Reuters has a new report on the raid in Yemen this weekend that resulted in the death of Navy SEAL William "Ryan" Owens. It includes some shocking claims from anonymous U.S. military officials:And as for Right wing commentary, look at Hot Air:
Why it matters: A leak like this is highly unusual in the military community — and especially shocking when it comes just 12 days into a new presidency. It raises questions about Trump's standing among his military leaders, as these officials have now thrown their commander-in-chief under the bus.
- Trump approved the raid without proper intelligence, ground support, or contingency plans.
- The intelligence lapses caused the SEAL team to drop into a reinforced compound with a larger group of Al Qaeda soldiers than expected.
- The "brutal firefight" that killed Owens also resulted in the deaths of 15 women and children, including an 8-year old girl.
I’ve read the NYT, WaPo, and Reuters accounts of what happened but I can’t recall a single piece of hard evidence alleged that would suggest the White House, rather than military planners, screwed this up.Update: contrast the remarkable fairness of the mainstream news blogs Slate and Vox both saying that people shouldn't rush to judgement about it being Trump's fault. (Compared to how right wing blogs would treat Obama.) But the fact still remains (as Vox says): it seems pretty remarkable that someone within in the military is prepared to complain about Trump so early. (Again, if it had been military sources leaking against Obama, we would have never heard the end of it from Republicans and their media.)
At least it's a good sign that Trump doesn't the full support of the military.