SEALs’ first commander would be appalled
Re: “SEALs deserve their day in court,” Editorial, Dec. 4
Back in 1962, when this elite new force was formed by John Callahan, who died on Thanksgiving Day in Peru, Vt., it’s safe to assume he never envisioned a time in which newer generations of SEALs would be treated as criminals because they bloodied the lip of a murderous thug under extremely dangerous wartime conditions.
This terrorist was probably not handled gingerly. But at least they didn’t kill him, drag his body through the streets, and then string it up and burn it as he did to four Blackwater contractors. It’s also more likely the guy wasn’t behaving all that nicely during his apprehension.
SEALs are the most vulnerable when they have captured their target and are trying to exit the area. An uncooperative detainee who is either slowing them down or alerting others puts all lives at risk, especially if more bad-guy reinforcements arrive. It’s necessary to keep the detainee quiet, and requesting cooperation through multiple uses of “please?” just doesn’t work.
Reaction to the abuses at Abu Ghraib, which never should have happened, has created an atmosphere in which there is no sense of proportion and seemingly little understanding by higher-ups of the extreme danger and difficulty of successfully capturing a terrorist like Ahmed Hashim Abed.
A mind-set in which the use of force is almost always equal to torture blurs the lines between the two, creates confusion among the troops and may get some of them killed.
Mike Smith
SEAL Team Two, 1972-1975
Former secretary of administration,
state of Vermont
Council abandons program that works
Re: Harry Jaffe: “Tommy Wells tries to throw school vouchers under the bus,” Dec. 2
Sometimes the right thing to do is very clear. Such is the case with a scholarship program known as “school vouchers,” which sends D.C.’s low-income children to private schools. Although President Obama’s own Department of Education found the program succeeds in improving voucher recipients’ test scores, the D.C. Council is actively working to end it.
I applaud Mr. Jaffe for shedding light on a letter to Congress by Ward 6 Councilman Tommy Wells and Ward 6 Board of Education representative Lisa Raymond that called the program discriminatory and ineffective. If one particular private school is not adhering to performance standards, then eliminate that school, not the whole program.
Unfortunately, these two elected officials are allowing their personal ideology to cloud their decision making. In the meantime, children who already face tremendous disadvantages are suffering the consequences.
Jill Homan
Washington
MoCo police union is on the right track
Kudos to the Montgomery County Fraternal Order of Police for contemplating a lawsuit against the county for protecting and coddling illegal immigrants. This is, finally, a step in the right direction, as crimes committed by illegal immigrants have been a huge problem for some time.
The county’s liberal polices on illegal immigration, backed by County Executive Ike Leggett, are not only ridiculous and unconstitutional, but also dangerous to residents and police officers. They require officers to first get approval from their supervisors before assisting ICE agents. This just encourages more illegal immigrants to migrate here.
Let the police do their job, which is to protect citizens, and stop trying to appease illegal aliens who do not belong here in the first place.
Al Eisner
Silver Spring
