Save the Navy Seals is one of these campaigns that seems emtirely valid on the face of it but then fails when the details are examined. The basic facts of the case are well explained by my colleague.

According to multiple reports, three United States Navy SEALs have been charged in connection with an alleged assault on a suspected terrorist. The three SEALs have requested trial by court-martial instead of non-judicial punishment (NJP).

That's the facts as they are. The allegations are that while arresting an alleged terrorist (supposedly responsible for the murders of those four Blackwater employees) they either punched the arrestee in the mouth or abdomen. The Save the Navy Seals campaign is arguing that they should not be tried for these actions. Heres Rep. Dan Burton arguing this point.

Here's Michelle Malkin on the subject:

Human Events has posted a petition to free the Navy SEALs who’ve been hauled up for court martials after an infamous jihadi in Iraq (the same one who masterminded the ambush of Blackwater contractors whose bodies were burned and hung on a bridge in Fallujah) accused them of punching him in the stomach during a raid earlier this fall.

Sadly there's a desperate misunderstanding of the case going on here. Let us start from the beginning.

Allegations are made: that the Navy Seals broke the law while arresting this man.

This leads us to two further things. We would like to know whether they did in fact break the law. For having agents of the State being allowed to beat us up with no proof....well, that's actually one of the things that the American Revolution was all about in the first place.

But much, much more important than that is this. Allegations have been made. So, how do those Navy Seals clear their names? How do they show that the allegations are not true? Or that their actions were justifiable? We have a system to do this. It's called a trial.

Don't forget, the point of a trial (whether it's a civilian one or a military court martial) is not simply to identify the guilty (and then to punish them). It's also, and hugely more importantly so, to identify the innocent.

How can these Navy Seals show that they did not break the law when arresting this man? By us shouting that they should not be tried? No, absolutely not. Only by their being tried and then being found not guilty. That is the way that our society formally states: you did not do this, you did not break the law.

All of which is, of course, precisely why those Navy Seals have asked for a trial, so that they can show themselves to be not guilty. So to argue that they should not have their day in court, where they can prove their innocence, seems very odd indeed really. Give them what they have asked for, a trial so they can clear their names.