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The question to ask is what made a caper as ballsy as this seem like a good idea to these chaps. It suggests a culture of impunity which is likely to mostly aff

by leoc 9y ago

The question to ask is what made a caper as ballsy as this seem like a good idea to these chaps. It suggests a culture of impunity which is likely to mostly affect other people who are not so dear to the US military and government as a serving US Green Beret in good standing. And indeed: https://theintercept.com/2017/01/10/the-crimes-of-seal-team-6/ https://theintercept.com/2017/01/10/the-crimes-of-seal-team-... > “You can’t win an investigation on us,” one former SEAL Team 6 leader told me. “You don’t whistleblow on the teams … and when you win on the battlefield, you don’t lose investigations.”

potta_coffee 9y ago
Seals are the golden children of the US military. Lots of nightmare stories out there of Seals "getting away with murder".
leroy_masochist 9y ago
There is a big, big difference between the kind of investigation that goes into the extrajudicial killing / corpse mutilation of enemy combatants (as alleged in the Intercept article you quote) vs. the kind of investigation that goes into the murder of another member of the uniformed services. ESPECIALLY given that the victim was a Green Beret and the alleged murderers are Team guys. ARSOC is going to be out for blood here. This is going to be the mother of all command investigations.
- leoc 9y ago
  > There is a big, big difference between the kind of investigation that goes into the extrajudicial killing / corpse mutilation of enemy combatants (as alleged in the Intercept article you quote) vs. the kind of investigation that goes into the murder of another member of the uniformed services. Indeed, but this supports my point, no? If things have got to the point where brazenly fragging a Green Beret in base starts to look remotely like something you might reasonably do and might have decent odds of getting away with, then it seems probable the chain is already off completely when it comes to dealing with 'lesser lifeforms'.
  - leroy_masochist 9y ago
    I think you're making an aggressive assumption with regard to this being a premeditated murder. It happened in the early morning in the place where they were all billeted, and the evidence as reported suggests simple asphyxiation, i.e., they choked SSgt Melgar to death. Their alibi, apparently "hurr durr we were all doing combatives at 5am and I guess he was drunk?", seems like a quickly assembled and half-baked story. Team guys are meatheads but they're not stupid. If they had thought through their alleged crime ahead of time, they likely would have done it in a less self-incriminating way. I do think your point about a culture of impunity in the Teams might be valid to the extent that it might explain why the two accused (allegedly) thought it doable to embezzle HUMINT funds. Assuming the proceedings are open (likely that AFSOC wants this and will make it so), I'm sure we'll all find out all the shitty details in the coming months.

by leoc 9y ago

potta_coffee 9y ago

Seals are the golden children of the US military. Lots of nightmare stories out there of Seals "getting away with murder".

leroy_masochist 9y ago

There is a big, big difference between the kind of investigation that goes into the extrajudicial killing / corpse mutilation of enemy combatants (as alleged in the Intercept article you quote) vs. the kind of investigation that goes into the murder of another member of the uniformed services. ESPECIALLY given that the victim was a Green Beret and the alleged murderers are Team guys. ARSOC is going to be out for blood here. This is going to be the mother of all command investigations.

leoc 9y ago
> There is a big, big difference between the kind of investigation that goes into the extrajudicial killing / corpse mutilation of enemy combatants (as alleged in the Intercept article you quote) vs. the kind of investigation that goes into the murder of another member of the uniformed services. Indeed, but this supports my point, no? If things have got to the point where brazenly fragging a Green Beret in base starts to look remotely like something you might reasonably do and might have decent odds of getting away with, then it seems probable the chain is already off completely when it comes to dealing with 'lesser lifeforms'.
- leroy_masochist 9y ago
  I think you're making an aggressive assumption with regard to this being a premeditated murder. It happened in the early morning in the place where they were all billeted, and the evidence as reported suggests simple asphyxiation, i.e., they choked SSgt Melgar to death. Their alibi, apparently "hurr durr we were all doing combatives at 5am and I guess he was drunk?", seems like a quickly assembled and half-baked story. Team guys are meatheads but they're not stupid. If they had thought through their alleged crime ahead of time, they likely would have done it in a less self-incriminating way. I do think your point about a culture of impunity in the Teams might be valid to the extent that it might explain why the two accused (allegedly) thought it doable to embezzle HUMINT funds. Assuming the proceedings are open (likely that AFSOC wants this and will make it so), I'm sure we'll all find out all the shitty details in the coming months.