A retired Navy SEAL referred to some of the former members of his platoon, who accused him of war crimes, as “cowards” in a three-minute video posted to social media on Monday.
Former Special Warfare Operator Chief Eddie Gallagher, 40, was acquitted of nearly every charge against him in a court martial trial last year.
In the video, which was uploaded to his Facebook and Instagram channels, Gallagher provides commentary over footage of Naval Criminal Investigative Services’ interviews with six SEALs.
“There are those to this day who do not accept [the fact that Gallagher was acquitted of the most serious charges against him,]” he says in the video.
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The six SEALs’ names, ranks and current positions are highlighted in the footage.
The video ends with the hashtag #THETRUTHISCOMING.
Gallagher, a decorated SEAL team platoon leader, was accused of committing various war crimes while deployed in Iraq in 2017.
The charges stemmed primarily from statements made by Gallagher’s platoon mates, who deployed with him in Iraq in 2017.
They accused Gallagher of shooting a young girl while on sniper duty, firing at civilians and stabbing a wounded ISIS fighter and then posing with his corpse for a photo, the Military Times reported.
In July, a military jury acquitted him of murdering a captured Islamic State fighter by stabbing the wounded prisoner in the neck, but it convicted him of illegally posing with the detainee’s corpse. That had led to his rank being reduced.
Some of the footage in Gallagher’s video is the same as the leaked video obtained by The New York Times and released on Hulu last month.
The videotaped interviews obtained by The Times show Navy SEALs discussing allegations that Gallagher stabbed a wounded Islamic State combatant, an incident which led to murder charges.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Ivan Villanueva told criminal investigators he “saw it happen,” referencing the alleged stabbing.
“The guy is freaking evil,” Special Operator First Class Craig Miller said about Gallagher.
Special Operator First Class Corey Scott said Gallagher was “perfectly OK with killing anybody that was moving.”
In a statement made in December, Gallagher dismissed his fellow SEALs’ accusations as “blatant lies.”
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“My first reaction to seeing the videos was surprise and disgust that they would make up blatant lies about me, but I quickly realized that they were scared that the truth would come out of how cowardly they acted on deployment,” he said. “Soon after I got to the brig at Miramar, one of these guys came to visit me and apologize for what they did but that they had to stick with the fake stories or be charged with making false statements.”
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