Some of the puzzle pieces are beginning to come together in the Navy vs. Eddie Gallagher case which recently was decided in San Diego, California. When Seal Chief Eddie Gallagher was found not guilty of murder, or even attempted murder, many questions still lingered. The primary question is why was he even charged with murder to begin with?
Over a year before Gallagher even went to trial, an Iraqi General said that Gallagher didn’t kill the teenage ISIS fighter. But yet, the Navy was hellbent on convicting Eddie Gallagher, and tossing him in prison for the rest of his life. Again, what in the world was pushing the narrative that Eddie Gallagher was summarily killing people? WHY WAS THE NAVY OUT TO GET GALLAGHER?
INVESTIGATIVE PROCEDURE
Normally when a serious allegation is made, and the law enforcement entity really wants to find the truth, the normal procedure is immediately “gather evidence,” before the culprits and witnesses have a chance to destroy evidence.
When the powers-that-be, do not want to hold someone accountable, they will call the perpetrator(s) to warn them of a potential investigation. This is why nothing happened to Hillary Clinton for the destruction of 33,000 emails, cell phones and God knows what else.
The politically-correct hot buttons in Washington includes, but is not limited to… crimes against people of color, crimes against women and crimes involving the abuse, torture or murder of an enemy combatant being held in captivity, especially if the victim looks like a poor misguided teenager that just didn’t go to school that particular day.
It’s logical to assume the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), reacting to this politically correct hot button issue, immediately scooped up the cell phones and other communication devices that could harbor evidence for analysis to find out if members of our military are torturing and murdering captive enemy combatants.
ANALYSIS PROVED FRUITFUL
Once the investigation was initiated in force, it’s very likely that NCIS found a treasure trove of information not connected with the Eddie Gallagher case, but damning information the Navy could use to pressure (blackmail) witnesses, thereby ensuring the conviction of Eddie Gallagher.
There’s a persistent rumor floating around that NCIS discovered from seized computers and cellphones, who was sleeping with whose wife, and that several of the Seal team members were involved the use and distribution of controlled substances to subsidize their military income.
This included, but was not limited to, the use and distribution of steroids. Kinda make sense. Seals, and those involved with special operations in other services, are frequently interested in garnering any additional strength that would enhance their performance.
We can pretty much guess that if there was a drug ring within the Seal Teams, Eddie Gallagher didn’t know anything about it, otherwise naval prosecutors would have surely levied drug charges against Eddie Gallagher as well.
One of the tactics naval prosecutors employ is what is called file loading. If they can rack up twenty charges instead of one or two, then jurors automatically believe that, “he must be guilty of something, look at all these crimes he’s been charged with.”
Unfortunately, none of the Seals apparently know about what happened to Lyle Alzado, otherwise they would not be involved with steroid usage. Alzado was an All Pro football defensive end for the L.A. Raiders, and was one of the first major US sports figures to admit to using anabolic steroids.
In the last year of his life, as he battled against the brain tumor that eventually took his life, Alzado asserted that his steroid abuse directly led to his fatal illness at age 43. Defenders of steroids use say, Alzado’s brain tumor had nothing to do with his use of steroids, so the debate about steroid use rages on.
PRESSURE TO HELP CONVICT
It’s believed the United States Navy used the information they discovered on the cellphones of the Seals in Gallagher’s unit to pressure them to accuse Gallagher of murder. If they did not cooperate in “hanging” Gallagher, then each one of them would be facing long prison sentences.
Feeling the heat from naval prosecutors, and since they didn’t like Gallagher anyway, the Seals turned on one of their own and accused Gallagher of killing a teenage terrorist they were holding in captivity. Charges were levied, the court was convened and the story went international.
Right away, naval prosecutors saw their case against Gallagher start to fall apart. The medic said that Gallagher didn’t kill the ISIS fighter, but that he killed him by holding his thumb over the tube going down the fighter’s throat, AKA: asphyxiation. The Iraqi general a year before all of this kept saying, that Gallagher did not kill him and that he had no injury to his throat.
We hear the Iraqi general wanted to testify at Gallagher’s trial but the Department of Defense barred him from obtaining a visa so he could not testify. So much for a fair trial. Even though the military was holding all the cards, the lack of real evidence was so overwhelming, the Navy just could not get the conviction against Gallagher they desperately wanted.
This kinda reminds us of the Mueller Investigation of Donald Trump. Mueller and his Trump-hating team wanted so desperately to get something on Trump, but in the end, the evidence of his collusion with the Russians or his obstruction of justice simply did not exist.
The civilians need a lesson from the military on how to get someone convicted on little or no evidence.
SIDEBAR: Unlike civilian trials, the government determines what witnesses can enter the court for both the defense and the prosecution. Sure, sure, if the defense wants a witness to testify and prosecutors object, the matter goes to the judge, then to the convening authority to make it look like there is some sort of a fair process…. but it really isn’t. In a really fair trial, the defense should be able to bring any witness they want, without interference from the government. The system is terribly rigged in favor of the military.
SIDEBAR: Civilians need every member of the jury to vote guilty in order to obtain a conviction, especially in a capital crime case. But the military only needs 75% of the jury to vote guilty in order to obtain a conviction…… oops, check that; the military lowered that requirement recently to obtain more convictions down to 67% of the jury to vote guilty in order to obtain a conviction. This little-known change helps the military convict even more people, because there are fewer numbers of jurors to subject to unlawful command influence, in order to convict.
And, where did the unlawful command influence (UCI) come from? We understand that Vice Admiral “Scumbag” James Crawford routinely would attempt to unlawfully influence cases to achieve convictions. There were at least four cases where Scumbag Crawford used the power of his rank and office to obtain convictions. That, my friends, is an illegal act, but did the Navy care about one of their admirals who went off the rails? NOOOOO, they did not care. Make no mistake, flag-ranking officers, especially in the United States Navy, are above the law.
Instead, the Navy quietly ushered SCUMBAG Crawford out the back door into retirement. Just like old Major Glenn MacDonald used to say, “It’s different spanks for different ranks.” To hell with Equal-Justice-Under-Law; laws are just for the little people.
SUMMARY
Eddie Gallagher was found not guilty of murder or even attempted murder, but found guilty of having his picture taken next to a dead body. And, since that conviction was handed down by a general court-martial, it’s considered a felony conviction. Felony convictions from the military are sent to the Department of Justice for entry into the NCIC computer.
This means anytime Eddie Gallagher is stopped for anything by the police for the rest of his life, even if he rolls through a stop sign in his car, he will be slammed down on the pavement because the computers will red-flag him as a convicted felon. Ironically, if everyone in the military who had their picture taken with a dead body was convicted, Ft. Leavenworth would have about two million inmates.
During WWII, some military units would cut off the ears of the dead enemy soldiers to make an ear necklace. One member of the military actually sent an ear necklace he had made to President Roosevelt. There is no indication that President Roosevelt actually wore the ear necklace he received in the mail.
There can be no question that the United States Navy was out to get Eddie Gallagher. The question is why? According to the rumors, the Navy apparently threatened Gallagher’s subordinates to bear false witness in order to obtain a conviction for murder.
If the Seal Team members under Gallagher’s command did not help the Navy to convict Gallagher, then each one would find themselves serving a prison sentence for drug use and distribution, with perhaps a few adultery charges thrown in for good luck. And, these are the lengths the military will go to, in order to rid themselves of someone they don’t like.
From our extensive experience in covering one story after another for the past nineteen years, 35% of the military members who are currently serving a prison sentence are actually innocent. Fifty percent or more, have been terribly over sentenced. Instead of receiving six months, they got twenty years. The remainder who are inmates in military prisons are actually bad customers and received the sentence they probably deserved.
For the military it isn’t about justice or about the law, it’s about operating under the color of law to obtain a conviction. It’s about using the law to give you cover as you break the law. If you are in the military, you had better keep all this in mind. You need to know how the system is rigged against you if someone decides to file charges against you.
If you are thinking about going in the military, you had better think twice. There are hundreds of Eddie Gallagher cases, but very few end up with the accused walking out of the courtroom a free man. Eddie Gallagher is very lucky to have had Andrea (his wife) out there fighting for her man, and both are very very lucky the news media reported on the story. Most others in the military, are simply not that lucky at all.
DID THE SYSTEM WORK?
I guess we should rejoice because the military judicial system worked in the Gallagher case, but did it really work? The only reason the Gallagher was found not guilty was because the story went international and Trump was watching it very closely. The pressure to get it right was enormous.
All of the hundreds or thousands of military members who found themselves before a general court are not as lucky to have the scrutiny this case generated, or have the President of the United States asking his staff, “Where are we on the Gallagher case?” There are many people languishing in military prisons right now because the system failed them.
No, the system did not work because Vice Admiral Scumbag was allowed to escape justice for attempting to unlawfully influence the court against Gallagher. No sir, the system is heavily rigged in favor of the military so they can easily get rid of those people they don’t like, such as whistle-blowers and people who ask embarrassing questions.
No, the system does not work unless each and every military member who had his picture taken with a dead combatant is convicted in a general court just like Eddie Gallagher and become a convicted felon just like Gallagher. While the military system appeared to have worked beautifully, it really didn’t work well at all.
Vice Admiral Scumbag escaped justice and the Seals who said Gallagher killed the ISIS fighter to save their own skin also escaped justice. No, my friends, the military action in the Gallagher case is just another glaring example of how the system can be manipulated. Thank God, Gallagher was not sent to Ft. Leavenworth for twenty or thirty years.
The bullet of injustice just missed hitting Gallagher right between the eyes. The next war we have, America will be praying that guys like Gallagher step up to defend our nation.
