No doubt but I think the bigger issue is that the President explicitly endorsed Gallagher as a great guy and the Navy responds by going after his Trident. Apparently, he wants to retire so why not let him and put this mess behind the Navy and move forward. This was a needless poke in the eye to the President that would have left him looking weak had he ignored it.
Yes, going after him could be construed for insubordination... however, as I stated, while it appears prosecutors botched this guys case, the charges against him are pretty serious and from several independent and unrelated people. This doesn’t come across as a railroading to me...
As I said if he stabbed some captured ISIS scumbag to death on the battlefield, against the rules of war, I am not really all that concerned... ISIS is not national recognized state, they are a terrorist organization, as such I don’t care what BUSH said, they are NOT covered by the Geneva Convention... So, I am not losing sleep if one of our men lost their mind momentarily and killed one of them in a barbaric fashion.
If, however, he was running around in bloodlust randomly killing civilians and hoping the fog of war would protect him from it, he’s a sociopath, and needs punished.
I can certainly understand why the military does not think this guy should walk without consequence for his behavior, and be resent for someone off the battlefield, letting this guy off with no consequences.
Personally, I would be personally vary worried about this guy walking around in the general public... If even half of the things alleged against him are true, he’s snapped.