The elite soldier Edward Gallagher, pardoned by US President Donald Trump, has been described by former members of his unit in the Iraq war as "totally vicious". This emerges from video statements against US investigators, from which the "New York Times" (NYT) quoted on Friday. One of the most experienced members of Gallagher's Navy Seal force, Craig Miller, described him as "totally malicious", and his comrade Joshua Vriens called him "toxic". Nickname Gallaghers: "Blade".
According to the NYT, the video recordings included allegations that Gallagher shot a twelve-year-old child and repeatedly targeted civilians. "You could see that he was completely ready to kill anyone who was moving," said another veteran, NCIS Navy investigative officials said.
The veterans, the NYT writes, have obviously had a hard time making a statement. They fought back tears because the memories of the events in Iraq had taken them so badly. On the other hand, they were also aware that they were violating the code of their elite force.
Gallagher's lawyer speaks of "blatant lies"
Gallagher denies all allegations and describes them as defamation of members of his unit who could not keep up with his performance. He initially had "surprised and outraged" reacted to the "blatant lies" in the videos, he had his lawyer told the New York Times. But then he noticed that his comrades feared that their own "cowardly" behavior might come to light during the mission.
The now 40-year-old sniper and medic Gallagher was originally accused of murdering a prisoner of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist militia in Iraq in May 2017. He is also said to have shot civilians. According to NYT, he was in combat eight times.
In July, however, a military court largely released him. However, Gallagher was found guilty for posing with other soldiers of the elite Navy Seals unit for a group picture of the IS fighter's body. He was demoted and was supposed to be excluded from the Navy Seals, but was pardoned by President Trump in November. In the dispute over Trump's decision, Marine Secretary Richard Spencer was finally forced to resign.
Spencer wrote in his US media resignation letter to President Trump that he was leaving office with immediate effect. "I cannot, with a clear conscience, follow an order that I believe violates the holy oath that I have taken in the presence of my family, my flag, and my faith to defend the United States Constitution." It had become obvious that he no longer shared the same understanding of order and discipline with the president.
Gallagher's case had been widely publicized by the conservative and Trump-loyal TV broadcaster Fox. The US President had clearly sided with the soldier on several occasions. Last weekend, Trump welcomed Gallagher and his wife to his golf resort in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, for the Christmas vacation.