Author of No Easy Day indentified...

[waggy]

You know they payed him big money to publish his name, don't you?

got proof on that?

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

I'm having a hard time believing the lack of outrage over this. If this had been a WH leak Obama would be being crucified for it and Fox News would be leading the charge.

 

[Pens1566]

While his name shouldn't have been leaked, I don't think any harm will come to him. All it takes to find a SEAL is to hang out in Coronado for oh, about 5 minutes. It's blatantly obvious who is an operator.

 

[EagleKeeper]

I'm having a hard time believing the lack of outrage over this. If this had been a WH leak Obama would be being crucified for it and Fox News would be leading the charge.

Obama camp discloses classified info for political gain. They do not disclose names.

Fox and others probably obtained the name at the same time. Fox beat the others to the release

 

[PJABBER]

Looks like the OPSEC group is consistent in wanting all of the leaking stopped.

Anti-Obama SEAL group wants bin Laden raid book stopped
By BYRON TAU | 8/27/12 10:54 AM EDT

A group of ex-Navy SEALs wants the Obama administration to use any means available to halt publication of a new book detailing the Osama bin Laden raid.

Scott Taylor, president of the Special Ops OPSEC Education Fund, called on Attorney General Eric Holder to get an injunction against the publication of "No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama bin Laden."

OPSEC — headed by a former Republican candidate for Congress — released a 22-minute video earlier this month that accused President Obama of compromising national security through national security leaks and the release of information about the bin Laden raid.

"We are asking you to commit any and all resources of the Department of Justice necessary, including your authority as the U.S. Attorney General, to immediately seek the extraordinary remedy of an injunction in federal court to prevent this book from being published and distributed until it can be subjected to proper review procedures by the appropriate government agency. A failure to act to prevent an unauthorized disclosure of sensitive or classified information is a failure to act to protect those who serve our country," Taylor wrote to Holder.

"We have no desire to condemn a book we have not yet read and remain hopeful current reports about its contents are simply the product of hyper-aggressive marketing," Taylor wrote. "However, the potential threats from unauthorized disclosures to those who still serve in Special Operations units are too great to simply wish for the best."

"Too many detail about units like that one were already leaked by senior members of the Administration in the days after the Bin Laden raid and those who serve simply cannot afford any more to become public," he wrote.

"No Easy Day" was written pseudonymously by a former SEAL, but Fox News revealed the author last week as Matt Bissonnette. Both the White House and the Pentagon deny cooperating with the book, and say that no one in the federal government has reviewed it to avoid disclosures of sensitive information. Such reviews are typical for books by former government or military personnel writing about sensitive missions or classified information.

However, it's not clear that the federal government has the authority to stop any book from being published. In several high profile cases about prior restraint, federal courts have been reticient to impose gag orders on the press — even in the case of national security.

In the famous Pentagon Papers case, the government rejected attempts by Richard Nixon's administration to stop the New York Times from publishing classified Vietnam war reports. And the government dropped a 1979 attempt to stop the publication of nuclear secrets in a magazine.

The conventional wisdom is that the raid book (set to be released on Sept. 11th) is good news for Obama — given that the death of bin Laden is one of his major foreign policy successes in a race against a ticket with no military or foreign policy experiment. But it could just as easily backfire — putting a spotlight on the administration's records on security leaks and alleged politicization of certain national security successes.

UPDATE: "We are aware of the letter and are reviewing it," Dean Boyd, Department of Justice spokesman told POLITICO.

 

[EagleKeeper]

I suspect that Freedom of the Press will trump.

As long as there is no classified info within the book.

should the Administration attempt to declare the info classified; they will have to show a judge why.

 

[kage69]

So not only did Fox reveal the author's real name, they also posted pictures of him in combat gear!

Unreal.

Fox and others are obviously heavily invested in selling the notion that SpecOps hates Obama and any successes were in spite of his leadership. They see this book as a threat to that narrative, and I guess if they have to offer the author up for anyone who wants to kill him and his family, well so be it. It's a theme we've seen before from them, see Valerie Plame.

Absolutely fucking disgusting, I am shocked and appalled that so many 'support the troops!' raving conservatives somehow don't seem to have a problem with this, as if criticism of the author and his book were impossible short of a public outing.

 

[PJABBER]

So not only did Fox reveal the author's real name, they also posted pictures of him in combat gear!

Unreal.

Fox and others are obviously heavily invested in selling the notion that SpecOps hates Obama and any successes were in spite of his leadership. They see this book as a threat to that narrative, and I guess if they have to offer the author up for anyone who wants to kill him and his family, well so be it. It's a theme we've seen before from them, see Valerie Plame.

Absolutely fucking disgusting, I am shocked and appalled that so many 'support the troops!' raving conservatives somehow don't seem to have a problem with this, as if criticism of the author and his book were impossible short of a public outing.

You are skewed in your opinion of Fox, as are so many commentators of the lefty persuasion here. You see only the opinion of their talk show guests, not the much more balanced news operation. Even the opinion show hosts make a very good effort to invite lefty guests to represent the left. Do you really see the right represented on the likes of MSDNC?

The author is retired from service and active as an entertainment adviser in different capacities. Latest news is that he was working for Electronic Arts this year, acting as a consultant on the highly anticipated “Medal of Honor: Warfighter” game.

It will be hard, if not impossible, to suppress the book in advance of publication, but if he does reveal classified information he will have consequences to face beyond the criticisms of his former teammates.

Of course, he does live on an isolated island in Alaska, accessible only by plane or boat. If the bad guys want to get him, I am guessing they will only be able to do so at the risk of a very high body count of their own.

Personally, I do not believe we are well served by the release of operational detail of this type. He should not have published the book until well in the future, if at all.

One mitigating factor is that he does not seem to have the intent of keeping the money that is made on the sale, it will be passed on to the Wounded Warrior Project and other such charities.

 

[Fern]

1. IMO, releasing the SEAL's real name is an outrage. It endangers him, his family and possible other SEALs.

2. IDK what's in the book, but after all the leaks by the WH about the raid I'd be a bit surprised if his book revealed anything endangering the SEALs.

3. I heard he had a lawyer specializing in this sort of thing review the book to ensure no damaging info was in it and no laws broken.

Fern

 

[Thump553]

Fern: Your point #3 is what I was referring to as his pet expert.

Very simply put (got to get back to work) it is nearly impossible to obtain an injunction to prevent something from being published. If the DOJ takes any preemptive legal action the odds are way against them.

Personally I'm guessing there is little of actionable secrets in this book, but I don't see how disclosing the details of how our forces do what they do is going to do anything but make their job even harder in the future. After all the bad guys will read these books as well.

 

[kage69]

I suspect that Freedom of the Press will trump.

As long as there is no classified info within the book.

should the Administration attempt to declare the info classified; they will have to show a judge why.

I just recalled that 'Freedom of the Press' prevailed over Nixon back in the 70s, so that's not an unlikely outcome should the Pentagon or White House send in the lawyers.

So much depends on the actual contents of the book, but I think it's telling that this man's life has been offered up by Fox in this way, well before the book has even been released.

Fox and it's sycophants are disgusting. I've come to accept the 180 Fox did as soon as Obama was in office, where they went from "excited moist cheerleader" to "drunk heckling loser in the stands," (overnight) but I honestly thought they were above pulling a move like that.

They must be scared shitless of Bigelow's movie...

 

[blankslate]

1. IMO, releasing the SEAL's real name is an outrage. It endangers him, his family and possible other SEALs.

Funny how it was Fox news that did it eh?

2. IDK what's in the book, but after all the leaks by the WH about the raid I'd be a bit surprised if his book revealed anything endangering the SEALs.

We need proof of this so far it's a Swiftboat slander organization making allegations.

3. I heard he had a lawyer specializing in this sort of thing review the book to ensure no damaging info was in it and no laws broken.

This doesn't absolve him of not going through the proper channels to ensure that his manuscript was properly reviewed like other authors from special forces have done.

 

[OCGuy]

This SEAL has disgraced the armed forces.

 

[kage69]

This SEAL has disgraced the armed forces.

That's a possibility, but for the time being I see no reason to hold him in any higher contempt than Marcinko or Boehm. Are you as equally as judgmental of former operators who join PMCs? Published tales? Just curious...

If he's a rat bastard and completely violated his NDA, then he will be prosecuted. A decorated vet of such standing should be afforded the use of his rights to decide a possible trip to Leavenworth, I think he's earned it. More appropriate than to have a poser of a new agency like Fox purposefully expose the author and his family to the risk of visiting the morgue. The high likelihood of other SEALs being harmed in such an event makes the outcries of the author endangering other team members rather odd IMO.

It's kind of creepy in that I don't hear anyone saying this outing was a good idea, yet Fox is being defended. Really puts a sickening partisan slant on this when there really shouldn't be, ugh. I'm starting to think Fox or like minded entity got a hold of a pre-production print. The contents made balls shrink, not due to technical secrets being revealed but due to portraying Obama in an involved, non-negative light. Que outrage and threats to safety!

 

[kage69]

2. IDK what's in the book, but after all the leaks by the WH about the raid I'd be a bit surprised if his book revealed anything endangering the SEALs.


Fern

So, by that metric of yours, the risk posed to the author, family and others over this 'redundant information' would make Fox's actions even more stupid and petty?

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Fox, once again, proves their disdain for this country.

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

Fox, once again, proves their disdain for this country.

This....you know all the right wing fringe would be crucifying CNN if they did it, with Fox leading the charge.

But since the *cough*fair and balanced *cough* network did it, all the right wingers just look the other way.

So "support the troops" has become "out the troops"?

 

[Zargon]

This....you know all the right wing fringe would be crucifying CNN if they did it, with Fox leading the charge.

But since the *cough*fair and balanced *cough* network did it, all the right wingers just look the other way.

So "support the troops" has become "out the troops"?

I work with a ton of middle aged white guys in an area that is fox news' bread and butter

and most of my coworkers are shocked and appalled at fox for this, and most of them watch faux news all the time

so Im not seeing the lack of outrage at fox over it

 

[Fern]

So, by that metric of yours, the risk posed to the author, family and others over this 'redundant information' would make Fox's actions even more stupid and petty?

Yes, Fox's action actions were stupid and irresponsible etc.. I don't think they could be made any more stupid, regardless of the book's content. The point is not put those people in jeopardy, not the content of the book. Heck, I don't even know the content in the book.

Edit: To be clear, my point #2 was unrelated to point #1. I was addressing other posters' comments that the author gave away secrets etc.

Fern

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

You are skewed in your opinion of Fox, as are so many commentators of the lefty persuasion here. You see only the opinion of their talk show guests, not the much more balanced news operation. Even the opinion show hosts make a very good effort to invite lefty guests to represent the left. Do you really see the right represented on the likes of MSDNC?

(Bolded the hilarious part)

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Really?

Would you care to comment on the multiple studies down that show that Fox news viewers have the lowest scores for accuracy (or to put it another way, they are wrong about what they think is true more then everyone else)?

http://woods.stanford.edu/docs/surveys/Global-Warming-Fox-News.pdf

http://www.kff.org/healthreform/upload/8148.pdf

http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2009/08/19/4431138-first-thoughts-obamas-good-bad-news

http://www.comm.ohio-state.edu/kgarrett/MediaMosqueRumors.pdf

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/...med-people-fairleigh-dickinson_n_1106305.html

http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf/dec10/Misinformation_Dec10_rpt.pdf

 

[PJABBER]

(Bolded the hilarious part)

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Really?
[/url]

Quite a long post hating Fox New viewers, but my comment was about the news operation and not the viewers.

Frankly, as I skip around channels a lot to avoid commercials, the greatest amount of lunacy that I see comes from MSDNC. Only one side of every story, always.

 

[PJABBER]

Looks like the first comments about the actual book are now coming out -

SEAL book raises questions about bin Laden’s death

WASHINGTON (AP) — A firsthand account of the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden contradicts previous accounts by administration officials, raising questions as to whether the terror mastermind presented a clear threat when SEALs first fired upon him.

Bin Laden apparently was hit in the head when he looked out of his bedroom door into the top-floor hallway of his compound as SEALs rushed up a narrow stairwell in his direction, according to former Navy SEAL Matt Bissonnette, writing under the pseudonym Mark Owen in “No Easy Day.” The book is to be published next week by Penguin Group (USA)’s Dutton imprint.

Bissonnette says he was directly behind a “point man” going up the stairs. “Less than five steps” from top of the stairs, he heard “suppressed” gunfire: “BOP. BOP.” The point man had seen a “man peeking out of the door” on the right side of the hallway.

The author writes that bin Laden ducked back into his bedroom and the SEALs followed, only to find the terrorist crumpled on the floor in a pool of blood with a hole visible on the right side of his head and two women wailing over his body.

Bissonnette says the point man pulled the two women out of the way and shoved them into a corner and he and the other SEALs trained their guns’ laser sites on bin Laden’s still-twitching body, shooting him several times until he lay motionless. The SEALs later found two weapons stored by the doorway, untouched, the author said.

In the account related by administration officials after the raid in Pakistan, the SEALs shot bin Laden only after he ducked back into the bedroom because they assumed he might be reaching for a weapon.

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor would not comment on the apparent contradiction late Tuesday. But he said in an email, “As President Obama said on the night that justice was brought to Osama bin Laden, ‘We give thanks for the men who carried out this operation, for they exemplify the professionalism, patriotism and unparalleled courage of those who serve our country.’”

“No Easy Day” was due out Sept. 11, but Dutton announced the book would be available a week early, Sept. 4, because of a surge of orders due to advance publicity that drove the book to the top of the Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com best-seller lists.

The Associated Press purchased a copy of the book Tuesday.

In another possibly uncomfortable revelation for U.S. officials who say bin Laden’s body was treated with dignity before being given a full Muslim burial at sea, the author reveals that in the cramped helicopter flight out of the compound, one of the SEALs called “Walt” was sitting on bin Laden’s chest as the body lay at the author’s feet in the middle of the cabin.

The publisher says the author used pseudonyms for all the SEALs.

Bissonnette also writes disparagingly that none of the SEALs were fans of President Barack Obama and knew that his administration would take credit for ordering the May 2011 raid. One of the SEALs said after the mission that they had just gotten Obama re-elected by carrying out the raid.

But he says they respected him as commander in chief and for giving the operation the go-ahead.

Bissonnette writes less flatteringly of meeting Vice President Joe Biden along with Obama at the headquarters of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment after the raid. He says Biden told “lame jokes” no one understood, reminding him of “someone’s drunken uncle at Christmas dinner.”

Beyond such embarrassing observations, U.S. officials fear the book may include classified information, as it did not undergo the formal review required by the Pentagon for works published by former or current Defense Department employees.

Officials from the Pentagon and the CIA, which commanded the mission, are examining the manuscript for possible disclosure of classified information and could take legal action against the author.

In a statement provided to The Associated Press, the author says he did “not disclose confidential or sensitive information that would compromise national security in any way.”

Bissonnette’s real name was first revealed by Fox News and confirmed to the Associated Press.

Jihadists on al Qaeda websites have posted purported photos of the author, calling for his murder.

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

Quite a long post hating Fox New viewers, but my comment was about the news operation and not the viewers.

Frankly, as I skip around channels a lot to avoid commercials, the greatest amount of lunacy that I see comes from MSDNC. Only one side of every story, always.

I didn't say I hate them, I said they are the most incorrect. Don't put words in my mouth.

And like I said, care to comment that Fox news viewers are always the most wrong about the news?

If (as you claim) they are fair and balanced, how do so many people get the wrong information? Magic?

 

[a777pilot]

If something happened to him it would probably keep the next one from being so care-free with our national security.

Tell that shit to our C-in-C.

It seems the MSM went out of their way to find out who the author of this book was. I'm still waiting for them to get the C-in-C's college, travel and financial records as a young man.

 

[PJABBER]

I didn't say I hate them, I said they are the most incorrect. Don't put words in my mouth.

And like I said, care to comment that Fox news viewers are always the most wrong about the news?

If (as you claim) they are fair and balanced, how do so many people get the wrong information? Magic?

How about if you make a thread about your opinion/prejudice so you don't go off topic in this one? :awe: