The grieving parents of a Navy SEAL killed in Afghanistan say major blunders by the U.S. military and the White House led to his death — and described how his body and the bodies of other soldiers were "desecrated'' in an Islamic ceremony at an American base.
"As our son's body lay there [with the other soldiers], their first amendment rights and freedom of religion were violated,'' an emotional Bill Vaughn told "The Steve Malzberg Show'' on Newsmax TV.
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Vaughn's disturbing claim came in the midst of a Congressional probe of an alleged cover-up in the facts surrounding the deadly attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, Libya last Sept. 11th.
The couple are pressing for their own Congressional investigations into the downing of the chopper — why it happened and what mistakes were made.
Aaron Carson Vaughn, an elite Navy SEAL died on Aug. 6, 2011 when a helicopter carrying 30 American troops was blasted out of the sky.
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Since then Vaughn and his wife Karen said they have discovered many disturbing facts about the circumstances of their son's death.
"The fact is that Afghans are in from the top to bottom on all of the special ops missions. They know everything that’s going on,'' Vaughn said.
"After the chopper was shot down, here again, because of the rules of engagement, the men who fired . . . were not taken down.''
When the bodies of their son and his fellow soldiers were recovered, things got worse.
"At the ceremony at Bagram Air Force Base, the military allowed an imam to desecrate their bodies with an Islamic prayer that he helped pray their souls into hell and infidels and, in the end, said that the Muslims are the winners.,'' Vaughn said.
"So we found these things out and we, as families, have been working on this for a year and a half now and we want answers. We want somebody to tell us what really happened and then what could be done to prevent it for other families.''
Vaugn added that he had no problem with imams themselves, only that they were allowed to officiate over the soldiers.
"We know what imams do. What I have a problem with is, as [the] bodies lay there, their first amendment rights and freedom of religion were violated, not by the imam, by the American government,'' he said.
The Vaughns said the mission that led to their son's death was not only botched, but that the NAVY seals had been targeted.
"In the mission planning that night, we had found out that a high-level Taliban leader had been located. We sent the Rangers in that night to capture him,'' Karen Vaughn said.
"The decision was made to send in the quick reactionary force to capture him at 2:30 in the morning. The problem with that is the quick reactionary force should not take place unless somebody is in serious trouble.''
Bill Vaughn said he believes the White House has a policy of "relentless pursuit of the enemy" which leads to serious missteps in military operations.
"We begin to operate more carelessly, without taking as much regard for the lives of the warriors,'' he said.
"That night when they went in, we’ve seen testimony from men who were there that night and many of those men still ask we don’t know why the mission was necessary. We don’t know what the urgency was.''
Karen Vaughn told Steve Malzberg she believes the U.S. disclosure that the Navy SEALS carried out the raid resulting in the death of Osama bin Laden put a target on the backs of the SEALS.
"I will tell you that within 24 hours of Joe Biden announcing that it was Navy SEALs that took out bin Laden, Aaron called me and his voice was very full of fear,'' she said.
"And he said, 'Mom, listen to me, you have to wash your social media clean right now. Wipe everything off of it.' He said, 'There’s chatter and all of our lives are in danger including yours, mom.'
"They absolutely put a target on their backs. 93 days later they were all dead . . . The actions that took place that night are so completely unacceptable and they cost our sons their lives and it cost the families a life, now, of utter unspeakable pain.''
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