Death of an American Warrior

Dan Cerrillo, former Navy SEAL, 1972-2023

I first met Dan Cerrillo in a military courtroom in San Diego in 2004 back when I worked for The Associated Press. Dan, who passed away last month, was a veteran Navy SEAL. He was short and powerfully built with a body like an NFL center. He had been accused of prisoner abuse in Iraq—wrongly, as it turned out.

Dan was fearless. He was a breacher. His job in Iraq was to run up to a door in the middle of the night, attach an explosive charge, blow the door open, and charge in. One of his SEAL teammates testified to his courage in military court, holding back tears as he described Dan as the bravest warrior he knew. Dan had put his life on the line for his country, time and time again. He had the scars and a Purple Heart to prove it. But now he was being accused in a murder he did not commit.

Dan's SEAL platoon had gone on a joint CIA/special operations mission in 2003. The mission was to capture or kill an Iraqi man suspected in the bombing of the offices of Red Cross in Baghdad. Dan took…