. In my opinion, carrying forward these courts-martial will do our Nation and our Armed Forces more harm than good.

               
I respectfully and strongly urge you to exercise your leadership authority, stop the impending trials, and drop the charges against these American heroes.

               
I await your prompt response.