Honor and Betrayal : The Untold Story of the Navy Seals Who Captured the "Butcher of Fallujah"-and the Shameful Ordeal They Later Endured (9780306823091) (47 page)

The courtroom rose as Judge Tierney Carlos made his entrance and took his place on the dais. When everyone was once more seated, the prosecutor Lieutenant Nicholas Kadlec rose and briefly outlined the case against Sam Gonzales: that having watched Matthew McCabe strike Ahmad Hashim Abd Al-Isawi, Sam proceeded to lie about the incident and then indulged in a SEAL cover-up of the issue, falsifying the evidence.

Lieutenant Kadlec indicated to the jury that Al-Isawi would stand before them and inform them personally about the abuse he had suffered and that the Navy master-at-arms who had been guarding him in the holding cell, MA3 Brian Westinson, would testify to support his statement.

Attorney Kadlec told Weston's story and made the significant point: Why would he lie about this, when the whole world wants it not to be true? There is only one answer—that it was true. And he is not lying.

Carmichael had already overcome one major setback this morning: he had arrived at the courtroom without his wedding ring and, assailed by superstition, had prevailed upon another JAG, Paul Threatt, to set some kind of an all-comers sand record across the desert to retrieve it. Threatt had made it back with moments to spare.

Carmichael's opening statement had taken until 2
A.M.
to perfect. He, Lombardi, and Reschenthaler had gone over and over the facts, especially that Brian Westinson had made many statements, four of them to the trained NCIS agents. He had also been subjected to four different interviews and, the defense would argue, there had been serious differences among them.

The Navy JAG would communicate to the jury that ten Navy SEALs will swear by all that's holy that Matthew McCabe did not strike the prisoner, that not one of the SEALs struck the prisoner, that no one lied, no one threatened, and no one covered up any piece of evidence.

“Ten Navy SEALs,” he would remind them. “But the government has decided to believe the word of this one man, Westinson, the one
man who we know with 100 percent certainty has not been telling the truth.”

And now Carmichael rose from his chair in this otherwise silent courtroom and began with a short introduction. “The prosecutor,” he said, “just told you the story of two witnesses. Now I will tell you the story of everyone else. Because every other witness you are going to hear tells the same story. Only the two government witnesses say something different.

“And who are these two government witnesses? A scared, immature MA3 with a huge motivation to lie ... [long pause] ... and a terrorist.”

Carmichael now walked back across the well of the court to the table allocated to the defense. He stood by Sam Gonzales, then turned to the jury and said, “Hi, I'm Lieutenant Commander Drew Carmichael. And I am proud to represent this man. He is a United States Navy SEAL, winner of a Bronze Star with Valor, a Navy Commendation Medal with valor, and acting leading chief petty officer for a forward-deployed SEAL platoon.”

The essence of the defense strategy was to talk the jury through the mission, to take them back to that strange desert and walk with the SEALs over the rough ground in the dead of the night until the moment when they located the building and Matthew McCabe led the guys in.

Carmichael reminded everyone that the SEAL leader identified and subdued Al-Isawi. “He could have roughed him up right there,” he said. “But he did not. He was completely professional at all times. He found much evidence—various IDs, a lot of cash, weapons and ammunition. And they brought the terrorist in, removing his handcuffs for the walk back to the helicopter, making sure he did not fall.”

Sam's senior naval counsel then reconstructed those early morning hours of September 2, laying out for the first time all in one sequence, chapter and verse, the timeline of events from the moment the SEALs handed the prisoner into Westinson's custody.

It now came out that Westinson watched Al-Isawi for about fifteen minutes and then took him over to the Iraqi section and left him in their custody for ten minutes. It was not yet 0500, and it was certainly
not yet light. And that was when Weston had stumbled into the first of his many problems. This was right in the middle of Ramadan, the most holy month of the Muslim year—thirty days of prayer and fasting, lasting from August 11 to September 9—thirty days when Muslims are virtually forbidden from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk.

Weston's Iraqi Muslims mutinied because right now they needed to eat before facing the long hot daylight hours when they denied themselves food. They volubly complained to Lieutenant Jimmy about this sacrilege of one of the Five Pillars of Islam, the ninth month of the year, Ramadan, during which no one should request any Muslim to work during darkness.

Lieutenant Jimmy was furious and personally accompanied Weston to collect Al-Isawi. He then yelled at the young master-at-arms for daring to turn his prisoner over to the Iraqis without asking permission.

They walked the blindfolded Al-Isawi back to the Conex Box holding cell, and at 0500 Lieutenant Jimmy entrusted Westinson once again to guard him. Everyone else from Objective Amber was either eating breakfast or showering.

Lieutenant Commander Carmichael then informed the jury that his client, Sam, had decided to go check on the master-at-arms to make sure he had everything he needed. And he asked McCabe and Keefe whether they wanted to come with him, after which the three of them rode over on a four-wheeler.

“All three of them say the same,” said the attorney. Weston said he was okay and didn't need anything. “The whole encounter lasted not much more than one minute.”

He also told the jury that Carl Higbie and Jason had walked in to check on Weston and the detainee. Carmichael stated, “Weston said he was fine, and neither Carl nor Jason noticed anything wrong with Hashim.”

At 0545 HM1 Paddy, the big medic, arrived at the Conex Box to do a medical inspection of the detainee. He passed Carl and Jason on the way, just as they were leaving. The medical inspection lasted around
fifteen minutes, Westinson having helped by lifting the prisoner's arms to check for bruising. Paddy noticed no medical issues with Al-Isawi.

“From this point on,” continued Carmichael, “MA3 Westinson was left by himself with the detainee for two hours, although he admits to abandoning his post twice. And at around 0730 he moved the detainee to another Conex Box, closer to the camp, where he could try to flag someone down to allow himself a break.”

It was just before 0800 when Lieutenant Jimmy came by to check on Weston and saw blood on the front of Al-Isawi's dishdasha, spots about the size of a Nerf-foam football. “More a spatter than a pool,” said Carmichael.

“What the hell happened?” demanded Lieutenant Jimmy.

“I don't know,” replied Weston.

And that was when the SEAL officer and Westinson walked the prisoner off the base to hand him over to the Iraqis. Both men remembered how Al-Isawi's demeanor changed as soon as he saw his countrymen—bending over and crying out in pain, sucking on his lip, trying to spit blood.

The meeting was called, and the lieutenant confronted the SEALs with the problem. And then he reported everything to a higher authority.

“What follows,” Carmichael told the jury, “is the story you will hear from everyone, from all the SEALs. Though not just from them but also from the techs [the name SEALs give other enlisted ratings who work with them]. And not just enlisted men, but officers.

“In short,” he added,
“everyone
besides MA3 Westinson and the terrorist will tell you this story.”

Carmichael paused and moved to the center of the courtroom. And here he began what was undeniably the first lucid account of all the many statements made by the witnesses for the prosecution. So many of them had been heard, fragmented, opportunistically selected, and, indeed, sometimes presented out of order. That was all about to end.

Carmichael, aided by his experienced and diligent team, Lombardi and Reschenthaler, was about to blow MA3 Westinson's words into the stratosphere.

“You have heard from the prosecutor a version of MA3 Westinson's story,” he said. “But what he did not tell you was, that was Version Six! Yes, MA3 Westinson has told six different versions of his own story.”

And in grim, metronomic sequence, he laid out publicly for the first time, the words of the master-at-arms that he, Lombardi, and Reschenthaler had traveled halfway across the world to refute on behalf of Sam, Matt, and Jon.

“Version One, uttered on that infamous morning at 0800, September 2, when Lieutenant Jimmy first discovered the blood on the prisoner: ‘I don't know what happened.'

“Version Two, told and repeated only a couple of hours later in the general meeting called by Lieutenant Jimmy: This is all my fault. I left my post and he got hurt. This is all going to come on me.'

“Version Three came two days later, when MA3 Westinson began to test out his story. He tells the camera operator, MC1 Lynn Friant: ‘I may of [
sic
] saw something. I was out of the room, but when I was walking about, I saw the detainee recoil as if hit. Then I saw McCabe standing as if he hit him. I didn't see what happened, but I think it was a sort of half-punch.'

“Version Four came the next day, September 5. MA3 Westinson goes to Lieutenant Jimmy and tells him he saw ‘McCabe hit the terrorist in the side while he was sitting in a chair. Both Gonzales and Keefe were watching. Keefe cheered. Sam said, ‘Don't feel bad. He deserved it.'

“Version Five came ten days later. Having already made a sworn statement on September 5, where he told investigators ‘everything,' he now reports a new ‘secret meeting' that occurred about an hour later, ‘where all the SEALs sat around and got their stories straight.'”

Carmichael told the jury that in this Version Five, Petty Officer Gonzales is now directing everyone to get their stories straight. “This,” he said, “is a follow-on meeting which MA3 Westinson had never even mentioned before. And everyone else denies ever happened.”

It was from this meeting that the charge of obstruction of justice was leveled at SO1 Gonzales. And Version Five also contained another mystery: the detainee is “standing” while being “punched” despite “sitting” in Version Four. “And all of a sudden HMI Paddy is in the
room,” stated Carmichael. ‘And he's witnessing the whole thing. So MA3 Westinson has moved back the timeline by one hour.”

Again the naval defense counsel paused before adding, ‘And then came Version Six. This is where it gets really interesting. Because after charges have been brought and the story is being covered by the media, suddenly the entire SEAL platoon is involved in the assault. Now McCabe is hitting on the terrorist while Sam Gonzales cheers and Keefe ‘roars' in approval. Keefe goes out to get a stick so he can pound the terrorist.

“MA3 Westinson says HM1 Paddy has to go outside so he is not a witness,” said the attorney. ‘And in a new twist he claims SO2 Higbie and Lieutenant Jason are now involved, and each takes a turn striking the terrorist.”

With an expression betraying nothing but astonishment, he adds that according to MA3 Westinson, he and HM1 Paddy could now see this five-thousand-pound Conex Box rocking because the SEALs are wailing on the helpless detainee that hard.

‘And now comes Version Seven. And I must ask you to wait,” said Carmichael, “to wait until MA3 Westinson walks through that door and sits in the witness stand. What's it going to be? I don't know. But we're all going to find out.” And, should we forget, let's remind ourselves of government witness number two. He's the Blackwater Bridge terrorist, Ahmad Hashim, who killed four Americans, burned their bodies, and hanged them from a bridge for all to see.

“He's a jihadist who was just playing by the al-Qaeda handbook, the
Manchester Manual
, the guide for all members of this terrorist organization, how to conduct virtually all operations—blending into a foreign country, recruiting, fund-raising, and how to behave in a coalition prison.

“Let me offer you rule one: at the beginning of any trial, once more the brothers must insist on proving, before the judge, that torture was inflicted on them by state security.

“Rule two: complain to the court of mistreatment while in prison.”

Carmichael concluded with a flourish: ‘At the end of the day this is what the government has with which to prove its case:

“Master-at-Arms 3rd Class Westinson—with his seven versions.

“And the terrorist—with his
Manual
.

“SO1 Sam Gonzales has everyone else.”

And it was already clear that the jury thought much the same. Both Lombardi and Reschenthaler recall them looking laser-eyed at the master-at-arms when he was finally called as the first witness for the prosecution and took his place in the witness box in order to raise his hand once more against one of America's beloved SEALs.

That initial address to the jury stuck in the minds of all who heard it. Months later, Reschenthaler said, “Drew's opening was fantastic. He never raised his voice, never slagged off the MA3—just stated the facts. It was completely captivating. To this day I've never heard better.”

Reschenthaler still has a picture in his mind of the opening hour of the trial: “Sam in his dress uniform, sitting quietly facing the jury, with a four-square, decorated naval officer standing next to him, refusing to hear a word against him. They were a study in everything that's good about the US Navy, top-class people—unafraid, honest, and straightforward. The charge sheet against Sam Gonzales was, in my opinion, a travesty.”