Former subordinates describe a convicted American Iraq veteran who was favoured by President Donald Trump as a “dangerous madman”.
The New York Times managed to get their hands-on videos and e-mail traffic in which some members of the famous Navy Seals sharply criticised their former commander Edward Gallagher.
Marines of this elite unit call him “malicious”, “vicious” and someone who thought it was “perfectly okay to shoot at everything that moved” – even children.
In their testimonies, about which the newspaper published this weekend, the soldiers are shocked and ashamed.
According to the press, in a response, Gallagher labelled them cowards who could not meet the standards of their unit, and who had spread blatant lies about him. The Gallagher affair received a great deal of publicity due to the involvement of President Donald Trump.
The 40-year-old sniper was charged with stabbing a seriously wounded, imprisoned warrior of Islamic State (IS) in Iraq.
A military court acquitted him from murder last year, but did condemn him for posing next to the body of the 17-year-old IS, as if it were a hunting trophy. Gallagher was relegated and lost a badge that Navy Seals proudly wear.