{"id":35476,"date":"2018-11-19T23:49:42","date_gmt":"2018-11-19T23:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/11\/19\/ncis-documents-cast-doubt-on-navy-seals-guilt-in-slaying-of-islamic-state-fighter\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:29:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:29:36","slug":"ncis-documents-cast-doubt-on-navy-seals-guilt-in-slaying-of-islamic-state-fighter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2018\/11\/19\/ncis-documents-cast-doubt-on-navy-seals-guilt-in-slaying-of-islamic-state-fighter\/","title":{"rendered":"NCIS documents cast doubt on Navy SEAL\u2019s guilt in slaying of Islamic State fighter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two high-ranking Iraqi military leaders with close ties to the SEALs cast doubt on the case military prosecutors have formed against Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward \u201cEddie\u201d Gallagher<\/a>, who\u2019s accused of murdering a wounded prisoner of war, according to records provided to Navy Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their transcribed interviews contradict nearly every aspect of the federal case against Gallagher, 39, who faces up to 18 criminal counts, including premeditated murder for allegedly stabbing to death a badly wounded Islamic State detainee near the Iraqi city of Mosul on May 3, 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A report prepared by the Naval Criminal Investigate Service on Oct. 22 \u2014 five weeks after Gallagher was arrested by federal agents and incarcerated in the Naval Consolidated Brig Miramar in San Diego \u2014 includes an interview in Baghdad with Iraqi Emergency Response Division commander Maj. Gen. Abbas al-Jubouri <\/a>and his aide, Col. Issa Kadhim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ERD is the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior\u2019s elite special forces unit<\/a>, and both al-Jubouri and Kadhim worked closely with Gallagher\u2019s SEAL platoon during anti-Islamic State clearing operations in northern Iraq in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although painted by prosecutors as a sadistic SEAL sniper who took pot shots at Iraqi civilians, including children, al-Jubouri considered \u201cChief Ed\u201d to be \u201calways professional and I always worked so close to him,\u201d according to his translated interview with an NCIS agent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChief Ed was \u2018long in the service,\u2019 very experienced,\u201d said al-Jubouri. “He was hard on them and responsible for them. They were very young and inexperienced. Chief Ed is experienced in war from lots of time in Afghanistan and Iraq and he is very good. Chief Ed was very good with all weapons systems, especially the (anti-tank rocket). He is the best Chief.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe was very strict with his men,\u201d al-Jubouri added. \u201cHe was an asshole to them, like I am an asshole to my men \u2014 because you have to be as a leader. He was very aggressive and hard on his men, never wanting to stop working or take a break. Chief Ed never wanted to stop and he worked all the time.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The seriously wounded Islamic State fighter, believed to be between 15 and 17 years of age, military prosecutors believe was murdered by a Navy SEAL. (screen shot of YouTube video used as evidence in criminal hearing)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Both al-Jubouri and Kadhim remembered \u201cvividly\u201d when they brought the Islamic State fighter to the SEAL compound and NCIS had no problem pinpointing the date because an Iraqi TV reporter interviewed the captured but seriously wounded boy shortly before Iraqi forces hauled him away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the NCIS file, Ali Jawad, a TV combat correspondent with close ties to Shia militia groups, especially the Badr Brigade, did a brief videotaped interview with the ISIS fighter, which was later uploaded to the social media platform YouTube.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On his back, the boy said that he was 17 years old and joined the Sunni jihadist militia before the month of Ramadan because his father \u201cwas beating me and telling me we do not go with ISIS” and he wanted to hear them tell him he did a \u201cgood job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reporter then turned to ERD field commander, Brig. Gen. Mahdi al-Hayali, who said that the boy was shot while carrying a PK machine gun, but was going to be taken to a village outside Mosul for interrogation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kadhim recalled the trip back to the SEAL outpost because he was along for the ride. Al-Jubouri said that the boy \u2014 he pegged his age between 15 and 17 \u2014 was the sole survivor of a band of ISIS fighters that once had numbered up to 50 militants before they were besieged by the ERD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Struggling without a steady supply of food, water and ammunition, the unnamed boy was the only one left in the ISIS unit. He was discovered riddled with bullets, with the \u201cmost prolific\u201d wound to his leg where \u201cthe artery was shot\u201d and he was \u201cbleeding badly, with little chance of survival,” according to the transcribed interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SEALs weren\u2019t happy to receive him. In fact, \u201cthe Americans were mad, because ‘they thought we were mistreating the wounded fighter by bringing him there in that manner, and dragging him on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Iraqis described SEAL corpsmen working on the fighter \u201cfor a long period of time.\u201d Kadhim recalled that they give him \u201cthree bags, tubed his side, and worked on his leg,\u201d but it didn\u2019t seem to help the boy\u2019s condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al-Jubouri said that he asked the dying fighter three questions while he was still alert \u2014 his name, if he belonged to ISIS and how old he was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The general no longer recalled his name, but he told NCIS that the boy said he was 17 and that all the fighters in his small group were from the same Sunni neighborhood in Mosul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, however, the military prosecutors’ version of events and that of the Iraqi military leaders diverge.<\/p>\n\n\n\t