All, i would appreciate it deeply if you went to this site, and watched the video. Please listen to what our Special Operations personnel have to say, and then pass the video on to as many as you can. Thank you in advance, Ev.
www.opsecteam.org
ev
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All, i would appreciate it deeply if you went to this site, and watched the video. Please listen to what our Special Operations personnel have to say, and then pass the video on to as many as you can. Thank you in advance, Ev.
www.opsecteam.org
ev
I caught word of this group earlier. Hopefully they gain enough attention to be a real thorn in the side of Obama.
Will have to watch from home. Of course it has Youtube, and that's blocked as usual.
Former special forces officers slam Obama over leaks on bin Laden killing
By Dugald McConnell and Brian Todd, CNN
updated 10:36 AM EDT, Fri August 17, 2012
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...-story-top.jpg
Ex-SEALs Slam Obama
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- The ad also includes former Navy SEALs
- Former military officers accuse Obama of disclosing successful secret operations
- Group behind ad shares an office with two GOP political consulting firms in Virginia
(CNN) -- A web video featuring former special forces officers accuses President Barack Obama of taking too much credit for the killing of Osama bin Laden and allowing classified information about the raid to become public.
The ad also includes former Navy SEALs.
The organization behind the ad, the Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund, has posted the 22-minute web video on its website. A spokeswoman says the group has raised about $1 million toward an advertising campaign in some key swing states.
Over a picture of Obama, the video's narrator says that the group's mission is to stop politicians from using sensitive intelligence about the bin Laden raid and other clandestine programs for political benefit.
In a series of interviews, former military and intelligence officers accuse Obama of seeking political gain by disclosing successful secret operations.
"As a citizen, it is my civic duty to tell the president to stop leaking information to the enemy," says Benjamin Smith, identified in the video as a former Navy SEAL. "It will get Americans killed."
Another former Navy SEAL in the video, Scott Taylor, says of the bin Laden raid: "If you disclose how we got there, how we took down the building, what we did, how many people were there, that it's going to hinder future operations, and certainly hurt the success of those future operations."
Smith also criticizes the president for taking too much credit for the SEALs' raid.
"Mr. President, you did not kill Osama bin Laden. America did," he says. "We have become a political weapon. We are not."
Smith said the ad campaign pays no heed to political affiliation, and the organization describes itself as nonpartisan and says its focus is on protecting intelligence agents and special operations officers, not on politics.
But it shares an office with two Republican political consulting firms in Alexandria, Virginia. Its spokesman Chad Kolton worked for the Bush administration as a spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence.
Taylor has run for the Republican nomination for Congress in Virginia; Smith said he is a registered Republican but votes independently.
As to who is funding the attack, which was first reported by Reuters, a spokeswoman for the organization would not disclose its donors.
Darrell West of the Brookings Institution says it is too soon to say whether this campaign could become as successful as the 2004 "Swift Boat" advertising campaign, which mounted a barrage of negative attacks on John Kerry's standing as a Vietnam war hero.
"Obama's strong suit actually is on national security. He's the guy who got bin Laden, and that's been a central claim of his campaign. So there's always a risk of the opposition coming in with this type of ad to try to undermine the president's credibility and take away what is really his strong suit," he said.
West said the video blames Obama for leaks without providing any evidence the leaks are his fault. But still, West said, "national security is a very sensitive issue for many people, that's an issue that swing voters take very seriously."
In recent campaign speeches, Obama has cited the killing of bin Laden as one of the campaign pledges he has fulfilled.
"I promised to go after al Qaeda and bin Laden, and we did it," he told an applauding audience Thursday.
The Obama campaign has even produced an ad called "One Chance" in which former President Bill Clinton praises Obama for ordering the secret raid to proceed.
But Vice President Joe Biden made an effort to share the credit Tuesday as he was offering the crowd a list of the administration's accomplishments.
"The man here pointed out, 'we also got bin Laden,'" Biden said. "Let me correct that. The president of the United States and the special forces got bin Laden."
And the head of special operations, Admiral Bill McRaven, a former SEAL himself, recently told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that credit was due to the president.
"At the end of the day," he said, "make no mistake about it: it was the president of the United States that shouldered the burden for this operation, that made the hard decisions."
But like other top officials, including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, McRaven was highly critical of the recent leaks about clandestine operations.
"Are lives at risk? Absolutely," he said.
The White House has denied leaking secret information about clandestine operations, and two federal prosecutors have been assigned to investigate recent leaks about the Stuxnet virus and drone strike operations.
But in a recent speech in Reno, Nevada, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney called the leaks "contemptible" and said they occurred on Obama's watch.
"Brookings Institute"...
.edu
.Liberal me thinks.
Glancing through their site it tells me they are against Romney, against personal freedoms, don't want kids to have vouchers so they can actually attend a school that actually teaches them something.
They said in the above article:
Which means they are pretty damned clueless.Quote:
"Obama's strong suit actually is on national security. He's the guy who got bin Laden, and that's been a central claim of his campaign. So there's always a risk of the opposition coming in with this type of ad to try to undermine the president's credibility and take away what is really his strong suit," said Darrell West of the Brookings Institute.
Obama doesn't know anything about the security clearance process.
Obama doesn't understand that you don't give out information that is classified.
Obama is trying to take credit for what Navy SEALS did even though the evidence says he DIDN'T WANT TO DO IT!
Unfortunately, the President can also declassify material any time he wants or release it to the public HIMSELF (NOT through his underlings like he has been doing).
If he was a man, he'd broadcast the leaks himself and take credit for doing it.
Of course, he would get a lot less votes from people "in the know" then wouldn't he?
Hope you don't mind ev, I changed the title to make it easier to find this thread.
Former Navy SEAL Team Six Commander Says Special Ops Assault on Obama Is Just Beginning
August 16, 2012
Earlier this week, Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund Inc., a group of former U.S. intelligence and Special Forces personnel, launched a campaign criticizing President Barack Obama for unfairly taking credit for killing Osama bin Laden and leaking national security information for political gain. This is the second high-profile attack on the president from ex-elite military operatives. Last month, Ryan Zinke, a Montana State Senator and former commander of Navy SEAL Team Six, started a super PAC, Special Operations for America, which is dedicated to supporting Mitt Romney and hitting President Obama on leaks and on politicizing Bin Laden’s death. According to Mr. Zinke, these two super PACs are just the first salvo in what will be a sustained assault on the president by high-level ex-soldiers.
“There’s a number of groups out there,” Mr. Zinke told Politicker this morning. “I think what it demonstrates is, there’s a lot of anger, there’s a lot of concern among the former military community.”
Mr. Zinke said he believes these feelings of anger were fueled by a series of White House leaks and an Obama campaign commercial featuring President Bill Clinton that questioned whether Mr. Romney would have ordered the SEAL Team Six raid that killed Bin Laden.
“I think there is huge concern that the administration is using and continues to leak class documents for less than–well, for political gain,” said Mr. Zinke. “I think when the commercial came out with President Clinton and President Obama, and they talked about the political ramifications of failure, they didn’t talk about the families that would be left without a father. They talked about political consequences—that was a bridge too far.”
Mr. Zinke also pointed to White House leaks about the Bin Laden raid to a pair of filmmakers who are making a movie about the operation as something that was upsetting to military personnel.
“There’s a lot of reasons you can release classified information, a lot of justifiable reasons, but making a movie for political gain isn’t one of them,” Mr. Zinke said.
According to Mr. Zinke, there are currently at least four other anti-Obama groups made up of former elite military operatives: Special Operations Speaks, Veterans for a Strong America, Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund Inc. and his group, Special Operations for America. He said he expects that number to climb. Because active-duty soldiers are barred from engaging in political activity, Mr. Zinke believes it is especially important for retired military personnel to speak up.
“It’s really incumbent upon the retired guys to articulate a message. You look at the approval ratings of the president, Congress is in single-digits, the president is not far behind, and I think Americans still appreciate the credibility of our military,” he said.
(For the record, the president’s approval rating actually currently stands at over 40 percent.)
Mr. Zinke described his group and VSA as “kind of sisters” and said he knows some of the officers involved in other groups from his days in the SEALs, but said SOFA doesn’t coordinate with any other groups.
“We’re trying to link many of these organizations for a unified effort and, to a degree, they’re like herding cats,” said Mr. Zinke.
Though he knows there’s “power in a unified message,” Mr. Zinke said part of his reluctance to associate his group with other similar organizations is because, “SOFA is a little more cautious; we don’t want to editorialize.”
The Obama campaign criticized Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund Inc. as being akin to the “swift boat” attacks that smeared John Kerry in 2004 and noted that, despite claims of nonpartisanship, the group has ties to the GOP. Mr. Zinke dismissed these criticisms of the former military groups attacking President Obama.
“There’s going to be attempts to discredit,” Mr. Zinke said. “I guess when you take a stand, you expose yourself to rocks. And so be it.”
For his part, Mr. Zinke said his organization is “not swift boat.”
“I can speak for SOFA—we are not swift boat in that what we are articulat[ing] is factual, and we’re very careful not to make personal attacks. We are making a complete argument of why the administration’s actions and policies are not in the best interests of national defense and national security,” said Mr. Zinke.
Special Operations for America’s upcoming plans include a television commercial. Mr. Zinke said the ad would be “edgy,” but wouldn’t be “a personal attack.”
“I don’t stoop to personal attacks,” he said. “You know, I’m not from Chicago. In Montana, we do things a little differently.”
Watch the Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund Inc. video, “Dishonorable Disclosures,” below.
Obama Takes On Navy SEALS: 'I Don't Take These Folks Too Seriously'
August 20, 2012
President Obama said Monday that he isn't too worried about two groups of military veterans running campaign ads against him.
Last week, two groups — Special Operations Speaks and Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund - formed to criticize Obama on national security policy, the Osama bin Laden raid and intelligence leaks.
“I don’t take these folks too seriously. One of their members is a birther who denies I was born here, despite evidence to the contrary," Obama told The Virginian-Pilot. "You’ve got another who was a tea party candidate in a recent election."
"This kind of stuff springs up before election time," Obama said.
The founder of one group, ex-Navy SEAL Larry Bailey, told Foreign Policy magazine last week: "I have to admit that I'm a birther."
In another interview with a Virginia TV station, Obama attacked the latest OPSEC film that accused him of leaking too many details about the bin Laden raid. That group maintains that it is nonpartisan, but its founder Scott Taylor is a former GOP candidate for office.
"My attitude towards leaks and disclosure of our military operations has been to crack down on it," Obama said in an interview with WVEC.
"I've been criticized by some for being too vigorous in going after folks who leak information that impacts our national security. I don't have a lot of tolerance for it," Obama said.
Last week, the Obama campaign also got Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) — himself the victim of a group of military veterans during his 2004 presidential run — to denounce the attacks in a mass email. "I honor and appreciate the service of my fellow veterans, but a false attack is a false attack -- no matter who's making it," Kerry wrote.
Yeah, man, you just can't believe those tea bag guys and those birthers.
Looks like the President put out a web site trying to discredit these guys.
The Chairman of the JCS is even stabbing at them.
He is saying "they are using the uniform" to say things bad about the President.
Guess what, they are FORMER MILITARY PERSONNEL, just like me and many others. I'm proud of my service and to be honest, the REASON people can vote is because of people like them.
So, General Dempsey is DEAD WRONG about them sacrificing their RIGHT to freedom of Speech.
Top US General Blasts Ex-Officers For Attacking Obama
August 21, 2012
US military chief General Martin Dempsey denounced ex-officers Tuesday for waging a campaign against President Barack Obama, arguing that soldiers had a duty to stay above the political fray.
Wading into a potential minefield during a hotly contested White House race, Dempsey voiced his disapproval of a group of retired military members and CIA officers who have accused Obama of spilling sensitive national security details to help secure his re-election.
Asked if the group's criticism was valid or useful, Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he would not comment on the substance of their allegations.
But he added: "As to the latter, is it useful? No, it's not useful. It's not useful to me."
The military had a unique role that required political neutrality, said Dempsey, who spoke to reporters aboard his plane en route to the United States after visiting Afghanistan and Iraq.
"And one of the things that marks us as a profession in a democracy, in our form of democracy, that's most important is that we remain apolitical.
"That's how we maintain our bond and trust with the American people," the general said.
The group of ex-Navy SEALs and other retired officers who have blasted Obama, dubbed OPSEC for "operational security," insist they are not a partisan organization but have genuine concerns about national security leaks.
In videos aired this month, the group said the Obama administration endangered the United States and the safety of troops by allegedly spilling secrets about operations, including the American raid last year that killed Osama bin Laden.
Military Group Hits Back At President Obama's 'Condescending And Belittling' Comments, Defends First Amendment Right To Speak Out
August 21, 2012
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: President Obama may say he's not taking some military veterans' criticism too seriously, but now the vets are taking on the president's latest words. Joining us is former Navy SEAL Scott Taylor. He is the president of Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund, who made the video attacking President Obama for national intelligence leaks and for bragging about killing Usama bin Laden.
Welcome, sir.
SCOTT TAYLOR, SPECIAL OPERATIONS OPSEC EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC.: Hi, Greta. It's great to be with you.
VAN SUSTEREN: Well, it certainly seems that there's now -- I mean, you put out the video, then President Obama says he didn't take you guys too seriously. And now it's your turn, I guess, right?
TAYLOR: Well, I think this is a two-part answer. First, I would say that with all due respect to the president, I think his statements were condescending and belittling to a group that has collectively literally hundreds of years of service to this nation.
And the second part of the answer is I think that his dismissive statements actually mean the opposite because I think that he understands that the American people know that this kind of group has the authority and the knowledge to speak on the impacts of these leaks on troops on the ground and much more credibility than a campaign spokesperson.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right, now, General Martin Dempsey is traveling from Afghanistan to Iraq. And one of my colleagues, Jennifer Griffin, is traveling with him. And he apparently takes issue with you. He says, "If someone uses the uniform, whatever uniform, for partisan politics, I'm disappointed because I think it does erode that bond of trust we have with the American people."
He then -- he then goes on to say that some of the critics -- that there are critics -- criticism that might be valid, but he won't comment on that. What's your response to -- General Martin Dempsey doesn't like former Navy SEALs speaking out like this.
TAYLOR: Well, I have nothing but respect for the general. He's active duty. We're not. We're now citizens, and we have a 1st Amendment right to be able to speak out, and we feel as though we're doing the right thing. And this is what we're doing.
And I understand that there may be folks who may take issue with it. I'd like to hear what his comments really were, or what his thoughts are that he can't speak about.
Of course, I just got a call from Afghanistan two days ago from an active duty teammate of mine who said, What can I do? What can I do to help out? And I told him, you know, Nothing because you're active duty, so you can't do anything.
So this group feels as though that we are speaking out on something that we feel strongly about and helping those who can't speak for themselves and can't speak out. And the response has been overwhelming, overwhelmingly positive.
VAN SUSTEREN: Well, you certainly have allies on the issue of national security leaks. There's an investigation going on here in Washington. So certainly, people are taking that very seriously, as well - - Senator Feinstein, who's -- who's one of the leading Democrats -- or one of the most outspoken Democrats on it.
The question of whether or not the president was bragging or taking credit for the killing of Usama bin Laden -- I don't think anyone doubts it was the courage and the bravery of the Navy SEALs and all the people who have been supporting them in this endeavor.
What -- what is it that you don't like that President Obama's done vis-a-vis the Usama bin Laden kill?
TAYLOR: Well, let me first preface this by saying our group is much more than just Navy SEALs. We represent all the special forces and intelligence -- former special operations and intelligence officials.
The president deserves credit, as would any president, for presiding over an operation like this. However, the high-level access to Hollywood producers, the year anniversary campaign commercial -- you know, we get criticized for the video, but if you see the video and watch it in its entirety, the "I" statements certainly overshadow the credit that he does give the team for taking the action.
VAN SUSTEREN: I suspect one of the sort of the -- what the president is zeroing in on is that there's at least one member of your group who's been quite vocal who is a member of the birther movement and has put some rather insulting things on his Facebook page about President Obama. And I suspect that he was really sort of speaking to that person.
I think that's sort of your -- I suspect that that's what he's driving at. Do you not agree?
TAYLOR: Well, let me say that our response is, in our group, it's very diverse. We have Obama donors, president supporters, and we have folks, of course, that are Republican. I would say that generally, the military, although it's diverse, probably is a little bit conservative. So it's not a far stretch to say that we have a lot of conservatives, but we also have former President Obama supporters and donors.
So I think that the campaign has done nothing but come out with statements, and including the president himself, that are directed at the messengers and sort of attacking them, and not taking seriously the actual message itself.
So I think that my advice to the presidential campaign and everyone out there, and Americans understand how serious this is, is to take the actual message serious, as was called upon by Democratic congressional leaders like John Kerry and Republican congressional leaders like Senator McCain.
VAN SUSTEREN: In my wildest dreams, Scott, I can't imagine anyone saying in reference to Navy SEALs, I don't take these folks too seriously. I can assure you that 99.9 percent of Americans are in great awe of the sacrifice of Navy SEALs and other intelligence officers people who put their selves on the line for us. I -- you know, I don't -- I suspect the president wasn't thinking when he said that because I know that -- I mean, everybody does respect the Navy SEALs immensely, and the intelligence people.
TAYLOR: Well, we really appreciate that. We're not looking for credit. We feel very strongly about speaking out about issues that are -- that could potentially hinder -- excuse me -- future operations and put our brothers and sisters that are on the front lines in jeopardy. And we feel strongly about it. We have our 1st Amendment rights. We fought for them. And we're going to continue to do so.
VAN SUSTEREN: And fought with great bravery and more than what the rest of us are doing, I might add. Anyway, Scott, thank you.
TAYLOR: Thank you very much. It's a pleasure, Greta. Thank you.
I guess that's easy to do if you have no respect for those in uniform.
It's ADMIRAL McRaven, Mr. President! Obama Botches Rank Of Top Navy SEAL
August 23, 2012
Barack Obama has always been known for his silken words, soaring rhetoric and ability to use language to his advantage.
Lately, however, the president seems to be losing command of the details. In a speech at a fundraiser in New York on Wednesday night, he took aim at Todd Akin, the political punch bag du jour on both sides of the political aisle.
‘Recently, some of you have been paying attention to the commentary of the Senator of Missouri, Mr Akin, who - the interesting thing here is that this is an individual who sits on the House Committee on Science and Technology, but somehow missed science class.
‘It's representative of a desire to go backwards instead of forwards, and to fight fights that we thought were settled twenty, thirty years ago.’
The problem is, Akin is a congressman who is running for a US Senate seat in Missouri. Senator Claire McCaskill, Obama’s favourite Senator until a few months ago when she started to distance herself from him in an effort to win re-election, might not particularly appreciate the President having conceded her seat already.
Then there was the stop at Sloopy’s bar on the campus of Ohio State University where Obama posed will students to spell out the four letters in Ohio. Except that, initially at least, the President and the student on his right got their letters wrong, spelling: ‘O-I-H-O’
Perhaps most seriously, however, was Obama’s slip in an interview with KSDK in St Louis, Missouri when he was asked about the new 22-minute film ‘Dishonorable Disclosures’ by a group of former Special Forces troops and intelligence operatives.
‘I won't take this film too seriously,’ he responded. ‘I gather that one of the producers is a birther who still doesn't think I was born in this country.
‘You've got one who was a candidate, a Republican candidate for office. And a proud card carrying member of the Tea Party. So this is obviously a partisan film.
‘I'd advise that you talk to General McRaven, who's in charge of our Special Ops. I think he has a point of view in terms of how deeply
I care about what these folks do each and every day to protect our freedom.’
The difficulty with this is that William McRaven is and admiral not a general. As a SEAL, he is member of the US Navy, not US Army or US Marines.
Obama has made mistakes with military terminology before. In February 2010, he mispronounced ‘corpsman’ – as ‘corpse-man’ instead of ‘core-man’ several times.
Last year, he mixed up two Medal of Honor recipients, saying that ‘Jared Monti, was the first person who I was able to award the Medal of Honour to who actually came back and wasn’t receiving it posthumously’.
In fact, Obama was referring to Staff Sergeant Salvatore Giunta. Obama had presented a posthumous Medal of Honor to the parents of SFC Monti, who was killed in action in June 2006, in September 2009.
The Medal of Honor is the highest United States award for valour. It's the equivalent of the Victoria Cross. In the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the names of recipients are seared on the hearts of many Americans.
Some servicemen have criticised Obama for omitting their ranks, as he did with Monti. When Staff Sergeant Giunta received his Medal of Honor, Obama called him ‘Sal’ and ad libbed: ‘I really like this guy’. After hanging the medal around his neck, Obama did not salute him but gave him a hug.
For servicemen, ranks are important – they have worked hard and, in many cases, risked their lives, to earn them. And it’s one thing to omit a rank and another to botch the rank of the highest-ranking Special Forces operator in the country.
Perhaps the broader question is why Obama though it appropriate to talk about how Admiral McRaven had ‘a point of view in terms of how deeply I care about what these folks do each and every day to protect our freedom’.
Military leaders should be respected as non-partisan figures. It is unseemly, at best, for Obama to use Admiral McRaven for political purposes as a character referee to tell voters how much he cares about American troops.
Romney has made his own errors in terminology. He has referred to 'Afghans' as 'Afghanis' - the country's currency - and to SEALs as 'soldiers', when they are better described as sailors or troops. His campaign's mobile application misspelled 'America' as 'Amercia'.
Open Letter to General Dempsey;
General;
I'm retired Air Force. RETIRED. I have a RIGHT to my Opinion. Obama needs to go. NOW. And those men you're denigrating are heroes. You're a GENERAL. Generals don't do shit but give orders and sit there making plans. So shut the fuck up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryan Ruck