Internal messages provided to Navy Times raise questions about how the military is handling the confession uttered by a Navy SEAL last week that he, not Special Warfare Operator Chief Edward \u201cEddie\u201d Gallagher, killed a wounded Islamic State prisoner of war in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At issue is whether military authorities will go after Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Corey Scott for claiming that he plugged the breathing tube of the Islamic State militant outside Mosul so that the enemy fighter wouldn\u2019t be tortured to death later by Iraqi security forces \u2014 even if that was the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scott\u2019s bombshell testimony undercut the Navy\u2019s premeditated murder charge against Gallagher, 40, which hinged on witnesses confirming that he stabbed to death the detainee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One SEAL, Special Warfare Operator Chief Craig Miller, alleged that Gallagher plunged a knife into the prisoner\u2019s neck multiple times, although other details that day appeared fuzzy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Scott testified that he was the real killer<\/a>, not Gallagher. Scott said that the chief appeared to stick the knife blade below the militant\u2019s collar bone, not the neck, and the wound wasn\u2019t fatal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A third SEAL was expected to testify that Gallagher stabbed a corpse because the detainee already had died from wounds suffered hours earlier, but in the wake of Scott\u2019s stunning confession, that witness was not called to testify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The prosecution instead called a forensic pathologist, Dr. Frank Sheridan<\/a>, who said he couldn\u2019t determine a cause of death because there was no body to autopsy and little other evidence to use. He wasn\u2019t even sure if the detainee had been stabbed.<\/p>\n\n\n\t