Former and current Navy SEALs have blasted U.S. President Barack Obama for politicizing the killing of Osama bin Laden, and using the military outfit as “ammunition” to get re-elected.
“The decision was a no-brainer,” said Montana state senator Ryan Zinke, a 23-year veteran of the special forces outfit. “I applaud him for making it but I would not overly pat myself on the back for making the right call.
“I think every president would have done the same. He is justified in saying it was his decision but the preparation, the sacrifice – it was a broader team effort,” the Republican told the UK Daily Mail.
Zinke, who also led a SEAL Team 6 assault unit, went on to accuse the president of politicizing the historic killing to get re-elected. “The President and his administration are positioning him as a war president using the SEALs as ammunition. It was predictable.”
As previously reported, the Obama campaign released a minute-long ad on Friday featuring former president Bill Clinton praising President Obama for making the call to kill Osama. The clip also quotes presumptive Republican candidate Mitt Romney from 2007, when he said, “It’s not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person.”
President Obama has also opened up the Situation Room, where he and top brass watch the killing unfold one year ago, for the first time ever to a television news reporter to commemorate the event. Previously, President Obama had publicly forbid press cameras into the room out of concerns he would turn into a political football.
A serving SEAL Team member told the Mail, “Obama wasn’t in the field, at risk, carrying a gun. As president, at every turn he should be thanking the guys who put their lives on the line to do this. He does so in his official speeches because he speechwriters are smart.
“But the more he tries to take the credit for it, the more the ground operators are saying, ‘Come on, man!’ It really didn’t matter who was president. At the end of the day, they were going to go.”
Other former and current SEALs told the Mail that while it is great that Osama bin Laden is dead, the war on terror continues. A former intelligence official told the paper that the Obama administration knew where the al Queda founder was back in 2010, but did not act on the information. The delay risked letting the terrorist leader escape, the official claimed, adding the either Mitt Romney or President Bush would have made the call in 2010.
A declassified memo written by then-CIA head Leon Panetta, published by Time Magazine, credits Admiral William McRaven, a former SEAL who was then head of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), with making the decision to take bin Laden out. Tactical decisions were delegated even further down the chain of command.
Yeah, right. Like that hasn't been done before. Remember Bush? "Mission Accomplished" my a_s.
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"Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal. Never forget that everything the Founding Fathers did was not." Martin Luther King, Jr.
Yeah, right. Like that hasn't been done before. Remember Bush? "Mission Accomplished" my a_s.
That was a moment in time as was Obama's press conference after the assassination. Obama is now attempting to use it as a campaign issue (of course Bush wanted to forget his photo-op).
That was a moment in time as was Obama's press conference after the assassination. Obama is now attempting to use it as a campaign issue (of course Bush wanted to forget his photo-op).
Use it as a campaign issue??? Where is this coming from? Bush wanted to forget his photo-op huh? Yeah he wanted to forget a staged photo-op where he lands on the flight deck of a carrier, glad hands with picked sailors (believe me they were picked) and then gives a speech with a banner in the background and he declares "Mission Accomplished"? Is that the one he wanted to forget?
Oh, BTW, if any of those SEALS are still on active duty they may well face action under the UCMJ for using their rank and position to engage on political activity. You see, once you put on the uniform you give up certain civil liberties. Freedom of speech, specifically unrestricted freedom of speech, is not in the Constitution and these individuals possibly may face judicial action under the UCMJ.
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"Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal. Never forget that everything the Founding Fathers did was not." Martin Luther King, Jr.
Use it as a campaign issue??? Where is this coming from? Bush wanted to forget his photo-op huh? Yeah he wanted to forget a staged photo-op where he lands on the flight deck of a carrier, glad hands with picked sailors (believe me they were picked) and then gives a speech with a banner in the background and he declares "Mission Accomplished"? Is that the one he wanted to forget?
Oh, BTW, if any of those SEALS are still on active duty they may well face action under the UCMJ for using their rank and position to engage on political activity. You see, once you put on the uniform you give up certain civil liberties. Freedom of speech, specifically unrestricted freedom of speech, is not in the Constitution and these individuals possibly may face judicial action under the UCMJ.
That was a moment in time as was Obama's press conference after the assassination. Obama is now attempting to use it as a campaign issue (of course Bush wanted to forget his photo-op).
So what. Every President does it. Why is this even a issue?
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"Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal. Never forget that everything the Founding Fathers did was not." Martin Luther King, Jr.
I don't recall any president doing so, and the SEALS don't seem to agree with you.
So you don't recall Bush and his "Mission Accomplished" BS? How about the failed Desert One? Or the Bay of Pigs? If those last 2 were successful don't you think they would have been used the same way? Presidents have used the military for campaigning for years.
As for the SEALS, the may face UCMJ action. Of course they wouldn't agree with me. How naive.
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"Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal. Never forget that everything the Founding Fathers did was not." Martin Luther King, Jr.
The second the clown came on TV to announce that Bin Laden was dead, he TRASHED about every piece of intel picked up at the compound that night. That's when he screwed up too, a lot more damage could've have been done to Alcaeda had he of shut his mouth a couple weeks and waited to bask in the "glory". Now he's trying to get re-elected with it.
The second the clown came on TV to announce that Bin Laden was dead, he TRASHED about every piece of intel picked up at the compound that night. That's when he screwed up too, a lot more damage could've have been done to Alcaeda had he of shut his mouth a couple weeks and waited to bask in the "glory". Now he's trying to get re-elected with it.
Oh please. Do you really think that? That's sad, really sad. First define TRASHED. What does that even mean? DO you actually believe that the POTUS gave up ALL the Intel that had been gathered? No. Have gave Al Qaeda (correct spelling) exactly what he wanted them to have.
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"Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal. Never forget that everything the Founding Fathers did was not." Martin Luther King, Jr.
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