Naval Blockade

What’s amazing about the case of Chief Petty Officer Gallagher is how much it resembles bureaucratic entitlement in Washington DC. Trump gives an order and everyone affected by it finds ways to obfuscate and ignore it. From the ambassador in Ukraine to the intelligence community, to the Justice Department and FBI and now the military, the administrators are in open rebellion. Whether they are right on the substance of the disagreement is beside the point.

Does the president set policy or doesn’t he?

If you’re a little unfamiliar with the story of the decorated SEAL Eddie Gallagher, here is the short version. The Navy held a court-martial hearing for the commander accused of killing an ISIS fighter that was wounded. The medic that accused Gallagher changed his story on the witness stand, saying instead he (the medic) actually killed the ISIS fighter. That’s a strange enough development, but Gallagher was convicted of posing with a dead terrorist like a kid at the zoo. That seems like writing a citation for jay-walking because you couldn’t prove he robbed the liquor store. It’s nothing, a joke. 

  

President Trump gave him a pardon. But it was only a pardon for the crime of posing with a dead ISIS fighter. But overriding the Secretary of the Navy (Richard Spencer) and letting Gallagher keep his trident, the president gave the brass a middle finger. Maybe they deserved it, or maybe Trump was flexing his muscle a bit and letting the Pentagon know that they work for him. If you go constantly usurp the leaders that work for you it will create a backlash at some point, even if the president is within his rights to do it.

The public rarely hears cases like this. Most military courts stay behind the scenes and out public view. That’s best for everyone. When civilians hear about some of the grizzlier crimes they get put off. They can’t imagine how anyone could be so ruthless and cruel. But war does this to people and I prefer not to hear about every killing. If we’re talking about a Mai Li type massacre where civilians are rounded up and shot or raped and mutilated then everyone should know.

But this stuff with Gallagher seems minor, and considering he was acquitted of the murder charge anyway it seems even less important. It became important when Trump ordered the Navy to give Gallagher back his trident and end the ongoing investigation.

After the disastrous trial the prosecution leaked video to the New York Times showing interviews with the men from Gallagher’s platoon. It’s such a smarmy DC thing to leak classified information. I wonder if Americans even realize it is a crime.

 In the interviews Gallagher is called “toxic” and “evil” by SEALs under his command. They accuse him of being willing to kill anything that moves. Some of their complaints are just about his nasty language, “burkas were flying” and so forth.

Maybe he was a ‘toxic’ leader and prone to bloodthirsty language. If you’ve been around soldiers or sailors this is basically on brand for all of us, we’ve got a dark sense of humor. One recurring theme from most veterans of war is the callousness toward death and destruction. Teddy Roosevelt even wrote to his friend (Henry Cabot Lodge) about his ride up San Juan hill in Cuba “I killed a Spaniard with my own hand—like a jackrabbit”. Clearly loving battle a friend who fought with him during his Rough Rider days described him as “reveling in victory and gore”. That fighting men might actually get charged up by battle shouldn’t be surprising.

So how much of this is language and how much is real psychotic behavior? 

One aspect of this whole thing does make me cringe a bit. Why did a significant chunk of the men under his authority so despise him? I doubt if this is normal in the SEALs. These men have to be close and trust each other in the most dangerous situations; their lives literally depend on it. They accuse him of murder though, not a minor thing. 

It feels to me like there is a lot more to this story so I’ll reserve judgement on Eddie Gallagher for now. Whether Trump should have inserted himself into an internal matter is beside the point. When military leaders don’t fall in line they can be removed for even trivial things. President Obama removed General McChrystal from Afghanistan after a story about him calling the vice president “Joe Bite-Me”. I don’t think Obama really wanted to do it, but he would've looked weak otherwise. Silly nicknames mean disloyalty and as soon as the public hears it the command structure falls apart.

So far this insubordination against President Trump includes ‘appointed’ officials at Justice, State, Defense, the FBI and multiple intelligence agencies. The key word there is appointed. We expect elected officials (Congress, Senate) to stop the president’s agenda, not bureaucrats.

When administrators start to run their departments like little fiefdoms the country is in trouble. A house cleaning is in order.