WHY IS SGT. EVAN BELA STILL IN PRISON? DIANA WEST
http://bigpeace.com/dwest/2010/11/24/why-is-sgt-evan-vela-still-in-prison/
This is a T-R-A-V-E-S-T-Y.
Evan’s father, Curtis Carnahan, recaps the whole outrageous story here.
I’ve been tracking this case since receiving a letter from Curtis Carnahan back in early 2008. He had noticed a column called “Death by Rules of Engagement” that I’d written in 2007 about Marcus Luttrell, the Navy SEAL who, with his three comrades, on being discovered in their “hide” while on a secret mission to assassinate a Taliban kingpin deep in Taliban territory in 2005, faced a terrible decision. There was no way to hold the Afghans, so they had to choose between killing them and completing their mission, or releasing them and aborting their mission — and taking their chances against the Taliban as they attempted to exit their remote location deep inside enemy territory. They took the latter route, preferring to face a Taliban force that would outnumber them by at least 35 to 1 than the probable “murder” charges, military trials, and prison sentences back home. (Luttrell tells his story in the best-selling book Lone Survivor.) The epic firefight that followed when, presumably, the spared Afghans sounded the alarm killed three out of the four SEALs as well as 16 more special forces whose rescue mission was shot down by a Taliban RPG, killing everyone on board.
Curtis Carnahan noticed the obvious parallels between his son Evan’s case and the horrible SEAL fiasco. The original predicament was exactly the same. In brief, an Iraqi man and boy discovered Evan’s team’s “hide” in the pre-”surge” Sunni Triangle. (Esquire magazine extensive report on the case, focusing on Evan’s team leader, is here.) What to do? Here’s where things go differently. Evan, a sniper assigned to this team’s surveillance and support mission, was ordered to shoot the Iraqi man (later revealed as a member of the “insurgent” Jenabi tribe which was closely linked to al Qaeda) who had compromised the team’s position — and continued to compromise its position while captured. And here’s where things really go differently: Every American on Evan’s mission came home alive.
Everything that happened after charges against the men were filed smells, Evan’s trial — or should I say show trial? — above all. Unique among such trials, it was held in Baghdad even though his division had already returned to the States. And the smell of a rat grows stronger still with the fact that Iraqi Minister for Human Rights, Wijdan Salim, attended the trial, alerting Time magazine to her interest in a guilty verdict: “I want to be sure that any American soldier who wrongs an Iraqi will go on trial. [Evan Vela] killed an Iraqi man, an unarmed man. He must be punished.” Was Evan a sacrificial lamb to appease the Iraqi government?
In any event, so he was indeed punished. And, along with the rest of the “Leavenworth Ten,” so he is still punished, even as dozens and scores and hundreds of Iraqi and Iranian and Afghan killers of American soldiers and coalition personnel have been pardoned and released.
The most recent installment of Evan’s sorry case culminates in last month’s clemency hearing where, notwithstanding the better part of four years served, unanimous support for parole from relevant prison officials, letters of support from Idaho Senators Crapo & Risch, Idaho Congressman Simpson, and Idaho Governor Otter, plus the promise of employment on release, the answer came back from the Army: Parole Denied. The US government can and does free killers of Americans in the name of clemency, but no such feelings for loyal Americans such as Evan Vela or any other member of the “Leavenworth Ten.”
Evan’s TEN-YEAR sentence stands.
Support Evan by telling him you support him:
Evan Vela 84486
1300 N Warehouse Rd
Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027
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