Navy SEALs have secretly captured one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq — the alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah in 2004. And three of the SEALs who captured him are now facing criminal charges, sources told FoxNews.com.
The three, all members of the Navy's elite commando unit, have refused non-judicial punishment — called an admiral's mast — and have requested a trial by court-martial.
Ahmed Hashim Abed, whom the military code-named "Objective Amber," told investigators he was punched by his captors — and he had the bloody lip to prove it.
Now, instead of being lauded for bringing to justice a high-value target, three of the SEAL commandos, all enlisted, face assault charges and have retained lawyers.
Matthew McCabe, a Special Operations Petty Officer Second Class (SO-2), is facing three charges: dereliction of performance of duty for willfully failing to safeguard a detainee, making a false official statement, and assault.
Petty Officer Jonathan Keefe, SO-2, is facing charges of dereliction of performance of duty and making a false official statement.
Petty Officer Julio Huertas, SO-1, faces those same charges and an additional charge of impediment of an investigation.
The three SEALs will be arraigned separately on Dec. 7. Another three SEALs — two officers and an enlisted sailor — have been identified by investigators as witnesses but have not been charged.
FoxNews.com obtained the official handwritten statement from one of the three witnesses given on Sept. 3, hours after Abed was captured and still being held at the SEAL base at Camp Baharia. He was later taken to a cell in the U.S.-operated Green Zone in Baghdad.
The SEAL told investigators he had showered after the mission, gone to the kitchen and then decided to look in on the detainee.
"I gave the detainee a glance over and then left," the SEAL wrote. "I did not notice anything wrong with the detainee and he appeared in good health."
Lt. Col. Holly Silkman, spokeswoman for the special operations component of U.S. Central Command, confirmed Tuesday to FoxNews.com that three SEALs have been charged in connection with the capture of a detainee. She said their court martial is scheduled for January.
United States Central Command declined to discuss the detainee, but a legal source told FoxNews.com that the detainee was turned over to Iraqi authorities, to whom he made the abuse complaints. He was then returned to American custody. The SEAL leader reported the charge up the chain of command, and an investigation ensued.
The source said intelligence briefings provided to the SEALs stated that "Objective Amber" planned the 2004 Fallujah ambush, and "they had been tracking this guy for some time."
The Fallujah atrocity came to symbolize the brutality of the enemy in Iraq and the degree to which a homegrown insurgency was extending its grip over Iraq.
The four Blackwater agents were transporting supplies for a catering company when they were ambushed and killed by gunfire and grenades. Insurgents burned the bodies and dragged them through the city. They hanged two of the bodies on a bridge over the Euphrates River for the world press to photograph.
Intelligence sources identified Abed as the ringleader, but he had evaded capture until September.
The military is sensitive to charges of detainee abuse highlighted in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. The Navy charged four SEALs with abuse in 2004 in connection with detainee treatment.
Foxnews.com
2009-11-02
10th SFG(A) pictures from German magazine
10th SFG(A) pictures from German magazine.
Special Forces training in Germany.
Nice recent pictures.
Download 10th SFG(A) pics
Special Forces training in Germany.
Nice recent pictures.
Download 10th SFG(A) pics
US Navy SEALs in Afghanistan Video
US Navy SEALs in Afghanistan Video.
3:34
Cool video, just click and download!
Download SEALs In A-Stan Up Close
3:34
Cool video, just click and download!
Download SEALs In A-Stan Up Close
2009-08-07
Three Coastguardsmen Left in SEAL Quest
Three Coastguardsmen Left in SEAL Quest
First there were 19 who were whittled down to 12. Then only five were left standing.
Now, after one of the world's most crushing selection programs, only two remain - well, three, if you count the one who was rolled back into the initial phase of the school.
For the first time in its storied history, the Coast Guard is on track to have two of its own earn the coveted trident badge of a Navy SEAL. The two officers have reached the third phase of initial SEAL selection after joining Basic Underwater Demolition School class 276 in March, enduring the grueling mental and physical travails that weed out all but the hardiest warriors.
"I'm very proud of these guys," said Master Chief Petty Officer Darrick DeWitt, the senior enlisted advisor for the Coast Guard's Deployable Operations Group, which ran the selection process for the service.
"We wanted to make sure we sent people with good character and good values. I think we did that," he added in a telephone interview with Military.com. "These guys not only represented the Coast Guard well, but represented their country well."
After a two-year effort to leverage the expertise of Naval Special Warfare and the Coast Guard's new role in homeland security and maritime special operations, the service selected its first group of Coastguardsmen to become commandos late last summer.
Coast Guard officials say they hope the SEAL-trained Coasties will seed the rest of the force with valuable skills learned in special operations training and operations and bring back to their sea service a bit of the esprit de corps found in the commando ranks.
For Naval Special Warfare, the pressure to grow its force makes an injection of well-vetted candidates to their ranks a boon, cutting out the hassle of dealing with recruits who don't have what it takes to become a SEAL.
"We're just glad to get good candidates," said Lt. Commander Shane Reilly, the executive officer at the Naval Special Warfare Basic Training Command in Coronado, Calif. "With the war going on, we're under a lot of pressure to increase [special operations forces] and we walk a fine line … without bending standards."
After reviewing 19 applications back in August 2008, evaluators tapped 12 Coastguardsmen to run through a week-long selection process in Panama City, Fla., that included physical tests, mental evaluations and exercises that gave the wannabe frogmen a taste of what the legendary Basic Underwater Demolition School, or BUDS, is all about.
The Coast Guard declined to provide any further details on the SEAL candidates' identities for security reasons.
In the end, five made the cut, including four officers - a civil engineer, two cutter officers and one assigned to the district staff - and an enlisted man who serves as a boarding officer at a station in California.
The enlisted Coastie washed out during the early part of the Navy's selection process when he came up just short on a physical qualification.
"It surprised me," DeWitt said of the Coastie, and Reilly added that the man missed the standard by a "very small margin."
"But, you know, they have tough standards," DeWitt said. "We'll see if he wants to come back for a second round."
That left four officers who made it into what many believe is the most physically and mentally difficult assessment program in the world. Early morning beach runs, cold water sit ups, sand in every crevice for days, no food, no sleep … you get the picture. And all the while SEAL instructors are goading you to quit.
And one did.
During the toughest phase of BUDS, one of the four remaining Coasties rang the infamous bell that signaled his voluntary exit from the program, leaving three to complete the course.
Later, another of the officers was injured during the assessment - a frequent cause of SEAL candidate drop outs - and was rolled back into a new class to start from the beginning of BUDS.
Though having only three Coasties left in a program that originally sported nearly 20 qualified applicants represents an 85 percent attrition rate, neither Reilly nor DeWitt are concerned.
"Our goal is not to just help out the Coast Guard, it's to help out the nation," DeWitt said. "If we can end up with three or two or one, and we can contribute in that way, then that's our goal."
According to Coast Guard officials, only five Coastguardsmen have forwarded paperwork to try out for this year's class of wannabe SEALs. But the officials also point out that last year's applications came in late on the August deadline.
DeWitt also said the service has relaxed a few of the application requirements, including dropping the mandate that prospective SEALs be qualified weapons experts since BUDS creates expert marksmen through its own training.
By all accounts, the Navy and Coast Guard see this program as a worthwhile one that will continue for several more years.
"It's a long road for them," Reilly said. "But when they do go out and join those teams, I'm sure they'll fit in just fine."
http://www.military.com/news/article/three-coastguardsmen-left-in-seal-quest.html
First there were 19 who were whittled down to 12. Then only five were left standing.
Now, after one of the world's most crushing selection programs, only two remain - well, three, if you count the one who was rolled back into the initial phase of the school.
For the first time in its storied history, the Coast Guard is on track to have two of its own earn the coveted trident badge of a Navy SEAL. The two officers have reached the third phase of initial SEAL selection after joining Basic Underwater Demolition School class 276 in March, enduring the grueling mental and physical travails that weed out all but the hardiest warriors.
"I'm very proud of these guys," said Master Chief Petty Officer Darrick DeWitt, the senior enlisted advisor for the Coast Guard's Deployable Operations Group, which ran the selection process for the service.
"We wanted to make sure we sent people with good character and good values. I think we did that," he added in a telephone interview with Military.com. "These guys not only represented the Coast Guard well, but represented their country well."
After a two-year effort to leverage the expertise of Naval Special Warfare and the Coast Guard's new role in homeland security and maritime special operations, the service selected its first group of Coastguardsmen to become commandos late last summer.
Coast Guard officials say they hope the SEAL-trained Coasties will seed the rest of the force with valuable skills learned in special operations training and operations and bring back to their sea service a bit of the esprit de corps found in the commando ranks.
For Naval Special Warfare, the pressure to grow its force makes an injection of well-vetted candidates to their ranks a boon, cutting out the hassle of dealing with recruits who don't have what it takes to become a SEAL.
"We're just glad to get good candidates," said Lt. Commander Shane Reilly, the executive officer at the Naval Special Warfare Basic Training Command in Coronado, Calif. "With the war going on, we're under a lot of pressure to increase [special operations forces] and we walk a fine line … without bending standards."
After reviewing 19 applications back in August 2008, evaluators tapped 12 Coastguardsmen to run through a week-long selection process in Panama City, Fla., that included physical tests, mental evaluations and exercises that gave the wannabe frogmen a taste of what the legendary Basic Underwater Demolition School, or BUDS, is all about.
The Coast Guard declined to provide any further details on the SEAL candidates' identities for security reasons.
In the end, five made the cut, including four officers - a civil engineer, two cutter officers and one assigned to the district staff - and an enlisted man who serves as a boarding officer at a station in California.
The enlisted Coastie washed out during the early part of the Navy's selection process when he came up just short on a physical qualification.
"It surprised me," DeWitt said of the Coastie, and Reilly added that the man missed the standard by a "very small margin."
"But, you know, they have tough standards," DeWitt said. "We'll see if he wants to come back for a second round."
That left four officers who made it into what many believe is the most physically and mentally difficult assessment program in the world. Early morning beach runs, cold water sit ups, sand in every crevice for days, no food, no sleep … you get the picture. And all the while SEAL instructors are goading you to quit.
And one did.
During the toughest phase of BUDS, one of the four remaining Coasties rang the infamous bell that signaled his voluntary exit from the program, leaving three to complete the course.
Later, another of the officers was injured during the assessment - a frequent cause of SEAL candidate drop outs - and was rolled back into a new class to start from the beginning of BUDS.
Though having only three Coasties left in a program that originally sported nearly 20 qualified applicants represents an 85 percent attrition rate, neither Reilly nor DeWitt are concerned.
"Our goal is not to just help out the Coast Guard, it's to help out the nation," DeWitt said. "If we can end up with three or two or one, and we can contribute in that way, then that's our goal."
According to Coast Guard officials, only five Coastguardsmen have forwarded paperwork to try out for this year's class of wannabe SEALs. But the officials also point out that last year's applications came in late on the August deadline.
DeWitt also said the service has relaxed a few of the application requirements, including dropping the mandate that prospective SEALs be qualified weapons experts since BUDS creates expert marksmen through its own training.
By all accounts, the Navy and Coast Guard see this program as a worthwhile one that will continue for several more years.
"It's a long road for them," Reilly said. "But when they do go out and join those teams, I'm sure they'll fit in just fine."
http://www.military.com/news/article/three-coastguardsmen-left-in-seal-quest.html
2009-06-09
US Special Forces Sent to Train Pakistanis
WASHINGTON --
The U.S. is sending Special Forces teams into one of Pakistan's most violent regions as part of a push to accelerate the training of the Pakistani military and make it a more effective ally in the fight against insurgents there.
Senior U.S. officials said 25 to 50 Special Forces personnel are deploying to two new training camps in Baluchistan, a Taliban stronghold on the porous Afghan-Pakistani border. The deployment brings U.S. personnel deeper than before into tribal regions of Pakistan, which the Obama administration views as among the world's most-dangerous flashpoints.
The Special Forces personnel will focus on training Pakistan's Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force responsible for battling the Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, who cross freely between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the officials said. The U.S. trainers aren't meant to fight alongside the Pakistanis or accompany them into battle, in part because there will be so few Special Forces personnel in the two training camps.
A senior American military officer said he hoped Islamabad would gradually allow the U.S. to expand its training footprint inside Pakistan's borders. A former U.S. official familiar with the plans said the deployments would "get more American eyes and ears" into the strategically important region.
The project, which draws on proposals first discussed under the Bush administration, is a joint effort with the U.K., senior U.S. officials said. The U.K. plans to help fund the training, although it is unclear if British military personnel would take part in the initiative. British officials have been pushing for such an effort for several years. It builds on small-scale, U.S. training efforts already under way in the northern part of Pakistan.
The Pakistani and British embassies in Washington declined to comment. The U.S. military's Central Command, which oversees operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, also declined to comment.
The Pentagon has asked Congress to allocate $400 million this year for a new "Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund" that is designed to allow U.S. military commanders to quickly direct money to specific Pakistani training and equipping needs. The money, the first installment of a five-year program, would be funneled through Central Command rather than the State Department.
Senior U.S. commanders argue that the arrangement would allow them to ensure Pakistan uses the money to train its forces in counterinsurgency, rather than in conventional warfare.
Pakistan has regularly rebuffed Pentagon offers to provide military trainers, saying U.S. trainers would be irresistible targets for the country's militants. Many Pakistani officers also say Pakistan's primary threat comes from India, not the Taliban, and question the utility of counterinsurgency training.
A senior Defense official said Pakistan has in recent weeks warmed to the idea of accepting training assistance from the U.S., after the civilian government of President Asif Ali Zardari realized that militants pose an existential danger to their country. "They finally get it," the official said.
Baluchistan is believed to harbor an array of senior leaders from al Qaeda, the Afghan Taliban, and other armed groups. The area is also seen as strategically important because it borders Afghanistan and Iran and is home to a strong separatist movement.
Under the current plans, the U.S. is deploying two Special Forces Operational Detachments Alpha to the region. So-called ODAs typically have 12 soldiers, but a U.S. official said the teams might be augmented to help speed training work.
Special Forces teams are seen as ideal for the deployments because they are used to operating clandestinely and in harsh conditions with little external support.
Source:
http://www.military-world.net/Afghanistan/1389.html
The U.S. is sending Special Forces teams into one of Pakistan's most violent regions as part of a push to accelerate the training of the Pakistani military and make it a more effective ally in the fight against insurgents there.
Senior U.S. officials said 25 to 50 Special Forces personnel are deploying to two new training camps in Baluchistan, a Taliban stronghold on the porous Afghan-Pakistani border. The deployment brings U.S. personnel deeper than before into tribal regions of Pakistan, which the Obama administration views as among the world's most-dangerous flashpoints.
The Special Forces personnel will focus on training Pakistan's Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force responsible for battling the Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, who cross freely between Afghanistan and Pakistan, the officials said. The U.S. trainers aren't meant to fight alongside the Pakistanis or accompany them into battle, in part because there will be so few Special Forces personnel in the two training camps.
A senior American military officer said he hoped Islamabad would gradually allow the U.S. to expand its training footprint inside Pakistan's borders. A former U.S. official familiar with the plans said the deployments would "get more American eyes and ears" into the strategically important region.
The project, which draws on proposals first discussed under the Bush administration, is a joint effort with the U.K., senior U.S. officials said. The U.K. plans to help fund the training, although it is unclear if British military personnel would take part in the initiative. British officials have been pushing for such an effort for several years. It builds on small-scale, U.S. training efforts already under way in the northern part of Pakistan.
The Pakistani and British embassies in Washington declined to comment. The U.S. military's Central Command, which oversees operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, also declined to comment.
The Pentagon has asked Congress to allocate $400 million this year for a new "Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capability Fund" that is designed to allow U.S. military commanders to quickly direct money to specific Pakistani training and equipping needs. The money, the first installment of a five-year program, would be funneled through Central Command rather than the State Department.
Senior U.S. commanders argue that the arrangement would allow them to ensure Pakistan uses the money to train its forces in counterinsurgency, rather than in conventional warfare.
Pakistan has regularly rebuffed Pentagon offers to provide military trainers, saying U.S. trainers would be irresistible targets for the country's militants. Many Pakistani officers also say Pakistan's primary threat comes from India, not the Taliban, and question the utility of counterinsurgency training.
A senior Defense official said Pakistan has in recent weeks warmed to the idea of accepting training assistance from the U.S., after the civilian government of President Asif Ali Zardari realized that militants pose an existential danger to their country. "They finally get it," the official said.
Baluchistan is believed to harbor an array of senior leaders from al Qaeda, the Afghan Taliban, and other armed groups. The area is also seen as strategically important because it borders Afghanistan and Iran and is home to a strong separatist movement.
Under the current plans, the U.S. is deploying two Special Forces Operational Detachments Alpha to the region. So-called ODAs typically have 12 soldiers, but a U.S. official said the teams might be augmented to help speed training work.
Special Forces teams are seen as ideal for the deployments because they are used to operating clandestinely and in harsh conditions with little external support.
Source:
http://www.military-world.net/Afghanistan/1389.html
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