Reps. Burton, Rohrabacher To Renew Call For Exoneration Of Navy SEAL Three On Thursday
Press Conference Will Feature Over A Dozen Retired Special Forces Personnel, Plus An Update On The Pending Trials
WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, March 4, at 3:00pm, Reps. Dan Burton (R-IN-05) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA-46), will be joined by over a dozen retired Navy SEALs and other special forces personnel to host a press conference calling for the exoneration of the three Navy SEALs accused of mistreating al-Qaeda terrorist Ahmed Hashim Abed.
Who:
Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN-05)
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA-46)
Neal Puckett, Lt. Col, USMC (Ret.), attorney for Matthew McCabe
Mr. Haytham Faraj, attorney for Matthew McCabe
Captain Larry Bailey, retired U.S. Navy SEAL
Over a dozen retired Navy SEALs and other special forces personnel
When:
Thursday, March 4, 3:00pm
Where:
The Capitol Visitors Center, Room HVC-201
Washington, DC
Background:
In September 2009, SEALs Matthew McCabe, Julio Huertas, and Jonathan Keefe, were part of a team that captured Ahmed Hashim Abed, the al-Qaeda mastermind behind the murder and mutilation of four American contractors in Fallujah in 2004.
In December 2009 and January 2010, the SEALs were arraigned in military court on charges of abusing Abed and giving false statements to investigators. At that time, Reps. Burton and Rohrabacher, along with 38 other members of Congress, asked Major General Charles Cleveland to drop the charges, but the effort was unsuccessful.
With the trials set to begin for Huertas and Keefe in April and McCabe in May, Reps. Burton and Rohrabacher will again call for their exoneration and show the signatures of over 100,000 Americans on petitions that have called for the same. The Representatives plan to deliver those signatures to Maj. Gen. Cleveland and Admiral Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations.
Neal Puckett and Haytham Faraj, attorneys for Matthew McCabe, will provide an update on the case.
Capt. Larry Bailey, a Navy SEAL and combat veteran who served in the U.S. Navy from 1962-1990 will speak about the impact of this case on SEALs in the battlefield.
###
|