Gulf News

The force is definitely with UAE resident Janssen and his family

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Gallagher targeted civilians. “The guy is [expletive] evil,” special operator first class Craig Miller, one of the most experience­d members of Alpha Platoon’s SEAL Team 7, tells the Naval Criminal Investigat­ive Service (NCIS).

Another platoon member, identified by the Times as special operator first class Corey Scott, says: “You could tell he was perfectly OK with killing anybody that was moving.”

“The guy was toxic,” special operator first class Joshua Vriens adds.

Gallagher denies the allegation­s, dismissing them as smears by platoon members who could not match his performanc­e. The sniper and medic, now 40, was originally

■ accused of premeditat­ed murder after allegedly stabbing to death a captured, wounded 17-year-old Daesh fighter in Iraq in May 2017.

After he went on trial at the beginning of 2019, his case became a cause célèbre in conservati­ve media, championed especially by Fox News, and Trump voiced support for the SEAL.

In March the president intervened to have Gallagher taken out of a jail and placed in a Navy hospital, where he had more freedom.

In July, he was acquitted of murder by a military jury, but convicted of having posed for a picture next to the body of the Daesh terrorist.

He was demoted and the navy moved to remove his official Trident pin, an insignia that signified he remained a member in good standing of the elite group. Trump intervened again, however, to order the pin and rank restored.

 ?? New York Times News Service ?? Eddie Gallagher
New York Times News Service Eddie Gallagher

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