Yesterday Guy brought you the details about President Obama doubling down on his "Romney wouldn't have ordered the kill shot for Osama bin Laden" rhetoric and now, the Navy SEALs are chiming in. SEALs feel they are being used as "ammunition" for Obama's re-election campaign and point out that it's the guys in the field fighting the enemy, not President Obama, who deserve the real credit. More from the Daily Mail:
Ryan Zinke, a former Commander in the US Navy who spent 23 years as a SEAL and led a SEAL Team 6 assault unit, said: ‘The decision was a no brainer. 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.’
A serving SEAL Team member said: ‘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.’
And now for a dose of humility:
Chris Kyle, a former SEAL sniper with 160 confirmed and another 95 unconfirmed kills to his credit, said: ‘The operation itself was great and the nation felt immense pride. It was great that we did it.
‘But bin Laden was just a figurehead. The war on terror continues. Taking him out didn’t really change anything as far as the war on terror is concerned and using it as a political attack is a cheap shot.
Senior military figures have said that Admiral William McRaven, a former SEAL who was then head of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) made the decision to take bin Laden out. Tactical decisions were delegated even further down the chain of command.
Mr Kyle added: ‘He's trying to say that Romney wouldn't have made the same call? Anyone who is patriotic to this country would have made that exact call, Democrat or Republican. Obama is taking more credit than he is due but it's going to get him some pretty good mileage.’
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FLASHBACK: Remember when President Obama refused to release the photos of a dead Osama bin Laden because he didn't want to "spike the football?" Well he must have just been saving his victory spike until he knew who the GOP nominee was.
It was announced on Wednesday that President Barack Obama has decided that he will not release the photos of Osama bin Laden's body to the public in order to prevent a threat to U.S. national security, The Vancouver Sun reports. Obama likened the release of the classified photos to spiking a football after a touchdown.
"It is very important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody that was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence or as a propaganda tool," Obama said on 60 Minutes. "That's not who we are. We don't trot this stuff out as trophies.
"The fact of the matter is this was somebody who was deserving of the justice that he received, and I think Americans and people around the world are glad that he is gone. But we don't need to spike the football."
Spiking the football....when it's politically convenient, not in celebration of the death of the man responsible for 9/11. Okay.
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