President Donald Trump has ignited a firestorm of criticism and charges that he is politicizing the military by faulting a war hero for not capturing al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden sooner.
Trump took shots at retired Adm. William McRaven in a Fox News interview Sunday in which he also asserted that the former Navy SEAL and former commander of U.S. Special Operations Command was a “backer” of Trump’s 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton, and supporter of President Barack Obama.
“Disgusting,” the George W. Bush administration’s White House counterterrorism adviser, Fran Townsend, wrote Monday on Twitter.
Leon Panetta, who was CIA director during the bin Laden raid and later served as secretary of defense, said Trump owed an apology to McRaven and to all of those in the military and intelligence agencies who played a role in tracking down bin Laden and carrying out the risky raid into Pakistan. He called Trump’s remark “patently ridiculous.”
“It demonstrates a profound lack of understanding of how our military and intelligence agencies operate and undermines the president’s own standing as commander-in-chief,” Panetta said in a statement.
The controversy follows a pattern of concerns raised by former senior military officers about Trump’s grasp of the military’s role, including those who assert that his decision to send thousands of active-duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border shortly before the Nov. 6 midterm elections was a political stunt.
Trump also drew criticism for his decision not to visit Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day last week, following his trip to Europe. He said later he “should have” visited the cemetery but was too busy with official business.
McRaven told CNN he is a fan both of George W. Bush and Barack Obama, having served under them. “I admire all presidents, regardless of their political party, who uphold the dignity of the office and who use that office to bring the nation together in challenging times,” he said pointedly.
McRaven previously had drawn widespread attention for lambasting Trump for repeatedly calling the news media the “enemy of the people.” McRaven had said the president’s words were “the greatest threat to democracy” in his lifetime. When this was raised in the Fox News interview, Trump lashed out at McRaven, who organized and executed the bin Laden raid in Pakistan in May 2011 as head of the secretive Joint Special Operation Command.
“Wouldn’t it have been nice if we got Osama bin Laden a lot sooner than that, wouldn’t it have been nice?” Trump said.
Asked whether military leaders were not due credit for having killed the al-Qaida leader, Trump said, “They took him down but – look, look, there’s news right there, he lived in Pakistan, we’re supporting Pakistan, we’re giving them $1.3 billion a year, which we don’t give them anymore, by the way, I ended it because they don’t do anything for us, they don’t do a damn thing for us.”
(AP)
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6 Responses
The coward president bone spurs who dodged the draft is a fake supporter of the military and has no right to comment on those brave people who served this country.
The failure to attend the solemn ceremonies at the cemetery, to which all the other leaders made it to their ceremonies even in the rain, and the tomb of the unknown (he skipped out on that last year as well and lied to Chris Wallace saying he was there) is scurrilous and indefensible.
Yet he wants to convince us that one of the most unpatriotic and disrespectful acts is that of a football player taking a knee! He’s the commander in chief! Unfortunately.
Trump is soooooo right , its not even funny.
The American govt knew of osama bin ladens where abouts for years , yet they waited years and to finally capture /kill him.
He owes no one an apology.
Trump is a no nonsense prez.
The demoRATS cant deal with a prez who they have no mind control over.
The prez needs a day job badly
Trump owes the entire country an apology. Keep sucking on your deluded binkies if you must but that man isn’t fit to lead an eight year old child to a winning strategy in a game of Stratego. He is a nothing BUT nonsense Prez and should probably stick to his strong suits of sitting at home rattling his saber angrily into the air while soaking his bunions.
BTW with regard to the, “News Right There”… Does the United States or does the United States not support Pakistan to the tune of $1.3 Billion dollars a year? His bigly words of bravado leave large gaping loopholes and escape hatches aplenty should he ever be confronted to pony up with the truthiness of the matter.
Forgot to add this…
Democrats have no desire to deal in the dark arts of manipulating and controlling the minds of others, Presidents or anyone else. They’re too busy trying to do right by all those they hold dear, friends, family, the universe etc. etc. The only thing the Democrats ask for in the case of this particular President is that he maintain a modicum of control over his own runaway mind.
How very very sad, a CIC who shows zero respect for our nations troops. Of course he never served, nor did any of his siblings or children or son in laws. He has no shame.