Will The Navy SEALs Swift Boat Obama?

BuzzFeed ^ | 5/1/2012 | Michael Hastings

[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.

[zot]

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.

[Joe 6-pack]

"Swift Boats Veterans for Truth—which included over 200 Vietnam veterans, most who hadn’t even served with Kerry—"

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.

[The Shrew]

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.

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

[Prospero]

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.

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?

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

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.

[Brad’s Gramma]

With the utmost respect and gratitude...I say...Sic ‘em!!!

[The Shrew]

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.

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

[zot]

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.

[BOBTHENAILER]

Read it——great book

[SkyDancer]

My dad and uncle (who also served in Vietnam) know all about him. My is a member of the Swift Boat website.

[ApplegateRanch]

Found it.

A former intelligence official who was serving in the US government when bin Laden was killed said that the Obama administration knew about the al-Qaeda leader’s whereabouts in October 2010 but delayed taking action and risked letting him escape.
‘In the end, Obama was forced to make a decision and do it. He knew that if he didn’t do it the political risks in not taking action were huge. Mitt Romney would have made the call but he would have made it earlier – as would George W. Bush.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2137636/Osama-bin-Laden-death-SEALs-slam-Obama-using-ammunition-bid-credit.html#ixzz1thC7wIrI

[Brad from Tennessee]

Kerry's trick was to stand just outside the casualty radius of an exploding M-79 round he'd fired and catch a few metal splinters that had lost most of their energy. On a riverine mission with the army Kerry and a soldier found a cache of rice stored in jars. They destroyed the rice using hand grenades. Kerry did not retire fast enough to avoid being hit by rice shrapnel. He was able to massage that comedy into a third Purple Heart. Like his hero JFK, kerry’s three months in combat was choreographed from Boston by the Irish political machine.

[driftdiver]

guess you missed the dripping sarcasm, instead choosing to insult me. go screw yourself sport

[driftdiver]

hence my comment about rice in the butt

[bert]

Wonder if my old Swift Boat T shirt can be edited to make the message current?

[Travis McGee]

I am on several SEAL groups, on facebook, linkedin, etc. The OODA loop for organizing Swiftboat Vet type responses is now much faster and tighter. The SEALs are very pissed at Obama, mostly they can’t stand his REMF glory-grabbing. SEALs don’t like REMFs much anyway, but to act like John Rambo because you got out of the way of a spec ops plan takes it to a new level.

[ConorMacNessa]

The Republican Establishment wanted nothing to do with the Swift Boat Veteraans, and it appears to want nothing to do with the Conservative movement, IMO.

I read Brinkley's puff-piece bio of Kerry and I read Corsi's "Unfit For Command." One thing that impressed me about Corsi's book was how heavily annotated it was - with quotes from Brinkley's book, no less..

Some may forgive Kerry for his treason, but I am not among them. He should have been summarily court-martialed, then taken out and dispatched by a firing squad.



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)

[Cuttnhorse]

Thanks CMN...I too remain bitter about Vietnam and will remain so.

Best regards to you and all our fellow veterans.

[Cuttnhorse]

Good job MadMax...I personally bought a dozen “Unfit...” books and scattered them around. Great book and pivotal in defeating the second biggest hoax in the history of American politics...or would that be third? (Counting Bubba Clinton)

[Servant of the Cross]

America owes a second debt of gratitude to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth for saving the nation from 'J F'ng K.

It p*sses me off that the term 'swiftboating' has been hi-jacked as a bad or untrue thing. It was pure courageous and honorable truth.

I do also hope and pray that the SEALS take up this same mission on the lying Occupier of the Oval Office.