Nos genuflectitur ad non princeps sed Princeps Pacem!
Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)
Posted on 05/01/2012 7:04:55 PM PDT by Signalman
Almost eight years ago, presidential candidate John Kerry accepted the Democratic nomination with the infamous line: “I’m John Kerry, and I’m reporting for duty.” His military service, in a war three decades old, became the centerpiece of his campaign.
Within weeks, the Republicans had turned what was seen as one of Kerry’s strongest assets against him. Swift Boats Veterans for Truth—which included over 200 Vietnam veterans, most who hadn’t even served with Kerry—succeeded in raising doubts about the heroic narrative Kerry was selling. What seemingly started as a scratch turned into a sucking chest wound for his campaign.
Yesterday, the Obama campaign got clawed.
Drudge blasted the headline from London's Daily Mail: SEALS SLAM OBAMA FOR MAKING IT POLITICAL.
What was supposed to be an easy win—a victory lap on the anniversary of Bin Laden’s death, trumping up the president’s most militant moment—appeared to be slipping away.
The frustration—or, even anger—within the SEAL community is real, and has been brewing for months, particularly among a politically conservative core of operators. It started immediately after the raid, with questions among the Special Forces and intelligence community of whether the president should have waited to announce the kill to exploit the intelligence cache at Osama’s compound. It simmered after a Chinook helicopter was shot down, killing 30 Americans, 22 of them Navy SEALs from Team Six.
Was it a coincidence, SEALs asked themselves, catastrophe hit Team Six so soon after being named as the team responsible for the killing?
The White House narrative on the Geronimo mission would soon come under scrutiny as well, after Chuck Pfarrer, a former member of Seal Team Six, published a book length account questioning the official version of the story. The controversial book was viciously attacked—a JSOC spokesperson called it a “fabrication”—and it was widely dismissed by the press.
What the pushback revealed, however, was an extreme sensitivity in the White House as to who would have the privilege to tell the Bin Laden story, best expressed in a compelling, if well stage-managed, story in the New Yorker. The piece recounted the Abbottabad raid based on interviews with senior administration and military officials, while imbuing the story with the drama of a SEAL’s eye view. Yet the author conceded he had not actually interviewed the men who did the shooting.
Over the past few days, I’ve reached out to a number of SEALs, both active duty and former. Most active duty SEALs were reluctant to go on the record venting or praising their boss, but one of the most interesting responses I received from an operator was to direct me to Leif Babin, a SEAL who left active duty last year.
Babin, who runs the consulting firm Echelon Front, wrote a little noticed op-ed in Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal four months ago. The headline: OBAMA EXPLOITS THE NAVY SEALS. Babin took aim at “the president and his advisors, writing: “It is infuriating to see political gain put above the safety and security of our brave warriors and our long-term strategic goals.”
Obama campaign officials say the decision to put the Bin Laden hit at the centerpiece of the re-elect effort is a no brainer. (It has featurd in the new "Forward" ad; Vice President Biden’s speech last week; and a Davis Guggenheim documentary narrated by Tom Hanks.) The raid dispels the archetype of the supposedly weak Democrat; it’s reveals a moment of presidential decisiveness; and the successful killing of the aging terrorist in his Pakistani hideout, ten years after 9-11, a clear cut national triumph. It's a topic the Obama camp is all too happy to discuss, at any length.
But as the stagey outrage over the politicization of foreign policy from Mitt Romney and his Republican allies gained momentum over this past weekend, White House officials started to have their doubts. Was spiking the football, again, and again, and again, in a public such a good idea? Was it necessary? Was the campaign in Chicago, White House officials wondered, going too far?
Like Kerry’s war record, the vulnerability to the president’s Bin Laden story isn’t so much from the other side, as it from those who can claim the mantle of veteran. It wouldn’t be surprising to see the website: navysealsagainstobama.com sprout up soon. Sure, military servicemen are accustomed to being exploited by both the left and the right. But that strategy can have its weaknesses, too. If the assault on the Bin Laden narrative continues, and if the anger expressed in private by the SEALs remains very public, the campaign might be forced to retreat.
At least Kerry had three purple hearts. Mostly for grains of rice in the butt, but still he had em.
As a Vietnam Veteran and contributor to the 2004 Swift Boat campaign against Kerry, Obama’s recent self-aggrandizement re: the killing of OBL makes me sick.
I hope the SEALS go after him. They’ll get my support.
We can only hope.
AMEN!!
I certainly hope so.
“Will the Navy SEAL’s Swift Boat Obama?”
I am hoping....
I bet that it comes out they knew where Osama was and had internal fighting for 6-9 months about what to do. I personally think Leon Paneta gave the order behind Zer0’s back and informed him when it was already happening. Would Zero really play golf up till almost the take out if he knew?
If they do, they better know McCain will call them all liars. (not that they would care.)
Hey, hey
Ho, ho
Kerry:
sign the one-eight-oh
I just voiced that in another posting earlier, that I hope & pray the Navy Seals (former and/or present) go after this SOB RAT bastard commie pig 0dumb0 with a vengence. And that we throw him out of office in Nov 2012. Expose his lies and show him for the coward & muzzlie loving communist pig that he is. Including his phat ass, butt ass ugly man-wife, mabelle michelle!
Safety tip.... Don’t piss off the SEALS.
Actually yes he would. Remember, don't attribute any commonly held American virtues or principles to the RAT bastard commie-facist, muslim loving pig 0dumb0. His entire upbringing has been saturated with anti-American, anti-patriotic, communist, muslim indoctrination & belief. It continued for 20 years of anti-American, anti-Israel, anti-Biblical ranting & raving in Jeremiah Wright's Satanic black-liberation mosque church of anti-Christ.
That's the ranting answer to YES HE WOULD PLAY GOLF, IN FACT HE WOULD HAVE PLAYED RIGHT THROUGH THE ATTACK IF HE THOUGHT HE COULD GET AWAY WITH IT.
As a Vietnam Veteran and contributor to the 2004 Swift Boat campaign against Kerry, Obama’s recent self-aggrandizement re: the killing of OBL makes me sick.
I hope the SEALS go after him. They’ll get my support.
Thanks.
As a Swift Boat Veteran, I too hope the SEALs form an opposition truth group. This girly man piece of crap makes me sick...and the stupidity of Billy Bob Bubba Clinton shooting his mouth off about what a hero Obozo is...what a joke.
All John Fraud Kerry had to do was sign Standard Form S180 releasing his entire military record for release DIRECTLY TO THE PUBLIC, but he signed it for his own receipt and then released it, after removing all reference to his dishonorable discharge for participating in anti-war demonstrations in uniform, and Peanut Boy's pardon for same.
He demanded them. He petitioned for them.
ping
It already has.
Rodger that.
Also had info on who the admiral & others were who actually ran the operation & gave the order. Except in a very vague & general sense, it wasn't Obama.
IIRC, it was in yesterday’s or Saturday's Daily Mail. Not at home, so I can't search my browser history to find the reference right now.
> As a Swift Boat Veteran, I too hope the SEALs form an opposition truth group. This girly man piece of crap makes me sick...and the stupidity of Billy Bob Bubba Clinton shooting his mouth off about what a hero Obozo is...what a joke.
As a brother Swifty, I couldn’t agree with you more.
Those Who Worship him, such as Tom Hanks, would give up the Seal’s names and the names of their families for obama.
Isn’t it amazing what the Clintons will do for money?
I haven’t REALLY read this all...however, what I did skim...comes with this warning.
Put yer boots on first, cuz it gets thick....
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57425555-503544/are-navy-seals-really-angry-with-obama/
You, Sir, are one great American! This Navy veteran salutes you, your service and your accomplishments. We did what we could, didn’t we.
I have to wonder what the backlash against obama would be if the Seals went public and were punished. I know the Seals would be slammed by the left but I wonder if at least 51% of America would support them.
Why shouldn’t the SEALs tell the truth about Obama?
Vietnam Veteran Here - NAVY SEALS KILLED OSAMA not WUSSY, Man-Boy Obamaumau.
FUBO
VAW-116, aboard USS Coral Sea, Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club 68-69
Kerry is a traitor--while still in the Navy he went to Paris to act as consultant to the enemy negotiators (North Vietnamese and VC). Then he tried to use his military service as a vote-getter in 2004 while his lackeys in the press were creating fake documents to use against President Bush.
I think he let Douglas Brinkley look at his military records--a shameless lickspittle for Democratic politicians who could be trusted not to reveal anything embarrassing.
I hope they go after him with a vengence.
Thanks for the ping. I doubt that active duty SEALS can do much, because if they criticize the C-I-C they will be court-marshaled and dismissed from service.
The writer tries to undermine the credibility of the SBVFT by indicating they, "hadn't even served with Kerry..." Yet, when dipshit Kerry testified at the Fulbright hearings in 1971, he generally testified about the actions of veterans he hadn't served with, and yet he was regarded as some kind of expert witness.
That just sold 10,000 copies of Chuck's book. But if not, maybe this will help:SEAL Target Geronimo: The Inside Story of the Mission to Kill Osama bin Laden
Hoo Yah!
TS
Must be. This is the first I've heard of this book length alternative account, though I did follow the National Guard heavy copter smash-up aftermath rumors as closely as possible. Definitely didn't pass the smell test, though the official narrative of UBL's last half hour (Usurper called off the golf course, etc.) was bad enough, along with the ordered "hit" and training for that mission only.
Anything else I might have missed?
Vietnam journalist here, and contributor to the book “Unfit for Command”.
Those of us who worked on the book, including Jerome Corsi and Scott Swett, are still in the fight, quietly in some cases, loud as in Jerry’s books, in another mode.
The Left fears the Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth About John Kerry, and Obama fears a “Navy Seals for the Truth about the Killing of Osama Bin Laden”.
LET IT HAPPEN, GUYS! You have earned the right to tell the public the truth. DO IT!
PS: My dog in the fight, my son, crossed over into Iraq in the early morning of March 22, 2003. THe name of his company, 299th Engineers, MRB, slogan “First Forward”.
One of his grandfathers fought on Iwo.
Count us all in against Obama. It ain’t over till the fat lady is kicked out of the White House, along with her traitorous husband.
With the utmost respect and gratitude...I say...Sic ‘em!!!
This is the double edged sword that the Obama campaign is having to face. SEAL's are the ones who killed Osama. Everyone knows it. It will be difficult for them to challenge the credibility of the SEALs and retain credibility to claim responsibility for the decision to make the kill.
The more they challenge the Chuck Farrar's of the world the stronger the backlash to their heavy handedness.
Regards,
TS
True, the SEALS are putting the re-election propaganda machine in a bit of a bind, but they are individually vulnerable. and they don’t have the ammunition to do to BHO what the Swift Boat Vets did to Kerry.
Read it——great book
My dad and uncle (who also served in Vietnam) know all about him. My is a member of the Swift Boat website.
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