Mathew L. Golsteyn

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Mathew L. Golsteyn
Mathew Golsteyn in Afghanistan in 2010
Mathew Golsteyn in Afghanistan in 2010
Nationality USA
Occupation soldier
Known for Charged with killing an Afghan outside the rules of engagement

Major Mathew L. Golsteyn was an American soldier whose killing of an Afghan became a trigger to a public debate.[1][2]

Golsteyn graduated from the US Army's officer college, West Point Military Academy, in 2006, and was discharged, following an inquiry, in 2015.[3]

Golsteyn served in Afghanistan, in 2010.[4] His superiors felt his bravery and leadership merited recognition, and he was awarded a Silver Star, the third highest medal awarded by the US military. The Secretary of the Army was considering upgrading his recognition to a Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest medal.

However, in 2011, an incident came to light, from 2010, when Golsteyn, then a Captain, killed an unarmed Afghan.[1][2] Golsteyn was working next to Marines during the battle of Marja, in Helmand, Afghanistan, on February 18, 2010. A party of Marines opened a booby-trapped door, which killed two marines, and seriously wounded three others.[3] Nearby US forces subsequently inspected nearby houses, and took a suspect into custody, because they thought his home contained bomb-making materials. A cooperative tribal elder, visiting the base, identified the captive as a member of the Taliban. The cooperative tribal elder became fearful when the suspect saw him on the base, and told Golsteyn he now feared the Taliban would target him and his family. Golsteyn, and a confederate, took the suspect off base, and killed him - a killing an inquiry later determined was in violation of the rules of engagement.

Senior Pentagon official, Bing West, quoted Golsteyn, in a 2011 article in Military Review.[5] West described the ad hoc unit Golsteyn led, when he encountered the suspected bomb-maker, and when he won his Silver Star. It was a battalion-sized unit, mainly of Afghans. Since he commanded only "ten mature Special Forces sergeants", a half company of Marine riflemen, engineers and fire support specialists, was placed under his command, to stiffen the Afghan battalion. According to West, Golsteyn said “Afghan forces will never take a lead role in fighting, as long as the coalition is willing to bear the brunt.”

The killing first came to official notice in 2011, during Golsteyn's job interview, when he applied to work for the CIA.[6][7] This triggered the first Army investigation. The investigation took three years. His Board of Inquiry convened in June 2015.[8] During its first four days the Board heard witnesses from both sides. At 5pm, Friday, June 26, the Board's President, Colonel Stuart Goldsmith, ruled the Board needed to see the recording of Golsteyn's CIA polygraph session.

A board of inquiry determined he should be stripped of his Special Forces tab, have his Silver Star clawed back, that a letter of reprimand should be placed in his personnel record, and that he should be discharged - a general discharge under honorable circumstances.[7]

In 2016 Fox News broadcast an interview with Golsteyn, during which he described the killing, again.[6] Golsteyn's public description triggered a second inquiry, which lead to Golsteyn being charged with murder, on December 14, 2018. [6] During the interview Golsteyn justified the killing after describing the rules of engagement as being too restrictive. He asserted that, at the time, US forces were only allowed to retain prisoners who were suspected of playing a role in Afghanistan's drug trade. Suspected combatants would end up in Afghanistan's Justice system, and he had experience meeting former captives on the battlefield again, because they were often quickly released. He told his interviewer he couldn't live with the idea that a suspected militant he had transferred to the Afghan Justice system, would return to kill more of his comrades.

Golsteyn attracted the support of high profile supporters, including Congressional Representative Duncan Hunter.[4] According to the BBC News, Hunter called the charges a "'retaliatory and vindictive' inquiry into 'a distinguished and well regarded Green Beret'."

In December, following the formal laying of charges, United States President Donald Trump also spoke in support of Golsteyn.[4] He sent out a tweet, saying:

"At the request of many, I will be reviewing the case of a 'U.S. Military hero,' Major Matt Golsteyn, who is charged with murder. He could face the death penalty from our own government after he admitted to killing a Terrorist bomb maker while overseas. @PeteHegseth @FoxNews"

The BBC asserted that the exact meaning of Trump's tweet was unclear, but that it could be interpreted as an exercise in "illegal command influence", and could result in the charges being dismissed.

The Washington Times reported that after Golsteyn left an Amazon book review of the book The Wrong War, in which he called a fellow officer, Will Swenson a friend, Army investigators conducted an inquiry into Swenson, and Swenson started to experience administrative errors.[9] Prior to Golsteyn calling him a friend, in the review, Swenson had been scheduled to receive a Medal of Honor from President Barack Obama. But after Golsteyn's comment Swenson was told that key paperwork had been lost, and his award was delayed for almost one year.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Thomas Gibbons-Neff (2018-12-14). "Army Charges Special Forces Soldier in 2010 Killing of Afghan". The New York Times (Washington, DC): p. A9. Archived from the original on 2018-12-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20181217095040/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/14/us/politics/mathew-golsteyn-special-forces-murder-charges.html. "The accusations against the soldier, Maj. Mathew L. Golsteyn, are the latest chapter in a winding story that began after he told the Central Intelligence Agency — during a job interview in 2011 — that he had killed a suspected Afghan bomb maker a year earlier, during the battle for the city of Marja in Afghanistan’s volatile Helmand Province." 
  2. 2.0 2.1 Helene Cooper, Michael Tackett and Taimoor Shah (2018-12-16). "Twist in Green Beret’s Extraordinary Story: Trump’s Intervention After Murder Charges". The New York Times (Washington, DC): p. A1. Archived from the original on 2018-12-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20181217100611/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/16/us/politics/major-matt-golsteyn-trump.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage. "With that tweet, Mr. Trump made another extraordinary intervention into the American judicial system. A president who just last week threatened to stop a Justice Department effort to extradite a Chinese tech executive and who spends most days vilifying the special counsel had now stepped into a complicated legal and ethical case that goes to the heart of the fraught politics of the military’s rules of engagement." 
  3. 3.0 3.1 Dan Lamother (2015-05-19). "Inside the stunning fall and war-crimes investigation of an Army Green Beret war hero". Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/05/19/inside-the-stunning-fall-and-war-crimes-investigation-of-an-army-green-beret-war-hero/. Retrieved 2018-12-17. "The case underscores a stunning fall for a highly regarded officer who has been lauded for his leadership and graduated from the prestigious U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., in 2006." 
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Trump 'to review' Mathew Golsteyn Afghan murder case". BBC News. 2018-12-16. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46587185. Retrieved 2018-12-17. "It is unclear what the president meant when he posted the tweet. However, as Commander in Chief of the US armed forces, any intervention by Mr Trump could count as unlawful command influence, and might mean the case against Maj Golsteyn is thrown out." 
  5. Bing West (March-April 2011). "The Way Out of Afghanistan". Military Review: p. 93. https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/military-review/Archives/English/MilitaryReview_20110430_art001.pdf. Retrieved 2018-12-19. "This war will be decided between the Afghan forces and the Taliban, not by a switch in sides by the tribes. Afghan soldiers, however, lack the motivation to challenge the Taliban. “Afghan forces will never take a lead role in fighting,” Special Forces Captain Matt Golsteyn said, “as long as the coalition is willing to bear the brunt.” In the 2010 battle for Marja, Golsteyn was advising a battalion of 400 Afghan soldiers. But he had only ten mature Special Forces sergeants, too small a team for sustained combat. So the Marines placed under his command a rifle platoon, engineers, and fire support specialists. Thus, a captain commanded an advisor task force rather than a team, but his force enabled the Afghan battalion to perform credibly on its own." 
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Jennifer Griffin (2018-12-16). "Decorated US military hero charged with murder". Fox News. Archived from the original on 2018-12-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20181217163134/https://video.foxnews.com/v/5979740536001/?playlist_id=930909819001. "While applying for a job at the CIA, former Major Mathew Golsteyn acknowledged that he had killed an alleged Taliban member suspected of planting a bomb that killed two Marines; national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin reports from the Pentagon." 
  7. 7.0 7.1 Dan Lamothe (2015-06-29). "Former Green Beret war hero, investigated in killing, survives Army hearing with his benefits". Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/06/29/former-green-beret-war-hero-investigated-in-killing-survives-army-hearing-with-his-benefits/?utm_term=.bf3340c4459e. Retrieved 2018-12-17. "The decision comes following a week of testimony in an administrative hearing known as a Board of Inquiry. The Army accused Maj. Mathew L. Golsteyn of violating the law of armed conflict, but the three-member panel found the allegation unsubstantiated. The panel did find that Golsteyn demonstrated conduct unbecoming an officer, a lesser allegation, and recommended a general discharge under honorable conditions." 
  8. Amanda Dolasinski (2015-06-26). "Inquiry of Fort Bragg Green Beret will go to fifth day". Fayetsville Observer. https://www.fayobserver.com/069c761d-fd63-57e9-bf75-30c6cc4763ab.html. Retrieved 2018-12-19. "He told the board it is critical for soldiers and special operators to follow the rules of engagement. 'Otherwise, we’re no better than a band of thugs or mercenaries,' he said." 
  9. Douglas Ernst (2015-02-26). "Army spied on Medal of Honor recipient over Amazon book review". Washington Times. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/feb/26/army-spied-will-swenson-medal-honor-recipient-over/. Retrieved 2018-12-17. "The online comment that prompted the Army’s Criminal Investigative Division (CID) to observe Capt. Swenson’s neighborhood was made by Army Maj. Mathew Golsteyn in 2011. He was reviewing the book 'The Wrong War,' by former Pentagon official Bing West. Maj. Golsteyn called Capt. Swenson a 'friend.'" 

External links

  1. "https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/06/29/former-green-beret-war-hero-investigated-in-killing-survives-army-hearing-with-his-benefits/?utm_term=.fd566214158d". Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/06/29/former-green-beret-war-hero-investigated-in-killing-survives-army-hearing-with-his-benefits/?utm_term=.fd566214158d. Retrieved 2018-12-27. 
  2. "https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/05/19/inside-the-stunning-fall-and-war-crimes-investigation-of-an-army-green-beret-war-hero/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7a0d7897a8d0". Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/05/19/inside-the-stunning-fall-and-war-crimes-investigation-of-an-army-green-beret-war-hero/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7a0d7897a8d0. Retrieved 2018-12-27. 
  3. "https://slite.dma.mil/issues/mar2015/20150306.pdf". https://slite.dma.mil/issues/mar2015/20150306.pdf. Retrieved 2018-12-27. 
  4. "https://theintercept.com/2015/05/06/golsteyn/". https://theintercept.com/2015/05/06/golsteyn/. Retrieved 2018-12-27. 
  5. "https://theintercept.com/document/2015/05/06/u-s-army-documents-major-mathew-golsteyn/". The Intercept. https://theintercept.com/document/2015/05/06/u-s-army-documents-major-mathew-golsteyn/. Retrieved 2018-12-27. 
  6. "https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/military-review/Archives/English/MilitaryReview_20110430_art001.pdf". https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Portals/7/military-review/Archives/English/MilitaryReview_20110430_art001.pdf. Retrieved 2018-12-27. 
  7. "https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/army-special-forces-matt-golsteyn/". https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/army-special-forces-matt-golsteyn/. Retrieved 2018-12-27. 
  8. "https://www.newsweek.com/hearts-and-minds-wont-get-us-out-afghanistan-66811". Newsweek magazine. https://www.newsweek.com/hearts-and-minds-wont-get-us-out-afghanistan-66811. Retrieved 2018-12-27. 
  9. David W. Hunt (2018-12-25). "Col. David Hunt: Maj. Golsteyn deserves a presidential pardon on an unjust murder charge". FOX News. https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/col-david-hunt-maj-golsteyn-deserves-a-presidential-pardon-on-an-unjust-murder-charge. Retrieved 2018-12-27. "If the Special Forces had allowed the Taliban bombmaker to go back to making bombs and he killed more Americans, the same idiots who are now yelling about Matt Golsteyn would be saying he was derelict in his duty for letting the bombmaker go free." 
  10. Jack Jacobs (2018-12-20). "Col. Jack Jacobs Trump’s interference in the murder trial of Green Beret Mathew Golsteyn sends the wrong message to U.S. troops". Brinkwire. https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-s-interference-murder-trial-green-beret-mathew-golsteyn-sends-ncna950166. Retrieved 2018-12-27. "The major facts of the case against Army Maj. Mathew Golsteyn are not in dispute: On or about February 22, 2010, Golsteyn killed an Afghan man whom the decorated soldier believed was a member of the Taliban and a bomb maker connected to the deaths of two U.S. Marines two days earlier. And we know this because Major Golsteyn has said so." 
  11. Carol E. Lee, Courtney Kube (2018-12-13). "Green Beret charged with murdering Afghan man". NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/green-beret-charged-murdering-afghan-man-n947586. Retrieved 2018-12-27. "Army Maj. Mathew L. Golsteyn is accused of fatally shooting "a male of apparent Afghan descent known as Rasoul" on February 22, 2010, near Forward Operating base McQuery in Marjah, Afghanistan. The charge sheet was dated Wednesday but Golsteyn was read the charge and signed a memo acknowledging it Thursday morning." 
  12. Rowan Scarborough (2018-12-19). "'No new evidence': American war hero faces murder charge in killing of Afghanistan bomb-maker". Washington Times. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/dec/19/mathew-golsteyn-faces-murder-bomb-maker-rasoul-dea/. Retrieved 2018-12-27. "A charge sheet presented to Maj. Golsteyn on Dec. 12 and obtained by The Times states that the officer 'did, at or near Forward Operating Base McQuery, Marjah, Afghanistan, on or about 22 February, 2010, with premeditation, murder a male of apparent Afghan descent known as Rasoul by means of shooting him with a firearm.'" 
  13. Daniel John Sobieski (2018-12-19). "If a Green Beret Is a War Criminal, then So Is Obama". American Thinker. https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/12/if_a_green_beret_is_a_war_criminal_then_so_is_obama.html. Retrieved 2018-12-27. 
  14. Luis Martinez, Elizabeth McLaughlin. "Green Beret's wife welcomes President Donald Trump's offer to review murder case". Yahoo News. https://www.yahoo.com/gma/green-berets-wife-welcomes-president-donald-trump-offer-011504343.html. Retrieved 2018-12-27. 
  15. Dan Lamothe (2018-12-22). "Trump’s focus on an Army murder case highlights a divided nation still at war". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2018-12-22. https://web.archive.org/web/20181222140538/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trumps-focus-on-an-army-murder-case-highlights-a-divided-nation-still-at-war/2018/12/21/b862b724-0465-11e9-b5df-5d3874f1ac36_story.html. Retrieved 2018-12-27. "The probe was launched in October 2011, after Golsteyn confessed during a CIA job interview that he killed the Afghan in February 2010 because he worried the man would kill U.S. troops, according to Army documents. Golsteyn’s family and attorney have disputed an Army investigator’s description of his statements, which came during a polygraph test." 
  16. "Editorial: Trump and the Green Beret charged with murder". Chicago Tribune. 2018-12-17. Archived from the original on 2018-12-18. https://web.archive.org/web/20181218052520/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-trump-soldier-murder-afghanistan-20181217-story.html. Retrieved 2018-12-27. "Maj. Mathew Golsteyn suspected that if the alleged bomb maker were sent to a detention facility, he might indeed go free. Golsteyn chose to eliminate that possibility by killing him — a deed he reportedly acknowledged in a 2011 CIA job interview. After an investigation, the Army didn’t charge him but stripped him of his Silver Star and his Special Forces tab. But that was not the end of the case. In a 2016 interview with Fox News, Golsteyn said he had killed the detainee. The Army reopened its investigation and eventually charged him with premeditated murder, which is punishable by death." 
  17. Jamie McIntyre (2018-12-18). "‘Matt broke no code’: Parents of Green Beret charged with murder welcome Trump’s review". Washington Examiner. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/matt-broke-no-code-parents-of-green-beret-charged-with-murder-welcome-trumps-review. Retrieved 2018-12-27. "Her son, Army Maj. Mathew Golsteyn, admitted to killing the Taliban suspect during a polygraph examination during a CIA job interview in 2010, and then again during a Fox News interview in 2016." 
  18. Elliot Ackerman (2018-12-17). "Even a War Hero Is Not Above the Law: On the battlefield, listening to a small voice that says, ‘This is not normal.’". The New York Times: p. A23. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/17/opinion/mathew-golsteyn-trump.html. Retrieved 2018-12-27. "Captain Golsteyn and another soldier, investigators say, then led the suspected bomb maker off base, executed him and buried his body in a shallow grave. Captain Golsteyn returned with two other soldiers who helped him dig up the body so that it could be incinerated in the base trash pit. The major admitted to the killing on a Fox News program in 2016." 
  19. "Green Beret says he was charged with murder because of Fox News interview". WRCB-TV. 2018-12-17. http://www.wrcbtv.com/story/39657801/green-beret-says-he-was-charged-with-murder-because-of-fox-news-interview. Retrieved 2018-12-27. "In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Maj. Matthew Golsteyn said he's convinced he never would have been charged were it not for his public admission that he killed the Afghan man during his 2016 appearance on Fox News to talk about military rules of engagement." 
  20. Duncan Hunter (2015-06-23). "Rep. Hunter to besieged major: CIA should be paying you". Army Times. https://www.armytimes.com/opinion/2015/06/23/rep-hunter-to-besieged-major-cia-should-be-paying-you/. Retrieved 2018-12-27. "The Army alleges that Golsteyn, in a job interview with the CIA, admitted to killing an unarmed Afghan in Marjah, Afghanistan, in 2010. Golsteyn believed the man to be a known bomb maker, according to the Army's account. An Army investigation into a violation of the rules of engagement, however, failed to find sufficient corroborating evidence to charge him." 
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