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Thursday, August 23, 2012

2012 / Books Today in Navy SEAL News: Fox Reveals Anonymous SEAL Author's Identity, Anti-Obama SEALs to Speak at RNC

Posted by Paul Constant on Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 2:53 PM

1. Yesterday, the news broke that one of the Navy SEALs who raided Osama bin Laden's compound will publish a book about the killing of bin Laden. Today, the news broke that that SEAL's anonymity may have been compromised by Fox News:

The book, "No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden," is set to hit shelves on Sept 11. It is penned under the pseudonym "Mark Owen," according to the publisher, but multiple sources told Fox News his name is in fact Matt Bissonnette, 36, of Wrangell, Alaska. Bissonnette could be exposing himself to legal trouble, as the Pentagon has not vetted the account.

2. Because anonymity is very important to Navy SEALs, see. Unless they're about to go on national television to talk about how much they hate President Obama in a surprise RNC appearance:

The controversy surrounding conservative veterans groups criticizing President Obama over the killing of Osma Bin Laden is heading to Tampa next week, with three organizations planning to hold an event at Liberty Plaza on Tuesday.

The event, called "Defending the Defenders," is being hosted by three political action committees whose goal has been to raise questions about the White House's handling of the Bin Laden raid, as well as the alleged leaking of national security information.

"This high-energy tribute to the ment women of the United States military will feature former members of SEAL Team Six, Army Rangers, Gold Star parents and modern day patriots with a few surprise guests," reads the flyer obtained by BuzzFeed.

This attempt to swiftboat President Obama—they charge that he was indecisive, before he finally gave the order to shoot Osama bin Laden in the fucking face—is an interesting one. I'm not so sure that it can work, because President Obama is a known quantity, whereas it was easier for Republicans to swiftboat John Kerry because he was just coming onto the national stage. They defined him as a coward. Obama can just point to bin Laden's body—metaphorically speaking, of course—as proof that he gets results.

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So you decided to reprint the name in your quote as well. I get that it's already out there but still, pretty low class of you.

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger on August 23, 2012 at 3:22 PM

Actually, aside from the fact that the body is at the bottom of the ocean, is there any reason Obama can't just literally point at bin Laden's body during the convention? I mean, there are pictures, aren't there? So ignoring for a minute that it's in incredibly poor taste, why not just plaster the entire country with pictures of Obama's single most popular accomplishment until November?

Posted by MacCrocodile

on August 23, 2012 at 3:25 PM

These fuckers would have come up with a way to call Eisenhower chickenshit for his D-Day planning.

Posted by seatackled on August 23, 2012 at 3:43 PM

Why the fuck would the GOP want to talk about Bin Laden when their presidential candidate is on the record (from the 2008 election where he was competing for the job Obama won) saying he would not have done exactly what Obama did?

Posted by chrisgreen on August 23, 2012 at 3:50 PM

@ 3 FTW.

This reeks of RNC desperation.

Posted by merry on August 23, 2012 at 3:57 PM

Also, I want to know about the "ment women of the United States military..."

Intriguing!!

Posted by merry on August 23, 2012 at 3:58 PM

A friend and extended family member served on a SEAL team. He's extremely bright, and conservative in most of the typical ways.

Anyhow, right after Osama's death was announced, someone representing Fox news (or a local affiliate) called him at home (he doesn't know how they found him) and asked for his comments, as a former SEAL, on the event.

He told them. "anyone you find that's willing to talk to you about this is either an idiot or a liar."

Posted by Dougsf on August 23, 2012 at 4:08 PM

Oh come on. Isn't this exactly how the chain of command is suppose to work? The Commander in Chief directs the military, the Generals and the rest of the command go out and get the job done.

Bush by his own admission took the focus off capturing/killing Osama, and switched it the political. Obama came into office directed the attention back to Osama and the job got down.

No Obama didn't personally kill Osama. Obama did his job and the military did theirs. Mission actually accomplished.

Posted by Machiavelli was framed on August 23, 2012 at 4:49 PM

I've never been particularly impressed with SEALS --- sorry! (This prob dates back to my days in USAF ARRS, and in rescue mission pickups of SEALS, etc.)

Regardless of what that douchebagger author of "Blackhawk Down" and his douchey slamming of USAF pararescue, etc.

The crucial questions:

(1) How many years did it take spec ops to locate bin Laden?????

(2) How long did it take former Rep. Cynthia McKinney, before she made the obvious connection between the announcement by the Pentagon's comptroller on 9/10/01 as to their auditing team uncovering $2.3 trillion unaccounted for, and the plane crash into the Pentagon's west wall on 9/11/01, killing most of their auditing team and severely injuring the remainder (DIA's Financial Management staff), and then Rep. McKinney about the status of said unaccounted for $2.3 trillion?

A damn sight shorter time than it took to locate bin Laden, me thinks!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMG65jYlD…

General reading:

http://dollarcollapse.com/welcome-to-the…

http://www.nnn.se/nordic/assange/suspici…

Posted by sgt_doom on August 23, 2012 at 5:44 PM

No one thought it would work with Kerry either. And they didn't paint Kerry as a coward; they painted him as a turncoat for working against the war when he came home. Keep in mind that the Bush campaign -- Bush who sat reading magazines during the war, which was known by everyone -- ran the swiftboating project. This could, unfortunately, work just as well.

Posted by sarah70 on August 23, 2012 at 10:00 PM

@5. That's all it is.

@10 If Obama loses that won't be why. America was present and awake when the Commander in Chief oversaw this successful mission.

Posted by IsabellaByersKerr on August 24, 2012 at 12:00 PM

As one of my professors once said referring to spec ops troops...

"You know, the real assholes. The ones that paint their faces black and jump out of helicopters. The worst 1% of any society."

Posted by longball on August 24, 2012 at 12:04 PM

It would absolutely make my year if the fucker who wrote that book was prosecuted under that "stolen valor" law and it was shown that he's a lying fuck and wasn't even there. Him and the douchebag speaking at the RNC. If there was a god I would be praying to him that we learned next week that neither of these worthless shits was ever a seal.

Posted by Root on August 24, 2012 at 1:10 PM

"Indecisive"? As in, he bothered to think it through before having it done? If their idea of toughness is mindless aggression, they're not fit to govern.

Posted by I have always been... east coaster on August 25, 2012 at 6:57 PM