Washington Monthly - September/October 2021 - 102

SEAL of
Disapproval
How the Navy failed to stop-
and Donald Trump championed-
a murderous special operations leader.
By Thomas E. Ricks
I
Alpha: Eddie Gallagher
and the War for the Soul
of the Navy SEALs
by David Philipps
Crown, 480 pp.
n recent years we've had a raft load of fanboy books by and about Navy SEALs
and other special operators at war. But in Alpha, David Philipps, a reporter for
The New York Times, has produced a serious study of a SEAL unit in crisis as it
fought ISIS in Mosul, Iraq, in 2017. By Philipps's credible account, the unit's leader,
Eddie Gallagher, was a one-man wrecking crew for ethical behavior. He murdered
a teenage captive by plunging a knife into the helpless prisoner's neck. He
entertained himself by repeatedly firing his sniper rifle at people who clearly
were civilians, such as old men, schoolgirls, and people doing their laundry in the
Tigris River. He frequently disobeyed orders from his superiors and hid information
about his unit's whereabouts on the battlefield. He had a drug abuse problem.
The story gets worse. Gallagher's immediate superior, a Navy SEAL lieutenant,
was intimidated by him and went along with his misdeeds. The chain of
command above that officer was aware of Gallagher's behavior but did nothing
to constrain him. Indeed, when the commander of SEAL Team 7, Robert Breisch,
was told of possible war crimes violations by members of Gallagher's team, instead
of pursuing their allegations, as was his clear and legally required duty, he
told them to report the violations themselves. But Gallagher's immediate subordinate
worried that if he vocally asked for an inquiry into the murder of the
prisoner, Gallagher would find a way to kill him-which would be easy enough
in a combat zone.
But Philipps's book isn't just about Gallagher. It's about a system that enables
evil because it doesn't want to look bad. After the Mosul deployment, Gallagher
was assigned to teach special operations urban warfare in the United States,
and the compliant lieutenant was promoted to teach the art of command in such
fights. Despite his justified fears of death, Gallagher's concerned deputy went on
to report the murder three times-only to have the Navy fail to act on each occasion.
The institutional Navy's response was to figure out a way to handle the
situation quietly. When that failed and Gallagher's story became major news, the
Navy was still unable to discipline him, and the SEAL was embraced by high-level
political figures, including then President Donald Trump.
Gallagher's military and political trajectory is shocking, but it isn't necessarily
surprising. American leaders have a two-decade history of mishandling our wars
in the Middle East, and officials have authorized needless violence against our
enemies, real and perceived. Gallagher may or may not have been inspired by the
dishonesty and brutality that underscored our actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But his story is certainly a parable for what we did wrong.
I
102 September/October 2021
n the spring of 2018, several members of Gallagher's platoon lost patience with
their leader's misdeeds and essentially demanded an investigation. Gallagher re
Washington Monthly - September/October 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Washington Monthly - September/October 2021
