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The al-Qaeda suspect was stripped naked and shot. Will Trump pardon his murderer?
Source: Washington Post
The al-Qaeda suspect was stripped naked and shot. Will Trump pardon his murderer?
By Ian Shapira April 23 at 3:34 PM
Before he spent five years in prison for murdering a suspected al-Qaeda detainee, Michael Behenna was a rising military officer from a prominent law enforcement family.
An Army Ranger in the famed 101st Airborne Division, Behenna deployed to Iraq in 2007 at the height of the U.S. troop surge, leading an infantry platoon of 18 men.
Behenna — whose mother helped prosecute Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and whose father worked as an FBI analyst and Oklahoma state investigator — has always insisted he acted in self-defense when he killed Ali Mansur. Behenna was paroled five years ago after an effort to overturn his conviction failed. Now he is seeking a different path to vindication: a presidential pardon.
It is a bold ask for someone who stripped a prisoner naked, interrogated him without authorization, shot him twice and then claimed at his court-martial that he was protecting himself. But Behenna, now a 35-year-old ranch hand, is pitching his case at an opportune moment for U.S. military members accused of war crimes.
Prompted by adulatory profiles on “Fox & Friends,” President Trump has voiced support for a Navy SEAL and a Green Beret who have been charged with murder but haven’t faced trial yet.
-snip-
By Ian Shapira April 23 at 3:34 PM
Before he spent five years in prison for murdering a suspected al-Qaeda detainee, Michael Behenna was a rising military officer from a prominent law enforcement family.
An Army Ranger in the famed 101st Airborne Division, Behenna deployed to Iraq in 2007 at the height of the U.S. troop surge, leading an infantry platoon of 18 men.
Behenna — whose mother helped prosecute Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and whose father worked as an FBI analyst and Oklahoma state investigator — has always insisted he acted in self-defense when he killed Ali Mansur. Behenna was paroled five years ago after an effort to overturn his conviction failed. Now he is seeking a different path to vindication: a presidential pardon.
It is a bold ask for someone who stripped a prisoner naked, interrogated him without authorization, shot him twice and then claimed at his court-martial that he was protecting himself. But Behenna, now a 35-year-old ranch hand, is pitching his case at an opportune moment for U.S. military members accused of war crimes.
Prompted by adulatory profiles on “Fox & Friends,” President Trump has voiced support for a Navy SEAL and a Green Beret who have been charged with murder but haven’t faced trial yet.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/the-al-qaeda-suspect-was-stripped-naked-and-shot-will-trump-pardon-his-murderer/2019/04/23/9ddc425a-5710-11e9-814f-e2f46684196e_story.html