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Combat Death of Navy SEAL Raises Questions About U.S. Role in Iraq

HeadlineMay 05, 2016

New details have emerged about the death of a U.S. Navy SEAL in northern Iraq. Video obtained by The Guardian shows Charles Keating IV was fatally shot amid an intense firefight with ISIS militants. The battle reportedly began when ISIS launched an attack on the town of Teleskof, disrupting a meeting between Navy SEALs and the local Kurdish Peshmerga. Keating was part of another group of SEALs sent in to help repel the attack. Amid a lengthy firefight, he was fatally shot in the side, then evacuated by helicopter before being pronounced dead. He is the third American killed in Iraq as part of the campaign against ISIS. U.S. officials have acknowledged Keating died a “combat death,” but have continued to deny the U.S. campaign in Iraq is a combat mission. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter spoke about Keating on Wednesday.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter: “Well, he was—his mission was to advise and assist the Peshmerga, who are fighting ISIL along that area of line of troops between the Peshmerga forces and the ISIL forces. That was what his mission was.”

In an interview with The New York Times, Charles Keating’s grandmother, Phyllis Holmes, said: “We keep saying it’s supposed to be advising that we’re doing, and yet we’re losing one kid at a time. Even [Defense Secretary Ash] Carter said it was a combat death. And it was one hell of a combat death.”

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