After a short while, he quietly left the base. In the ensuing 17-hour battle with the al Qaeda fighters, six more Americans were killed, and several were wounded. By Emily Cochrane. These fucking morons read the book The Devils Guard and believed it, said one of the former SEAL Team 6 leaders who investigated Slabinski and Blue Squadron. A retired noncommissioned officer who tried to police the unit said the command suffered from unspoken oaths of allegiance among both the officers and the operators, and that the first instinct when misconduct surfaced was to protect the command and then the men rather than hold bad actors accountable. Inside the helicopters, some of the operators had pushed to hold off any air attack, arguing that they had plenty of time to intercept the convoy before it reached the Pakistani border. In exchange, Smethers, who never filed an official allegation or complaint, was sent back to the U.S. Smethers did not respond to requestsfor comment. One result of the growth was that back in Virginia, the captain in command of the entire 300-SEAL force had far less oversight over tactical battlefield decisions. Vasely told Moore he wanted an investigation into the incident. At that point, Hyder began assessing the damage and surveying the dead. The texture of those accounts reveals much about what went wrong with the most celebrated special operations command in the U.S. military. Within hours, news trucks and reporters fanned out through the seaside town looking for anything affiliated with Navy SEALs. Vasely later told investigators he saw the operator moving his hand back and forth over the militants neck in a sawing motion. Morale at Red Squadron fell apart shortly after the team returned to Virginia Beach from Afghanistan. Neil Roberts was the first member of SEAL Team 6 to die in the Afghan war, and among the first elite operators who died after 9/11. Several weeks earlier, in January 2002, Hyder killed an unarmed Afghan man north of Kandahar during the units first ground assault of the war. This directive had one primary purpose: to protect U.S. forces from accusations of unjustified killings by Afghan government officials. In that operation, Hyder led a team of Red operators on a nighttime mission to capture suspected al Qaeda militants in a compound. By Navy Times staff. Two different sources said that over a six-year period roughly 2005 through 2011 battlefield reports and accounts of atrocities, particularly mutilations and taking of trophies, were ignored by SEAL Team 6 leadership. Howards critics argue that the hatchets were emblems of the rogue, at times criminal, conduct on the battlefield the commander was encouraging. In keeping with Red Squadrons appropriation of Native American culture, Howard came up with the idea to bestow 14-inch hatchets on each SEAL who had a year of service in the squadron. In that mission, known as Objective Wolverine, Slabinski and his fellow SEALs were sent in Chinook helicopters to follow a convoy they believed was filled with al Qaeda fighters escaping to Pakistan. Alarmed at seeing what he believed was a decapitation, he told Slabinski to go inside and see what the young operator was doing. A retired noncommissioned officer said Howards encouragement and provision of Winkler hatchets was simply adding fuel to the fire. A former SEAL filed an appeal Tuesday, Dec. 21, that paints military leaders and their attorneys as corrupt martinets and levels allegations of rampant legal and sexual shenanigans by senior operators inside the ultrasecret Development Group, better known as "SEAL Team 6." SEAL Team 6 patches. He even has his own line of clothing. These were guys who were running a cell near our base, the CIA officer said. The only issue was, was his order real, or just talk? said one of the retired SEALs involved. The bombing stopped the convoy along a dry wadi, or ravine, with two of the trucks approximately a kilometer apart. My word is my bond. But after 9/11, another code emerged that made lying especially to protect a teammate or the command from accountability the more honorable course of action. Despite orders to detain the men, the SEALs killed all six. Bravo 3/3B. According to two senior SEAL Team 6 sources, however, the leadership dynamic in Blue Squadron was a failure. Scott Moore, right, then commander of SEAL Team 6. A fierce firefight erupted between the four SEALs and a much larger enemy force of more than 50 anti-coalition insurgents. This was a crucial moment: Kill bin Laden now and the war could be over after only six months. After 90 minutes, as the helicopters were nearing the rendezvous point, one of the SEALs alerted Hyder that an old man who had been lying in a ditch nearby was walking toward the SEALs position. Tyrese wasn't happy with Chris Rock for taking shots at Jada Pinkett Smith and shared his thoughts with fans via Instagram. Both operators were accused of breaking with standard operating procedure to get themselves in position to be among the first to see or kill bin Laden. Slabinkski and others in the squadron had fallen under the influence of an obscure war novel, Devils Guard, published in 1971 by George Robert Elford. Senior leaders at the command knew the grisly circumstances of Robertss death had unsettled Red Team. Later that night, after Blue Squadrons assaulters had successfully carried out the raid, killing three or four armed men and recovering weapons and explosives, Vasely and Slabinski conducted a walk-through of the compound. The rating means the. When investigators approached the operator accused of mutilating the dead fighter, he exercised his right to remain silentand his right to counsel. At the reunion, a few hundred yards from the Atlantic Ocean, a small group of current and former master chiefs stood around drinking and telling war stories. Its a great way to explain it away, but they have the hatchets to flaunt the law. When Slabinski was confronted by the commands senior enlisted leader about whether he had instructed Blue Squadron operators to kill all males during the operation, code-named Pantera, Slabinski acknowledged that he had done so. One former SEAL leader who attended the proceeding told me McRavens message to the commands leadership was clear. The SEAL mission was compromised when the local nationals spotted the team, who presumably reported its presence and location to the Taliban. But according to multiple SEAL sources, the incident did in fact occur. The SEAL Team Six member who was named as the man who shot Osama bin Laden dead is facing a whispering campaign from other SEALs claiming that his account of the killing is not truthful.. Bottom right: Undated photo of Adm.Wyman Howard. ), One of the former SEAL Team 6 leaders, who investigated several Blue Squadron incidents, including the mutilation of bodies, said he repeatedly asked the operators why they felt the need to commit such acts. Our leadership punted and Im not sure it will ever be corrected., The failure of SEAL Team 6 to hold itself accountable for battlefield atrocities has resulted in lasting consequences for operators at the command. According to several former members of SEAL Team 6, the most basic principle of assault training is follow your shot, meaning that an operator who has fired on a target must ensure the target no longer poses a threat. Smetherss threat to expose Team 6 came just as Vice Adm.William McRaven settled in as the new commander of the Joint Special Operations Command. That was the end of that. Hyder said that his single shot had blasted open the mans head. ONeill entered the room, walked over to where bin Laden lay on the floor, and shot him twice in the face. There was a lot of chaos. Bissonnette claimed he shot and killed al Kuwaiti and had fired bullets into bin Laden on the third floor. Over the years, he had worried about battlefield discipline and retaliation after Neil Roberts had been nearly beheaded, and he had feared his men would seek retribution in Iraq during the height of the violence there. O'Neill has gone. SEAL TEAM 6 also known as Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU) chooses guys from the SEAL teams and put them through a screening process called Green team. Unlike the SEALs, the man was not wearing night-vision goggles. A former SEAL Team 6 leader who has knowledge of the episode told me Moore shamed Slabinski and the squadron for their conduct. The admirals mast was an unprecedented disciplinary action at the command, which had always been allowed to discipline itself. Should they seek revenge for Roberts? Brian Snyder; Instagram. The units name itself is part of an attempt to obscure U.S. capabilities. Consider what the world of media would look like without The Intercept. He also claimed that bin Laden had been standing when he fired and that a weapon was visible nearby. By late 2007, Slabinski was deployed to Afghanistan as the senior noncommissioned officer in Blue Squadron. Rob O'Neill, the SEAL Team Six operator who claims to have shot Osama bin Laden, praised Greitens as a "combat leader," spoke at his rallies, and offered signed versions of the ISIS bumper. The lack of battlefield discipline was not limited to a single squadron. The unit conducted a captains mast on at least seven SEALs for revealing sensitive information during a series of promotional videos for the video game Medal of Honor: Warfighter. The reprimand ended the careers of two veteran SEAL Team 6 noncommissioned officers. If I told you I cut off a head after an operation, explaining that I got caught up in the moment, went over the line one time youd have sympathy for me. McRaven, who was informed of the killings only after he knew Phillips was safe, was incensed. The retired SEAL, who spent the better part of two decades at the command, said he never asked Hyder why he mutilated the corpse. Among members of SEAL Team 6, this practice of desecrating enemy casualties was called canoeing., The canoeing photos are dramatic documentary evidence of the extreme and unnecessary violence that began to occur during multiple high-risk, exhausting, and traumatizing tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Its a schoolyard mentality. A quarter were basically strap-hangers and a quarter were rock-stars. The novel, which glorifies Nazi military practices, describes counterinsurgency tactics such as mass slaughter and desecration and other forms of wanton violence as a means of waging psychological warfare against the savage Vietnamese. It was just good therapy. Asked for comment, the British government told The Intercept that it does not comment on security matters and would neither confirm nor deny that Norgrove worked for the intelligence agency. Its not their responsibility that is why we have DevGru operators.. At that point, the second inquiry was commissioned by the SEAL Team 6 commanding officer, Pete Van Hooser. What youre saying is you have no faith in the commander, he said. Some SEAL Team 6 leaders were appalled by how easily Vasely and Szymanski had folded under Moores pressure. The SEALs in the unit were furious that the White House revealed to the world that Navy SEALs had carried out the raid, violating the traditional code of silence about their missions. Hyder, who was the ground force commander for the Kandahar operation, was cleared in an after-action review of the shooting. How many covert wars, miscarriages of justice, and dystopian technologies would remain hidden if our reporters werent on the beat? During the investigation, Bissonnette surrendered a photo of bin Ladens dead body that he had unlawfully retained. At least two of Bissonnettes teammates who were with him when al Kuwaiti was killed were angry about the deception taking credit for a teammates actions on a mission was unprecedented and dishonorable but did not contradict him in the presence of a military lawyer. The morning after Objective Bull, Red Team gathered at Bagram Air Base. The discussion covered battlefield ethics. War crimes case expands to SEAL Team 6. The publication came as a surprise to the Pentagon because Bissonnette had failed to clear it as required. According to a senior JSOC official, the Norgrove operation was an I told you so moment. Even so, two of the three SEALs later returned to the unit. The operation commanded high-level interest because Norgrove, though in Afghanistan as an aid worker for DAI, an American NGO, secretly worked with Britains MI-6, according to four U.S. military and intelligence sources. Often wed hear, well, theyre savages, the former leadersaid. Officially known as the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, SEAL Team 6 is today the most celebrated of the U.S. military's special mission units. In the world of SEAL Team 6, where operators never face criminal charges despite allegations of war crimes, unjustified killings, and corruption the admirals mast was a serious rebuke. On my 2005 deployment in Afghanistan, we only went on a handful of ops, said a retired SEAL who served under Howard. He was awarded a Navy Cross, the second highest battlefield award for heroism. [There was] so much savagery. His name was added to SEAL. In the room with four of the suspected insurgents, four SEALs counted down and canoed each sleeping man with a shot to the forehead. These names are on this rock because these people conducted themselves in a way that did not bring glory to the teams. They are taught to live and if necessary die for one another. The SEALs were suspected of taking the money. You ask me to go living with the pigs, but I cant go live with pigs and then not get dirty.. By aflam arabia. Questions about battlefield atrocities persisted, though some excused these actions in the name of psychological warfare against the enemy. The hatchets,paid for by private donations Howard solicited, were custom-made by Daniel Winkler, a highly regarded knife maker in North Carolina who designed several of the period tomahawks and knives used in the movie The Last of the Mohicans. Winkler sells similar hatchets for $600 each. I understand the desire, I dont condone it, but there was definite retaliation., Hyder told me that he did not desecrate the body. Tactically, there was little about the upcoming raid that was complex. Several months after the bin Laden raid, in October 2011, SEAL Team 6 held its annual stump muster, a reunion of current command members and their families, as well as past leaders and senior operators. Obviously there are exceptions and I knew plenty of really solid Chiefs and up, but they seemed to be the exception and not the rule. . 471K views 6 years ago http://democracynow.org - A stunning new expos published today in The Intercept about the elite military unit SEAL Team 6 reveals a darker side of the group best. He was partially alive, faced down, his back to me, and he rolled over. It was disappointing. In the summer of 1992, he left SEAL Team 8 and checked in to DEVGRU. Private sector and then Delta Force ONeill, by contrast, was not considered as clever as his teammate, but he was a deadly sniper and had a successful tour as a team leader in Red Squadron. War is awful and its human to go too far, but this isnt one time. They were mad because he spoke to the New York Times and lied.. SEALs were given wide berth as long as they could explain why they made the decision to shoot an unarmed person. The extreme risks they take forge extreme bonds. After Robertss death, Slabinksi wanted revenge. Im not going to tell you this didnt happen. That operator, known as Red inside the unit, is still an active-duty member of SEAL Team 6 and has never been publicly identified. The photos and other review documents could be shared with local officials to justify operations. When he finally entered the bedroom, alone, bin Laden was standing uninjured, a weapon nearby, his wife in front of him like a human shield. His account credits Red with the shot that felled bin Laden and holds that he and a third SEAL presumably ONeill fired several rounds into bin Laden as he was lying on the floor. Every one of us is issued and carries a suppressed weapon, said one former senior SEAL, referring to the Heckler & Koch assault rifles, equipped with silencers, issued to the operators. As he did so, he approached the manHeath had shot. Other military and intelligence officials who have served with or investigated the unit were also interviewed. War is an adrenaline rush. In his interview with the Times, Slabinski asserted that it was he who had witnessed the operator slashing at the dead fighters throat, saying, It appeared he was mutilating a body. Slabinski portrayed himself as trying to police his men and said that he gave them a very stern speech. He claimed to the Times that he told his men, If any of you feel a need to do any retribution, you should call me. Slabinski says nothing in the Times story about Vasely ordering him to investigate the scene or the remark about a head on a platter. After the bodies were recovered, Hyder and the other members of Red Team were forced to reckon with the mutilation and near beheading of their fellow SEAL. Only three years later, Kevin Holland left the Navy. The beauty of what they have constructed, said a former teammate about how Bissonnette and ONeill cornered the market on the bin Laden raid, is that there is only one guy, essentially, who can come forward and say theyre lying and he wont ever talk.. Bissonnette and his teammates were nearly killed, and many of the operators aboard ended up with chronic injuries. Seal team 6 rock of shame. As he approached the third floor bedroom, Red saw bin Laden standing in the doorway, peering out. It was then that both Bissonnette and ONeill hung back on the stairway. It was a mess.. Bissonnette eventually settled his legal case with the government, agreeing to return $6.7 million in profits from the sale of No Easy Day and giving up any proceeds from future sales of the book. Both men were notorious among their teammates for their self-promotional tendencies a trait not well-suited for a team-first environment. One of Bissonnettes teammates then put his gun through the front door, which was now slightly ajar, and shot the gunman in the head. A few of his female relatives were nearby. The vehicles wereheaded east toward the Pakistani border, as if they were trying to escape. Its sport., The former SEAL Team 6 leader said that he first noticed canoeing in 2004, and that it does occur accidentally on the battlefield, but rarely. Moore, sitting in his office in Virginia Beach, pressed Vasely: What had he actually seen? Ten days later, the internal JSOC investigation was closed. Beginning in 2005 and continuing through 2008, as U.S. Special Operations forces became more central to the American military strategy, the number and frequency of operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan increased dramatically. SEAL Team 6 headquarters at Dam Neck naval annex, Virginia Beach, Va., showing the 30-foot trident sculpted from a fragment of the World Trade Center. Over a period of several weeks, a fight erupted between SEAL Team 6 and CIA officers in Afghanistan. And then we had to address a very important question, how do you get the guys heads straight to mitigate any retaliation for Fifi? Several of their teammates on the mission had to intervene, according to a former SEAL Team 6 operator. The story of the bin Laden raid has been told and retold, but crucial details have never been made public. Afterward, Kuwaitis wife confirmed that bin Laden could be found on the third floor of the main building, just as the team had been briefed. WASHINGTON Britt K. Slabinski, a former senior chief petty officer of the Navy's elite SEAL Team 6, received the Medal of Honor on Thursday for his . Allowing a lack of integrity to grow and develop within any organization will lead to abuses like it or not. The SEALs successes throughout 2002 resulted in the Joint Special Operations Command choosing the unit to lead the hunt for al Qaeda, as well as the invasion of Baghdad in March 2003. Thats when you take away a hatchet, the retired SEAL said. Senior members of SEAL Team 6 felt the pattern of brutality was not only illegal but rose to the level of war crimes. The member of SEAL Team Six claiming to have shot and killed Osama bin Laden in a daring night raid in May 2011 is Robert O'Neill, multiple news sources have confirmed. ONeills teammates shot and killed Kuwaitis brother and his wife on the first floor. ONeill has not been shy about the fact that he canoed bin Laden. We killed bad guys. You do something atrocious or sell out your name is on it. Bottom left: A Winkler hatchet similar to those issued to Red Squadron. Unfortunately, it turned out he had an audiocassette in his hand. By 2006, the command rapidly expanded, growing from 200 to 300 operators. He had already set himself up for a profitable future. According to multiple sources, both of their accounts contain multiple self-serving falsehoods. One operator, who confirmed Howards remarks, added his own: Thats the business were in.. But McRaven, who commanded the operation, had not ordered the snipers to fire, and neither had a SEAL Team6 officer. In the book, Bissonnette implies that he was directly behind Red just below the third floor when bin Laden was shot, and was one of the next two SEALs who entered bin Ladens bedroom. A third of the guys literally think theyre Apache warriors, then you had the Muslim way of removing a head. The death andattempted decapitation of Neil Roberts on Takur Ghar affected no one so profoundly as Britt Slabinski, the operator who led the rescue team back up the mountainonly to find that Roberts was already dead. Hyder said that he and a few other SEALs began to bury the casualties near a ravine by piling rocks over them. With more extensive photographic documentation, SEAL operators had less time to fire unnecessary rounds into the dead, and they had to use the photos to explain why they fired their weapon. Top right: A bearded Red Squadron SEAL in Afghanistan. What's more, they found. Two hours passed before the SEALs in the damaged helicopter were able to return. Others used them to break doorknobs on raids or kill militants in hand-to-hand combat. After participating in May 2011's Operation Neptune Spear with SEAL Team Six, O'Neill was the subject of controversy for claiming to be the sole individual to kill Osama bin Laden . ONeill was closer to Red, one of the first five assaulters. The battle of Roberts Ridge, as it came to be known, has been frequently described in books and press accounts. During a late-night raid at a northern Kunar compound, Silver Squadron operators killed several captors but accidentally killed Norgrove when an inexperienced SEAL threw a fragment grenade at one of the captors. No officers were present, and the enlisted SEALs used the meeting to address Hyders alleged mutilation of the dead Afghan the previous day. One retired senior SEAL Team 6 leader was there who led the unit during the early years of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. I shot him about 20 times in the legs, and every time youd kick him, er, shoot him, he would kick up, you could see his body twitching and all that. After more than 30 years in special operations, he knew that elite forces would inevitably cross ethical, moral, and legal boundaries if they were given too long a leash. ONeill was soon removed from his role as a team leader in Red Squadron after he was observed publicly bragging in Virginia Beach bars that he was the man who shot bin Laden. Well, bad news. The group gave him a five-star rating, its most ignoble designation. Neither wasloaded. When they reached the hilltop, the operators looked down in disbelief at women and children, along with the man all were dead or mortally wounded from the spray of gunfire from the Chinooks gunners, who had unloaded after the free fire zone had been declared. One of the two SEALs who knew about the grenade eventually told his team leader, who then failed to inform his commanders until he was confronted the next day. Tim took a dive, said a former noncommissioned SEAL officer, and it was at Moores direction. Szymanski had known Slabinski for at least 15 years. who is on the navy seal rock of shame. For many on the raid, including those who had been present in bin Ladens bedroom with ONeill, it was the first time theyd heard anyone in the command say the terrorist leader was standing, posing a threat of any kind.
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