WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) should hold up the nomination for the next Secretary of the Army until the military overturns its decision to kick out a decorated Green Beret for striking a child rapist, according to Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA).
Breitbart News asked the Senate Armed Services Committee whether Chairman McCain was planning to honor Rep. Hunter’s request.
“The Committee will continue its review of the troubling allegations reported in the press,” responded a Senate Armed Services Committee aide. “Senator McCain will certainly consider the views of Representative Hunter as the Committee continues the process of reviewing several nominations for positions in the Department of Defense [DOD].”
Secretary of the Army is a civilian position within DOD.
Rep. Hunter, a former Marine officer and member of the House Armed Services Committee, is also asking Chairman McCain to hold the nomination until the Army drops what he considers to be an unwarranted criminal investigation into another decorated Green Beret accused of sharing classified information.
“I respectfully request your assistance to resolve Army personnel issues involving both SFC Charles Martland and Lt. Col. Jason Amerine. The Army has been given sufficient time to favorably address both situations, but has chosen no to do so,” wrote Hunter in the letter dated September 22. “It is my recommendation that—regardless of how the nominations process progresses you specifically consider holding the nomination of Eric Fanning for Army Secretary until these two cases are settled.”
Sgt. First Class Martland is to be involuntarily discharged from the Army by November 1 for confronting an Afghan Local Police (ALP) commander he believed had chained a 12-year-old boy and repeatedly raped him.
Rep. Hunter, who has gone to bat for a number of U.S. soldiers and Marines he believes have been mistreated by the top echelons of the military, is calling on the Army to rescind its order to force out the decorated Green Beret.
On Tuesday, Sgt. Martland, who has been fighting to stay in military, was reportedly told by the U.S. Army Human Resources Command that he “does not meet the criteria” for an appeal.
“Consequently, your request for an appeal and continued service is disapproved,” the Army wrote in a memo to Martland that Fox News obtained from Hunter’s office.
The Army office’s decision comes on the heels of the Pentagon and Gen. John Campbell, the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, denying that American troops have been asked to ignore boys being raped by their Afghan allies.
“The DOD does not have a policy that directs U.S. forces to ignore violations or abuses of human rights,” Maj. Roger Cabiness, a Pentagon spokesman, told Breitbart News. “The victimization of children – boys or girls – by Afghan security forces undermines the credibility of all Afghan forces and compromises the legitimacy of the Afghan government in the eyes of the Afghan people.”
The rape of children, particularly boys, by men in power is rampant in Afghanistan.
Rep. Hunter has written multiple letters to Defense Secretary Ash Carter asking him to intervene on Sgt. Martland’s behalf.
Lt. Col. Amerine was accused by the Army of sharing classified information after he contacted Rep. Hunter to inform him about what he believed to be a “dysfunctional” process for freeing hostages.
Longtime Pentagon official Fanning was nominated by President Obama to be the Army’s new secretary. If confirmed by the full Senate, Fanning would become America’s fist openly gay military service chief.
His nomination has to clear the Senate Armed Services Committee before it reaches the full Senate.
Last Thursday, Sen. McCain reportedly threatened to hold up the civilian nominations for positions in the Pentagon until it becomes clear whether President Obama will veto the fiscal 2016 National Defense Authorization Act.