See Special Forces Maj. Matthew Golsteyn's interview with Bret Baier:
The U.S. Army has charged a Green Beret for murdering a suspected Taliban bomb maker while deployed in Afghanistan.
Maj. Matthew Golsteyn, who was with the 3rd Special Forces group at the time of the 2010 incident, could face the death penalty, Golsteyn's attorney, Phillip Stackhouse, told the Army Times, the Daily Caller reported.
Stackhouse described his client as a "humble servant-leader who saved countless lives, both American and Afghan, and has been recognized repeatedly for his valorous actions."
The Fayetteville Observer reported the Army revoked Golsteyn's Silver Star in February 2015 pending an investigation in which he was placed on "excess leave."
The Army initially found no evidence of a crime. But the investigation was reopened after Golsteyn admitting in a Fox News interview in 2016 that he killed the man.
Golsteyn explained he was afraid the man would kill a tribal leader who had disclosed his identity to Golsteyn.
The Army Times said the man allegedly had built a bomb that killed two Marines. The Army did not respond to the Daily Caller's request for comment.
In 2003, WND reported the Army's prosecution of Lt. Col. Allen West for using shock interrogation tactics to thwart an impending attack on U.S. soldiers. West, who later served a term in Congress, faced a possible court martial. He eventually was given a non-judicial punishment that resulted in a loss of $5,000 in pay.
As WND reported, the charges centered on West's attempt to flush out information from an uncooperative Iraqi policeman. Threatening to kill the Iraqi if he didn’t talk, West fired a pistol near the policeman’s head, producing an immediate flood of information that purportedly led to the arrest of two insurgents and cessation of attacks on West’s 4th Infantry Division battalion.
But Army prosecutors charged West with aggravated assault, and he faced the possibility of up to eight years in prison.
At a hearing, West was asked by his defense attorney if he would do it again.
“If it’s about the lives of my men and their safety, I’d go through hell with a gasoline can,” he said.
In an interview with WND in 2008, as he prepared to run for Congress, West noted other controversial military prosecutions of U.S. servicemen in Iraq, including Ilario Pantano and the eight Marines charged in the Haditha incident.
He urged examining the rules of engagement "to make sure we are setting up our soldiers and airman and Marines for success on the ground instead of having them in these situations where they can be exploited by the enemy."
Pantano was charged with premeditated murder in the killing of two Iraqi captives he believed posed a threat during a unit mission near Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004. The charges, which were initiated by a complaint filed by an officer Pantano had demoted, later were dropped.