According to Reuters, a new group of allegedly "non-partisan" and "non-political" former "special forces" personnel have (curiously) some how come up with enough cash to produce a "media campaign, including TV ads" alleging that the leaks from the White House (still not confirmed as to their origination, and there is absolutely no proof they came from the Oval Office) have put American lives in danger. The group, known as the Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund Inc., (conveniently one that does not have to disclose its financial supporters) also slams President Obama for claiming credit for having Osama Bin Laden killed. Seems the group claims that "America killed Bin laden" and that special forces did the dirty work and not Obama. According to the Reuters report, the leader of the group is none other than Scott Taylor, a former Navy SEAL who ran unsuccessfully as a Republican candidate for Congress from Virginia. Ironically, not a single member of this group played any role whatsoever in the actual Bin Laden mission, nor were they involved in any way at all. In response to this new attack by the Republicans, Admiral Bill McRaven spoke on CNN. McRaven actually commanded the SEAL's Bin Laden mission. According to Admiral McRaven;
"At the end of the day, make no mistake about it, it was the president of the United States that shouldered the burden for this operation, that made the hard decisions, that was instrumental in the planning process, because I pitched every plan to him." According to the report, an Obama campaign official added "I think Admiral McRaven knows more about the President's role in the bin Laden operation than this group," the campaign official said."
Which gets to my point. Reasonable people can have reasonable disagreements. But having folks with absolutely no involvement with the Bin Laden mission, or with any of the matters they claim the White House has leaked, go and raise over $1 Million to slam the president during an election year and claim it is "Issue Advocacy" and not "Partisan" is ludicrous! Why you might ask? Because "Swift Boating" in this instance is totally without a basis in truth. How so? Many of you may recall that President Carter authorized a secret mission to rescue the hostages being held by Iran (let us never forget that dastardly deed). The secret squad of commandos never made it to Iran and instead their transporting aircraft crashed resulting in the loss of eight American servicemen. Carter took a huge gamble in an effort to rescue the hostages. The failure of the mission put the stamp of "loser" on Carter, a label he never recovered from. President Obama took a similar chance. Had the SEALS not been successful, his Administration would also have been labeled a "Failure" (even though the Republicans still claim it). But the mission succeeded and Bin Laden was killed! More importantly, Obama approved the mission prep. which included full scale pre-mission preparation. It also does not take into account the fact that as many as 60% of his advisors, including Vice President Biden and Secretary of State both opposed taking the risk from both a military and political standpoint. But Obama gambled his entire presidency on the mission. Yes, the Navy Seals did a great job executing their mission. Yes, the intelligence network employed also did their job. But by killing Bin Laden, he deserves the credit due.
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"At the end of the day, make no mistake about it, it was the president of the United States that shouldered the burden for this operation, that made the hard decisions, that was instrumental in the planning process, because I pitched every plan to him." According to the report, an Obama campaign official added "I think Admiral McRaven knows more about the President's role in the bin Laden operation than this group," the campaign official said."
Which gets to my point. Reasonable people can have reasonable disagreements. But having folks with absolutely no involvement with the Bin Laden mission, or with any of the matters they claim the White House has leaked, go and raise over $1 Million to slam the president during an election year and claim it is "Issue Advocacy" and not "Partisan" is ludicrous! Why you might ask? Because "Swift Boating" in this instance is totally without a basis in truth. How so? Many of you may recall that President Carter authorized a secret mission to rescue the hostages being held by Iran (let us never forget that dastardly deed). The secret squad of commandos never made it to Iran and instead their transporting aircraft crashed resulting in the loss of eight American servicemen. Carter took a huge gamble in an effort to rescue the hostages. The failure of the mission put the stamp of "loser" on Carter, a label he never recovered from. President Obama took a similar chance. Had the SEALS not been successful, his Administration would also have been labeled a "Failure" (even though the Republicans still claim it). But the mission succeeded and Bin Laden was killed! More importantly, Obama approved the mission prep. which included full scale pre-mission preparation. It also does not take into account the fact that as many as 60% of his advisors, including Vice President Biden and Secretary of State both opposed taking the risk from both a military and political standpoint. But Obama gambled his entire presidency on the mission. Yes, the Navy Seals did a great job executing their mission. Yes, the intelligence network employed also did their job. But by killing Bin Laden, he deserves the credit due.
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