SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Navy has cancelled a peer-review process for three Navy SEAL officers who supervised a fourth SEAL convicted of posing with a dead teenage prisoner in Iraq.
Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said Wednesday the case was becoming a distraction.
Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher was accused in a war crimes case that drew President Donald Trump’s attention and led to the firing of the Navy secretary.
Gallagher and the three SEALs were notified last week that a board of peers would determine if they should remain SEALs.
Trump then ordered the Navy to allow Gallagher to retire as a SEAL with his full rank intact. That led to Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer’s firing over his handling of the matter.