SAN DIEGO (AP) – A decorated Navy SEAL suddenly plunged a knife into the neck of a wounded young Islamic State prisoner, killing him, and later scoffed that he was “just an ISIS dirtbag,” former comrades testified at a war crimes trial.
Dylan Dille and Craig Miller took the stand Wednesday at the San Diego court-martial of Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher, who has pleaded not guilty to murder and attempted murder stemming from his 2017 tour of duty in Iraq.
More former SEALs were expected to testify on Thursday in a case that has drawn the attention of President Donald Trump and revealed a rare rift in the typically tightknit elite special forces.
Testifying on the second day of trial, Dille said when a radio call announced the prisoner was wounded on May 3, 2017, Gallagher replied: “Don’t touch him, he’s all mine.”
The captive was on the hood of a Humvee fading in an out of consciousness with only a minor leg wound visible when Iraqi forces delivered him to a SEAL compound in Mosul.