Eddie Gallagher claims SEALs agreed to use ISIS teen for medical practice: 'Our intention was to kill him'
Controversial former Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, who was not found guilty of the accusation of murder in the death of an Islamic State (IS) detainee in Iraq in 2017, has now claimed that the young detainee succumbed as a part of a plan to carry out medical procedures on him and that his fellow SEALs were in agreement over the idea. Gallagher, a senior enlisted leader of his SEAL platoon and a medic, gave medical care to the IS member, including the insertion of a breathing tube to this throat. He also denied that the detainee died after he stabbed him. The former Navy SEAL, who was convicted of posing for a photograph with the corpse of the teen IS member, has alleged that unhappy members of his platoon had raised allegations of misconduct to frame him.
Gallagher, who will turn 42 this month, made the bombshell claim in an interview on Apple’s ‘The Line’ podcast on Tuesday, May 4, while speaking on the death of the IS captive four years ago. “The grain of truth in the whole thing is that that ISIS fighter was killed by us and that nobody at that time had a problem with it,” Gallagher told host Dan Taberski.
RELATED ARTICLES
'Our intention was to kill him'
“We killed that guy. Our intention was to kill him, everybody was on board. It was to do medical scenarios on him until he died,” he added. The former SEAL also claimed that the captive “was going to die regardless” and alleged that “everyone was, like, let's just do medical treatments on him until he’s gone”.
“Everybody knew what was going on. That’s the only truthful thing to this whole process. And then the rest of it, just is like, a bunch of contorted lies to, like, pin that whole scenario on me.” He also said that he had never stabbed the teen and that the latter died from all the medical treatments that were done to him.
Donald Trump intervened to back Gallagher
In 2019, a military jury found that Gallagher had not stabbed the injured IS member and he was also acquitted of the charge of obstruction of justice. He was only convicted of posing with the corpse for a photo. Former President Donald Trump later intervened and restored Gallagher’s rank and ordered he be allowed to retire as a chief petty officer. Gallagher was also allowed to keep the Trident insignia pin identifying him as a SEAL. The decision created a stir in the Navy circles.
Gallagher, who was the platoon chief during the Iraq deployment, has always alleged that the war crimes brought against him were made up by six platoon members who wanted to oust him. His attorney, Timothy Parlatore, told military news outlet Task & Purpose that prosecutors and defense were informed about the SEALs conducting medical procedures on the injured IS member before he died. According to him, the prosecutors decided against bringing up the claims during Gallagher’s martial court trial and thus he did not address them.
