JAG CENTRAL

From USA Today: Court-Martial of Navy SEAL Begins Today:

The court-martial of a Navy SEAL lieutenant accused of abusing a prisoner in Iraq begins in San Diego today. The SEAL faces charges of assault, dereliction of duty and conduct unbecoming an officer. He is accused of punching an Iraqi detainee in the arm and allowing his men to abuse the prisoner, who died later during CIA interrogation at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad.

The Navy is taking extraordinary precautions to protect the identity of the members of its elite force. The lieutenant will be referred to only by the first letter of his last name, as will all SEALs in the courtroom.

During a pretrial hearing in January, a SEAL officer testified that the SEALs were taught it was OK to use force to get a detainee's attention and were authorized to use deadly force. Prosecutors, however, insist they must be held accountable for a mission that got out of hand.

In November 2003, the SEALs went after Iraqi Manadel al-Jamadi, a suspect in the bombing of Red Cross offices in Iraq that killed 12. The Navy opened an investigation in May when a former SEAL reported seeing the abuse of al-Jamadi and others. According to the former SEAL, the lieutenant who faces trial saw his men abusing al-Jamadi, smiled and said, “Glad I'm not him.” The ex-SEAL was kicked out of the unit for theft, and several SEALs have contradicted his account.

UPDATE: The Lieutenant has postponed the trial until late May or June in order to work out several issues, including how classified evidence is going to be handled, according to this story from the AP (via the San Diego Herald-Tribune). According to the AP, they are in possession of several documents that point the blame at the CIA, not the SEALs.