Including the stabbing of a boy and the kidnapping of a girl, an American commander accused of war crimes in Iraq

A US naval commander faces a military trial scheduled for the end of next month for war crimes in Iraq, according to a New York Times report.

The US military commander Edward Gallagher, 39, has committed several crimes, such as stabbing a defenseless boy to death, indiscriminate bombardments of rockets and machine guns.

Phillips pointed out that members of the Naval Salsa Squadron of the US Navy's 7th Fleet had seen the platoon leader commit horrific crimes in Iraq, adding to their frustration for several months without formal action.

Under this complacency, some members of the platoon called for a meeting with the division commander in March 2018 at the Naval Military Base in Coronado, San Diego.

According to a confidential report from the Marine Crime Investigation Service obtained by the New York Times, these individuals provided some details of the crimes and demanded a formal investigation.

Warning
Instead of opening the investigation on that day, the division commander and his top aides - old comrades of the platoon commander accused Special Operations Leader Edward Gallagher - had warned the seven platoon members that speaking frankly would cost them their careers.

In the end, members of the platoon expressed their concerns to authorities other than the navy. As a result, Commander Gallagher is now facing a military trial scheduled to begin on 28 May.

The Marine Corps is one of the most powerful US military commandos, but it has collapsed over and over in recent years through investigations into beatings, killings, illegal theft and drug abuse reports.

In January, Admiral Colin Green ordered the 90-day review of the culture and training of the force, but no results have been released.

While Commander Gallagher sounded the alarm about the killings in Iraq, his superiors were fond of him, with some calling him the best team leader.

Reward
A few days after the March 2018 meeting, the leader is awarded the bronze star of courage in the war in Iraq. A month later, the seven members finally succeeded in urging their commanders to inform the Marine Criminal Investigation Department officially of the deaths of the Iraqis, by threatening to speak directly to senior naval officers and the media.

Last September, Gallagher was arrested on more than a dozen counts, including murder and attempted murder.

If found guilty, he would spend the rest of his life in prison, but he pleaded not guilty. At the same time, some conservatives gathered to defend Gallagher and raise money and pressure publicly for his release.

The brother of the accused leader, Sean Gallagher, and his wife, Andrea Gallagher, appeared several times on satellite channels and demanded his release, stating that the allegations against him were fabricated by disgruntled individuals who could not implement his difficult criteria and wanted to get rid of him.

Gallagher is known for his platoon and is one of the most important members of the platoon. He also praised his courage and leadership during five military deployments. He is also qualified as a doctor, sniper and explosives expert.

crimes
While in Iraq, Gallagher was assigned the task of planning and overseeing the platoon's tasks, but his men confirmed that he spent most of his time out of sight with a sniper rifle, firing more than other snipers. They said he always boasted how many people had managed to kill them.

He told investigators that one day Gallagher fired at a girl wearing a flower-encrusted veil, walking with other girls on the bank of the river. One of them said that through his binoculars he saw the girl lying on the floor holding her belly, and then her friends pulled her away.

Two other snipers said the commander also fired on an unarmed man and then fell to the ground.

According to some Sayles, on the morning of May 4, 2017, Iraqi forces brought a 15-year-old boy who had been wounded in his leg during the battle as a member of the state organization.

A video shows that the young man was struggling to speak, but the paramedics told the interrogators that his wounds were not so serious. Eyewitnesses said that while a paramedic was treating this child, Gallagher walked without saying a word and stabbed the wounded young man several times in the neck and chest with a fishing knife.

The author stated that in the past, he had been charged with serious misconduct charges. According to the report, the Army Special Forces, which served in Afghanistan in 2010, reported shooting an Afghan girl for the man he was carrying, killing them.