US President Donald Trump has pardoned two murderers accused of murder and has withdrawn the demotion of another highly decorated soldier. The White House announced the decision on Friday night in Washington. Accordingly, Clint Lorance and Mathew Golsteyn are pardoned. For Edward Gallagher in turn, Trump ordered to restore its previous rank.
According to US media reports, Trump turned against the council of high-ranking representatives of the US Department of Defense. The three men were charged or convicted for the following crimes:
- Clint Lorance was sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison for murder in 2013 for ordering during his deployment in Afghanistan to shoot at three suspects approaching his unit. Two of the men died.
- Mathew Golsteyn is accused of unlawfully killing a suspected bomb maker in Afghanistan. His process should begin soon.
Andrew Craft / The Fayetteville Observer / dpa
Major Mathew Golsteyn is accused of unlawfully killing a suspected bomb maker in Afghanistan
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- Edward Gallagher has caused quite a stir in the United States: The elite soldier of the US Special Forces Navy Seals was acquitted in July in a US military court in the US allegation of the murder of a prisoner in Iraq. The jury found Gallagher guilty of posing with the prisoner's body for a photo. He was acquitted in all other charges, including the shooting of civilians in Iraq. However, he was then downgraded in his rank. This reversed Trump now.
The investigators had accused Gallagher of stabbing an injured militant of IS terrorist militia in Iraq in 2017 and later posing next to his body. He was also accused of having shot and killed an unarmed man and a girl attempting to commit murder. Gallagher rejected the allegations.
A detailed account of the offenses attributed to Gallagher in an internal army investigation report can be found here: Scandal shakes elite unit Navy Seals
Seven men from Gallagher's unit had reported the incidents to the San Diego Seals Commander in charge. But instead of intervening, the officer and another supervisor should have advised them to let the matter rest. Their careers could otherwise be endangered, according to the warning to the soldiers. The defense accused them of blackening their boss because they did not manage his leadership style.
The public did not want to admit the allegations against Gallagher long: The Seals are considered as the pride of the US Navy and the entire US military. They once carried out the successful operation against Qaeda terrorist chief Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan. For many Americans, it was inconceivable that any of these heroes should be a criminal.
Trump had already announced in May that he wanted to pardon the soldiers: "These men have been in long and hard missions for us, you know, we train them and make them excellent fighters, and if they do just that, fight, they learn a very unfair treatment. " for that,
