An American Lion

Whatever you do, don’t give anyone a fat lip

The Navy SEALs aren’t to blame—their poor leadership, paralyzed by political correctness, is to blame:

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 a captain’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.

The first indication that they were not about to roll over and accept any kind of punishment was when they refused Captain’s Mast. A court-martial will end their career. Captain’s Mast puts a black mark by their names, but that paperwork usually goes in the trash when they leave a duty station. If everyone who has ever had Captain’s Mast (or an Article 15) had their career ended, there would be no careers in the military.

These were, after all, enlisted men, and while no one should have their career ended over something like this, no one should conclude that they should accept the word of a terror suspect over that of our military in a paltry situation such as this. It’s true—people do lie. But over a fat lip?

Leadership should have realized that these men, at the risk of their careers, were not about to give in to political correctness and allow their names to be smeared by a terror suspect. They were not willing to roll over and accept punishment. That tells me that they have a pretty good chance of proving they did nothing wrong.

You cannot expect every “terrorist” to appear pristine and happy after being captured. A fat lip is not the same as being beaten to death. Had this man been beaten to death, we might have an issue. Had he been beaten senseless, fine—investigate away.

You can get a fat lip just about any way imaginable:

Eddie Dane: How’d you get the fat lip?
Tom Reagan: Old war wound. Acts up around morons.

The leadership should have stepped in and led these men. Leadership means being able to look at the big picture. It’s a war on terror—what do you think happens in a war, anyway? Do you think it’s all Cocoa Puffs and speeches? If the detainee has a complaint, then how serious is that complaint? How serious is a fat lip? As compared to being beaten to death and packed in ice? Please. And, remember, this is the same military that kept Major Nidal Hasan alive and is treating him at Brooke Army Medical Center. Does anyone seriously expect that a dangerous terrorist, on the run for years, operating with no regard whatsoever for anything even approaching the rule of law, is going to be captured and treated as if he were a citizen caught speeding on the Interstate? Trust me on this—you can get far worse than a fat lip if you go to jail in a big city. If it happens to be Washington D.C., they’ll kill you in jail and get away with it.

Instead, they made it about paperwork and Poindexters and now the media has a hold of it. What a sad way to treat warriors. Fighting terrorism does not have to be an exercise in worrying about fat lips and paperwork. Explain to me how anyone fighting some of the most dangerous psychopaths in the world has any reason to keep doing what they are doing after this comes out.