SEALs trial: Iraqi accused in Fallujah contractor deaths testifies he was beaten by US troops

BAGHDAD — An Iraqi prisoner suspected of masterminding an attack that killed four American contractors testified Wednesday he was beaten by U.S. troops while hooded and tied to a chair in the opening day of a court-martial of a Navy SEAL.

The trial stems from an attack on four Blackwater security contractors who were driving through the city of Fallujah west of Baghdad in early 2004. The men were killed and then crowds dragged two of the burnt bodies through the streets and hanged them from a bridge over the Euphrates River — pictures that became iconic of the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

Images of the burnt bodies of Americans hanging from the bridge drove home to many the rising power of the insurgency and helped spark a bloody U.S. invasion of the city to root out the insurgents.

The courts-martial of three Navy SEALS accused in the Iraqi prisoner’s abuse case have outraged many Americans who see it as a sign that their government is going soft on terrorists. Members of Congress have urged the U.S. defense secretary to drop the charges.

The Commander in Chief can stop this!  Why doesn’t he?  Are we still being punished for our arrogance?   Is this it?  Is this part of his apology tour?  Is this what we are to expect is no protection or backing by our leader?   There has never been a time when the men in the miliary were treated for this in such a way that the Commander in Chief didn’t stand behind his men?  How does he expect the men to stand behind him?  Makes no sense. 

Ahmed Hashim Abed, who is being held by Iraqi authorities pending trial, was brought in to the court wearing his yellow prison jumpsuit. He testified he was sitting in a chair with his hands bound behind him — a hood over his head — when he was hit from behind on the shoulder and back and fell to his knees and was then picked back up and struck in the stomach.

“It was very powerful. It was so hard I fell down again on my face because my hands were behind my back,” he said, speaking Arabic through an interpreter. On the ground, he said he was kicked in his side and legs.

“Once I was down they put their foot in my shoulder; I started saying ‘please, please’ — these were the only words that I knew,” he testified.

These men have been taught in the field our weakness to make everybody happy through political correctness and our men will not only suffer on the battlefield but at the hands of the government who sent them there to fight.  

Abed was arrested last September on charges of orchestrating the killings of the four Blackwater security contractors.

Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas, of Blue Island, Illinois, is the first of three Navy SEALs to go on trial in connection with the alleged assault.

He’s not accused of actually abusing the prisoner but of failing to safeguard him and attempting to influence the testimony of another service member.

The 28-year-old Huertas, wearing his blue Navy uniform, appeared in a military courtroom at Camp Victory on Baghdad’s western outskirts to answer charges of dereliction of duty and impeding an official investigation. He has pleaded not guilty.

During Abed’s hour-long testimony, he said he was taken to a doctor the next day and complained he had been beaten.

A soldier of honor who fought in Vietnam for this country, he was the only survivor in his platoon, he saw many dangerous and horrific things much like John McCain, this is a travesty, this soldier writes:

As a ex-Marine/ Viet Nam veteran I find this whole thing appalling! Have you ever seen the video of them cutting off their victims heads?

Ask Mr. McCain about his treatment at the hand of the United States of America enemies, Did they just slap him in the mouth?