SEALs and Usama bin Laden

Many in the community are...infuriated, [O'Neill] says. "There's a shitstorm around this." --Rob O'Neill referring to SEALs going public, "The Man Who Killed Osama bin Laden...Is Screwed" "Frankly, a week ago Sunday, in the Situation Room, we all agreed that we would not release any operational details from the effort to take out bin Laden. That all fell apart on Monday--the next day." --Then Defense Secretary, Robert Gates 5/12/11

Our present POTUS tells lies like they are an art form he is determined to master. God knows he has shown a remarkable flair for it -- although if ObamaCare architect John Gruber is correct, and the American people are stupid, then Obama's "flair" is somewhat less impressive. (I am sorely tempted to discuss the difference between the terms "stupid" and "ignorant" at this point, but that would lead us too far astray from this article's focus). Be that as it may, if you believe that "you can keep your doctor," that there is "not even a smidgeon of corruption" in the IRS, that a video caused the attacks in Benghazi, and other such fairytales, then you may want to stop reading this article and tune into NPR, read the "New York Times," or otherwise engage yourself in the realm of fantasy. For those of us living in the real world, however, the fact that the federal government has lied to "we the people" repeatedly, blatantly, and egregiously is taken as a given, and it comes as no surprise that there are many people who question the veracity of the killing of Usama bin Laden (UBL) narrative. This article will look into that question, and also on the fallout from former SEALs going public with their accounts of the operation. There are a number of people who believe that UBL died some time before the SEAL raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan (5/1/11 in the USA -- 5/2/11 in Pakistan). The majority of them believe that UBL died of kidney failure. Such opinions are based on pretty threadbare evidence and what amounts to rumor, but given the track record of our federal government vis-a-vis the truth, their skepticism is understandable, even warranted. (I will not delve into the many lies told to "we the people" by the federal government, as it would take us too far afield--but the lies are there, and they are numerous).

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To cut to the chase, do I believe that UBL was killed by the SEALs during the Abbottabad raid? First let me say that I am convinced, and have been for some time, that the raid indeed took place--but the question remains: was UBL killed in that raid? Regarding that I am less than certain. I say that I am less than certain simply because these days, I automatically distrust anything that the government and their lap-dog media present as being "the truth." They have earned that distrust many times over, in many different areas. Again, exploring the reasons for my distrust would take us too far off message. Let me just say that I am about 90% convinced that UBL was killed in the Abbottabad raid. The case remains open to me simply because of my mistrust of the federal government. Being 90% certain, however, is enough for me to say that I believe that UBL was killed in that operation. This brings me to the controversy surrounding the various "kiss and tell" books put out by former SEALs (also the numerous radio broadcasts, newspaper and magazine articles, and TV interviews as well). "Speaking out of school" is nothing new for SEALs. The same magazine (Esquire) that in 2013 published O'Neill's account of the Abbottabad raid, interviewed several members of SEAL 2 in 1974 for Richard Hill's article "Mean Mothers with Dirty Faces" (headlined on the cover as "The roughest, toughest men in the U.S.A."). I knew, or knew of, everyone interviewed. I also knew a number of SEALs who declined to be interviewed for that article. My CO in SEAL 2, Robert Gormley, wrote an excellent book on his Team experiences ("Combat Swimmer: Memoirs of a Navy SEAL"), and many people know of the books written by former SEAL Richard Marcinko (who would probably take issue with my use of the word "former"). There are a number of other examples I could mention, but my point is that there have been numerous SEAL memoirs, TV appearances, articles and other recorded/published offerings in the past -- so why all the brouhaha over the recent spate of books written by former SEALs? First and foremost there is the issue of secrecy. To be specific, OPSEC (Operational Security) is the main concern here, by which I mean information that may aid and abet America's enemies. Not every SEAL was happy when the "Esquire" article came out in '74. Back in those days not many people had even heard of the SEALs, and the majority of SEALs preferred it that way. Nevertheless the article mostly dealt with bravado and generalities and personally I saw no harm in it. The accounts of SEAL ops written by former SEALs recently, however, come awfully close to breaking OPSEC in my opinion--too close, I would say. Mainly I blame our current political "leaders," who have set the tone for our military in many ways. That is to be expected, as cues for what is considered proper behavior tend to trickle down from the top. For example, I have a hard time imagining the sort of loquaciousness we see today happening during the Bush Administration. [Sidebar: I stand guilty myself of possibly causing some friction within the ranks. I am unapologetic about my opposition to the federal government's social engineering ploys--I generally detest them. And such ploys have been put on the fast track since Obama became POTUS. There are numerous other areas where I strongly disagree with Obama and his administration, and I have not been shy about letting my feelings be known. Nonetheless, I have never encouraged any person actively serving in the US military to rebel against their CINC (Commander IN Chief), no matter who it is. If they wish to air any grievances through the proper channels that is something else entirely (good luck with that), and what they do once they are separated from the military is, of course, up to them.] I never thought that the Clinton Administration's allowing (nay, encouraging) SEALs "sneaking" into Somalia to be filmed and broadcast on live TV would be topped, but the Obama Administration proved me wrong -- which just goes to show that you can never underestimate the cluelessness of professional politicians who never served in the military. Michael Been's phrase "corporate criminals playing with tanks" springs to mind.

...just after midnight, a CBS-TV crew that had been permitted by the Pakistani U.N. forces controlling the airport for many weeks to camp out on the beach with night-vision scopes actually had filmed the arrival of the Navy's super-secret Seal frogmen, as well as an advance reconnaissance team of U.S. Marines. All of it was broadcast live on national television back home.

Oy vey. Below is an excerpt from a message recently sent out to members of the UDT/SEAL Association:

Teammates, At Naval Special Warfare's core is the SEAL Ethos. A critical tenant of our Ethos is "I do not advertise the nature of my work, nor seek recognition for my actions". Our Ethos is a life-long commitment and obligation, both in and out of the Service. Violators of our Ethos are neither Teammates in good standing, nor Teammates who represent Naval Special Warfare. We do not abide willful or selfish disregard for our core values in return for public notoriety and financial gain, which only diminishes otherwise honorable service, courage and sacrifice. Our credibility as a premier fighting force is forged in this sacrifice and has been accomplished with honor, as well as humility. The most important credit we can garner is the respect of our Teammates and Partners.

"Loose Lips Sink Ships" and all that. In addition to the question of secrecy there's the discordance between the various accounts of what happened in Abbottabad. Mark Owen's ("No Easy Day") account differs from Rob O'Neill's in certain particulars, and neither of those accounts jive with the one given by former Assault Element Commander of SEAL 6, Chuck Pfarrer ("SEAL Target Geronimo"), whose book was in turn dismissed as pure fabrication by SEAL Admiral McRaven (USN Ret.). And if that were not bad enough, we have had the very public legal battle between former Team members, the late Chris Kyle ("American Sniper") and Jesse Ventura, both of whom had/have their supporters and opponents in the Team community. Hooyah...or rather hoo boy. What's to be done? First of all I would suggest that the Kyle/Ventura imbroglio be dropped like a hot potato. Nobody came out a winner, and nobody will come out a winner no matter how long it is dragged out. Team unity is what is at stake here, and that is not something that the Teams can ever afford to lose. If Team cohesion is lost it will not just be a shame, it will be catastrophic, it will be fatal. As far as the books, movies, TV appearances and radio interviews go, I would suggest that members of the Team community back off from discussing operational details, at least for the time being. Give things a chance to cool down. I am not saying that the books should not have been written, the TV appearances made, or the interviews given--but enough is enough. If there is any question that discussing something might aid and abet America's enemies, or endanger those in the field, then please err on the side of caution and remain silent. That being said, I hope that the Navy brass has enough smarts to not attempt punishing former SEALs for publicly speaking about Team ops, at least up to this point. It would cause even more rancor in a community that is already divided. If the flow of SEAL "inside stories" continues unabated though, and certainly if those stories break OPSEC, then I suppose that the brass will have no choice but to drop the hammer -- I, for one, hope it does not come to that. If the brass wants to throw the book at someone they should start with Vice President Joe Biden IMO. He was the one who first touted the SEALs involvement in the Abbottabad raid and opened the floodgates. After discussing the somewhat fractious state of the Teams these days, it may sound odd for me to say that I am proud of today's SEALs, but I am. I am extremely proud of the way that today's SEALs have conducted themselves in what are essentially uncharted waters. America's military had never relied on unconventional warfare operations and operators to the extent that it has since 9/11, nor had it been saddled with the onerous ROEs of today. Bravo Zulu indeed. (I should add that I am proud of the US military as a whole). In any event, it has been quite some time since I was in the Teams--decades--but I still remember and value the Team camaraderie and élan. I have never experienced anything remotely like it in the civilian world. One of Rob O'Neill's anecdotes about his BUD/S experience hit especially close to home (I explain why in the sidebar immediately below the following quote).

"One of the tests is they make you dive to the bottom of a pool and tie five knots," [O'Neill] says. "One guy got to the fifth knot and blacked out underwater. We pulled him up and he was, like, dead. They made the class face the fence while they tried to resuscitate him. The first words as he spit out water were 'Did I pass? Did I tie the fifth knot?' The instructor told him, 'We didn't want to find out if you could tie the knots, you #, we wanted to know how hard you'd push yourself.' 'You killed yourself.' 'You passed.'" --Phil Bronstein "The Man Who Killed Osama bin Laden...Is Screwed"

[Sidebar: I also had an experience with a BUD/S trainee (tadpole) passing out underwater. It took place during our long free-style underwater swim. Having already successfully finished my swim, I was standing along the edge of the pool watching the guys still swimming, when I noticed one of them jerking spasmodically and doing "The Funky Chicken" underwater. The instructors noticed as well, and immediately jumped into the pool, brought the guy up, placed him on the concrete next to the pool and resuscitated him. He passed. That incident became a benchmark in my BUD/S training; in my life really, because it became my definition of giving it your all, giving 100%. If I was still conscious then obviously I had not given 100%. That is a pretty high bar to set for yourself, and perhaps unrealistic, but it helped me make it through some tough times, both during BUD/S and after. "Mother Moy" told us we would never forget our time in BUD/S, and he was right.] In closing, I wish to recognize the price that has been paid by the Teams during America's fight against radical Islam. Below is a list of the SEALs who have fallen in service to our country since 9/11. I did not know any of them personally, but I did know them, if you know what I mean. I am humbled by their sacrifice, and honored to consider them my brothers-in-arms.

SEALs who have fallen in service to our country since 9/11

Neil C. Roberts Matthew J. Bourgeois Peter G. Oswald Jerry O. Pope, II Thomas E. Retzer Mario G. Maestas David M. Tapper Brian J. Ouellette Theodore D. Fitzhenry 6/28/05: Daniel R. Healy Jeffrey S. Taylor James E. Suh Shane E. Patton Michael P. Murphy Michael M. McGreevy, Jr Jeffrey A. Lucas Erik S. Kristensen Jacques J. Fontan Danny P. Dietz, Jr. Matthew G. Axelson Marc A. Lee Michael A. Monsoor Joseph C. Schwedler Jason D. Lewis Mark T. Carter Shapoor A. Ghane Michael E. Koch Nathan H. Hardy Thomas J. Valentine

Lance M. Vaccaro Joshua T. Harris Jason R. Freiwald John W. Marcum Eric F. Shellenberger Ryan C. Job Ronald T. Woodle Adam L. Brown Tyler S. Stimson Collin T. Thomas Brendan J. Looney Denis C. Miranda Adam O. Smith 8/6/11: Matthew Mason Jason Workman Jon Tumilson Brian Bill Kevin Houston John Douangdara Michael Strange Aaron Carson Vaughn Robert James Reeves Jonas Kelsall Kraig Vickers Chris Campbell Nicholas Spehar Jared William Day John Faas Heath M. Robinson Thomas Ratzlaff Darrik Benson Jesse Pittman Louis Langlais

Caleb A. Nelson Thomas C. Fouke Patrick D. Feeks David J. Warsen Glen A. Doherty (Diplomatic mission, Benghazi, Libya) Tyrone S. Woods, Sr. (Diplomatic mission, Benghazi, Libya) Mathew G. Kantor Kevin R. Ebbert Nicolas D. Checque Job W. Price Matthew J. Leathers Brett D. Shadle Jonathan H. Kaloust David M. Collins Bradley S. Cavner

I compiled the above list from the Navy Seal Foundation website. I apologize in advance for any misspellings or omissions I may have inadvertently made. In addition to the men listed above, there are numerous individuals who died while supporting SEAL operations who, while not themselves SEALs, were invaluable assets to the Teams. Their inclusion would have unfortunately extended the above list far too much. I, of course respectfully salute their service and sacrifice.