https://www.rt.com/usa/446739-special-forces-crimes-report/
Pentagon ready to 'admit problem' of rampant Special Forces crimes – report
Published time: 18 Dec, 2018 05:45
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© Reuters / Kevin Lamarque
With "allegations of serious misconduct" piling up too high to ignore after two decades of war, General Raymond 'Tony' Thomas, head of Special Operations Command, and Owen West, head of Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict for the Pentagon, have outlined an ambitious 90-day plan to find out how the military's most elite corps lost its way.
Read more
Pentagon denounces any unilateral military action in ‘their’ part of Syria as unacceptable
The first of its kind, the professional assessment is intended to "review and reinforce ethical and conduct standards," according to documents acquired by the Washington Times.
"The first step in any treatment program is admitting you have a problem," an unnamed Special Operations Command official told the Times. "Special operators want to be known for the vast accomplishments and sacrifice of the team in defense of our nation, not the misdeeds of the rotten apples."
And there are a lot of rotten apples. In the 7th Special Forces Group alone during the past year, officers have been arrested for attempting to smuggle cocaine out of Colombia, raping two young girls at their home near Eglin AFB, killing a spouse, and beating a wife and child.
The deplorable state of military discipline has worried Congress enough to insert a provision in the last defense authorization bill, directing Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to review USSOC's ethical and professional standards. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) also sponsored legislation last year to require USSOC and Pentagon Special Operations chiefs to conduct a review after hearing of a SEAL townhall meeting, at which soldiers were warned to curtail what had become widespread use of illicit drugs.
Two members of the famed SEAL Team 6 face murder charges – as well as conspiracy, hazing, burglary, and obstruction of justice – related to the death of Army Green Beret Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar last year in Mali, where he was allegedly choked to death in retaliation for his threat to go public with information that they were embezzling funds intended for intel-gathering operations.
SEAL Edward Gallagher is accused of stabbing an Islamic State detainee to death in Iraq after other members of his team had treated the man's injuries. Gallagher is also accused of premeditated murder and aggravated assault for shooting civilians in Iraq, and around 20 other SEALs and Navy officers are implicated in the case.
Also on rt.com Military action results in growing terrorism, US should pull out of Afghanistan – US veteran
Army Major Mathew Golsteyn could face the death penalty over the murder of a suspected Afghan bombmaker who he believed to be responsible for the deaths of two of his colleagues. Golsteyn confessed to the crime in a CIA polygraph interview but insists that he did nothing wrong. His family has asked US President Donald Trump for a pardon.
According to Gen. Thomas, the performance and ethics review will "study the correlation between operational trauma and behavioral health," particularly whether prolonged combat stress influenced any of the men's misdeeds. With the US locked in perpetual wars – in particular, the 'War on Terror' over the past two decades – it's no wonder that even elite servicemen's psyches are showing wear and tear.
And as recruitment numbers falter, the bar for being mentally fit for duty creeps lower. The Pentagon is now allowing waivers for recruits with history of self-harm, substance abuse, and bipolar disorder; as well as redeploying soldiers still coping with PTSD to warzones like Afghanistan and Iraq – possibly setting itself up for new scandals linked to abuse by unstable servicemen.
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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46230735
Navy SEALs and Marines charged in death of Special Forces soldier
Image copyright US Army Image caption Sgt Melgar's throat was allegedly cut by the perpetrators
The US Navy has charged four members of elite forces with murdering a US Army soldier in the west African country of Mali last year.
Officials say Army Staff Sergeant Logan J Melgar was strangled to death by two Navy SEALs and two Marines who later tried to conceal their crime.
They allegedly cut the victim's throat to appear as if they tried to perform a life-saving operation on him.
The charges do not name the accused men or provide a motive.
What are they accused of?
Military investigators say that the four accused service members broke into Staff Sgt Melgar's private bedroom in Bamako, Mali's capital, while he was sleeping with the intent to bind him with duct tape.
One put Staff Sgt Melgar in a fatal chokehold that was "inherently dangerous to another and evinced wanton disregard for human life," according to the charge sheets, which were released on Thursday.
Two of the accused are US Marines and are listed as being part of the Special Operations Command.
The other two are Navy SEALs from the Navy Special Warfare Development Group. The unit is better known as SEAL Team 6, which participated in the May 2011 raid that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
All four are charged with felony murder, involuntary manslaughter, conspiracy, obstruction of justice, hazing, burglary, and lying to investigators.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10 December.
What has the reaction been?
A spokesman for US Special Operations Command said Thursday that "we honour the memory of Staff Sgt Melgar".
"We will not allow allegations or substantiated incidents of misconduct to erode decades of honourable accomplishments by the members of US Special Operations Command."
Staff Sgt Melgar's June 2017 death was kept secret for months, before it was reported by The New York Times in October.
According to the Daily Beast, which first reported on this week's charges, the men had been having an ongoing dispute after Melgar told his superiors that his comrades-in-arms had been frequenting prostitutes and were skimming cash from a fund they kept to recruit local informants.
Image copyright US Embassy, Mali Image caption US embassy housing in Bamako
In a statement to the Daily Beast, Staff Sgt Melgar's wife said: "While I have faith that the military court will handle this situation in the best possible way, I also understand that the mission continues.
"Our men must work well together, and we need to support them in doing so."
Staff Sgt Melgar, who was originally from Texas and had previously served in Afghanistan, was a member of the same special forces group as the four Americans who were killed in an ambush in Niger in 2017.
The charges come as the Pentagon announced that they are reducing the numbers of US counter-terrorism troops in Africa by about 700.
Related Topics
Pentagon ready to 'admit problem' of rampant Special Forces crimes – report
Published time: 18 Dec, 2018 05:45
Get short URL
© Reuters / Kevin Lamarque
- 18
With "allegations of serious misconduct" piling up too high to ignore after two decades of war, General Raymond 'Tony' Thomas, head of Special Operations Command, and Owen West, head of Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict for the Pentagon, have outlined an ambitious 90-day plan to find out how the military's most elite corps lost its way.
Read more
Pentagon denounces any unilateral military action in ‘their’ part of Syria as unacceptable The first of its kind, the professional assessment is intended to "review and reinforce ethical and conduct standards," according to documents acquired by the Washington Times.
"The first step in any treatment program is admitting you have a problem," an unnamed Special Operations Command official told the Times. "Special operators want to be known for the vast accomplishments and sacrifice of the team in defense of our nation, not the misdeeds of the rotten apples."
And there are a lot of rotten apples. In the 7th Special Forces Group alone during the past year, officers have been arrested for attempting to smuggle cocaine out of Colombia, raping two young girls at their home near Eglin AFB, killing a spouse, and beating a wife and child.
The deplorable state of military discipline has worried Congress enough to insert a provision in the last defense authorization bill, directing Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to review USSOC's ethical and professional standards. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) also sponsored legislation last year to require USSOC and Pentagon Special Operations chiefs to conduct a review after hearing of a SEAL townhall meeting, at which soldiers were warned to curtail what had become widespread use of illicit drugs.
Two members of the famed SEAL Team 6 face murder charges – as well as conspiracy, hazing, burglary, and obstruction of justice – related to the death of Army Green Beret Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar last year in Mali, where he was allegedly choked to death in retaliation for his threat to go public with information that they were embezzling funds intended for intel-gathering operations.
SEAL Edward Gallagher is accused of stabbing an Islamic State detainee to death in Iraq after other members of his team had treated the man's injuries. Gallagher is also accused of premeditated murder and aggravated assault for shooting civilians in Iraq, and around 20 other SEALs and Navy officers are implicated in the case.
Also on rt.com Military action results in growing terrorism, US should pull out of Afghanistan – US veteran
Army Major Mathew Golsteyn could face the death penalty over the murder of a suspected Afghan bombmaker who he believed to be responsible for the deaths of two of his colleagues. Golsteyn confessed to the crime in a CIA polygraph interview but insists that he did nothing wrong. His family has asked US President Donald Trump for a pardon.
According to Gen. Thomas, the performance and ethics review will "study the correlation between operational trauma and behavioral health," particularly whether prolonged combat stress influenced any of the men's misdeeds. With the US locked in perpetual wars – in particular, the 'War on Terror' over the past two decades – it's no wonder that even elite servicemen's psyches are showing wear and tear.
And as recruitment numbers falter, the bar for being mentally fit for duty creeps lower. The Pentagon is now allowing waivers for recruits with history of self-harm, substance abuse, and bipolar disorder; as well as redeploying soldiers still coping with PTSD to warzones like Afghanistan and Iraq – possibly setting itself up for new scandals linked to abuse by unstable servicemen.
Like this story? Share it with a friend!
- 18
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46230735
Navy SEALs and Marines charged in death of Special Forces soldier
- 16 November 2018
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Image copyright US Army Image caption Sgt Melgar's throat was allegedly cut by the perpetrators
The US Navy has charged four members of elite forces with murdering a US Army soldier in the west African country of Mali last year.
Officials say Army Staff Sergeant Logan J Melgar was strangled to death by two Navy SEALs and two Marines who later tried to conceal their crime.
They allegedly cut the victim's throat to appear as if they tried to perform a life-saving operation on him.
The charges do not name the accused men or provide a motive.
What are they accused of?
Military investigators say that the four accused service members broke into Staff Sgt Melgar's private bedroom in Bamako, Mali's capital, while he was sleeping with the intent to bind him with duct tape.
One put Staff Sgt Melgar in a fatal chokehold that was "inherently dangerous to another and evinced wanton disregard for human life," according to the charge sheets, which were released on Thursday.
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Two of the accused are US Marines and are listed as being part of the Special Operations Command.
The other two are Navy SEALs from the Navy Special Warfare Development Group. The unit is better known as SEAL Team 6, which participated in the May 2011 raid that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
All four are charged with felony murder, involuntary manslaughter, conspiracy, obstruction of justice, hazing, burglary, and lying to investigators.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10 December.
What has the reaction been?
A spokesman for US Special Operations Command said Thursday that "we honour the memory of Staff Sgt Melgar".
"We will not allow allegations or substantiated incidents of misconduct to erode decades of honourable accomplishments by the members of US Special Operations Command."
Staff Sgt Melgar's June 2017 death was kept secret for months, before it was reported by The New York Times in October.
According to the Daily Beast, which first reported on this week's charges, the men had been having an ongoing dispute after Melgar told his superiors that his comrades-in-arms had been frequenting prostitutes and were skimming cash from a fund they kept to recruit local informants.
Image copyright US Embassy, Mali Image caption US embassy housing in Bamako
In a statement to the Daily Beast, Staff Sgt Melgar's wife said: "While I have faith that the military court will handle this situation in the best possible way, I also understand that the mission continues.
"Our men must work well together, and we need to support them in doing so."
Staff Sgt Melgar, who was originally from Texas and had previously served in Afghanistan, was a member of the same special forces group as the four Americans who were killed in an ambush in Niger in 2017.
The charges come as the Pentagon announced that they are reducing the numbers of US counter-terrorism troops in Africa by about 700.
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