The Patriot Post® · SEALs 2, Bad Guys 0

It has now been six years since our senses were brutally shocked by a news photo that came out of Iraq. It showed the happy Iraqis – the people we went there to help – dancing in the streets as four Americans who had been burned and dragged through the streets were hanging in the background on a bridge over the Euphrates River.

That same day in March of 2004, another picture was published in many newspapers of a grinning young man showing a leaflet that read, “Fallouja: Cemetery for Americans.” The four dead were actually Blackwater security contractors who had been captured and doubtlessly shown little courtesy before they died from hand grenades and rifle fire.

But what many now feel was an even greater insult to America didn’t come until September of the same year. After the pictures stirred such a horrified reaction stateside, the Marines launched a major offensive and our military might finally rooted out the insurgents in Fallouja.

But that was when a team of Navy SEALs caught the guy most believe was responsible for the atrocities – a thug named Ahmed Hashim Abed – and when Abel promptly screamed that three of the SEALs had popped him in the lip, there began an ordeal for three accused sailors that, in the mind of this writer, is almost unforgivable.

Their own Navy offered a “Captain’s Mast,” which would have surely marred their careers, but the sailors stood tall, insisting on a proper military trial instead. So in a small news item perhaps you didn’t notice over the weekend, two of the three SEALs were found “not guilty” by a military court in Iraq.

Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas, was found not guilty of dereliction of duty on Thursday. Petty Officer Jonathan Keefe was found not guilty in Baghdad on Friday, both verdicts coming after the terrorist Abed told the court just last Wednesday that, yes, he had been mistreated that day.

It’s not over yet; the third SEAL – Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew McCabe – is actually the one accused of striking the terrorist and his trial will be held in on May 3 in Virginia. Never mind he has taken a polygraph test and passed it with flying colors; that is inadmissible in such a court but, needless to say the hope that good will eventually win over evil has been heightened dramatically by last week’s verdicts.

This week’s court testimony showed that “The Manchester Manual,” an al Qaeda booklet, offers printed instructions that an operative – if he is captured – is to say he was tortured or mistreated and that will resonate with the American people, especially “the political left.”

So while it’s hardly lost on me that had the SEALs only put a much-deserved bullet in Ahmed Hashim Abed’s ugly head none of this would have ever unfolded or have been so painfully and shamefully played out for over the past five years, I am also reminded that is not the American way.

While we will weep that politician John McCain cannot comb his hair due to the unspeakable tortures he was forced to endure in the “Hanoi Hilton” and for all of our young men and women who have now died in Iraq and Afghanistan, our nation’s honor and its standards require that we remain the most noble of all warriors.

But for our nation to hold up SEALs Huertas, Keefe and McCabe as villains is absolutely appalling and if you don’t believe it, look first at the social web site Facebook and you’ll see for yourself at least 120,000 have endorsed a cause called “Support The Navy SEALs who Captured Ahmed Hashim Abed.” Not only that, 40 members on Congress signed a letter sent to the Commander-in-Chief, Barack Obama, asking that the trials never take place.

One of the most outspoken has been Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN) who, during a Saturday appearance at America’s News Headquarters, said, “They risked their lives to capture the terrorist and for them to be court-martialed and accused of what they’ve been accused of bothers me.

"In addition it sends a terrible message to the men and women in the field in Afghanistan and Iraq, who are risking their lives every day. Do they have to use kid gloves when they go after the terrorists who have done horrible things? I don’t think so,” he said.

“The very idea of a most-wanted terrorist sitting in a court room and testifying against our elite soldiers is absolutely disgusting… And in my opinion, after risking their lives they probably deserve medals instead of being tried in a court-martial.”

My sentiments exactly.