At first blush it appears so. Granted, this is hearsay but the guy is a former special forces guy with an ear still in the community.
Here's the story:
Earlier this week, news broke that three Navy SEALs were charged and may be court-martialed for allegedly punching a prisoner. The prisoner, a high-value target (HVT) was turned over to authorities with a bloody lip.
According to a source of mine — a retired SEAL who like myself still serves in other capacities — the feeling going around the Special Operations community at Fort Bragg is that this latest development is a kneejerk reaction to the situation a couple months ago when SEAL operators rescued Captain Phillips – Captain of the Maersk Alabama – off the coast of Somalia.
...The truth of the situation was that the SEALs were held off from infiltrating the AO (Area of Operations) for over 36 hours. There was a lot of resistance from the White House in letting them in theater in the first place; once they were in place they were given very restrictive ROE (Rules Of Engagement); so restrictive that they really couldn’t engage their targets. There were two previous opportunities to rescue Captain Phillips, and they were not allowed to engage their targets.
When they finally did execute, they did so by liberally interpreting the ROE; the onsite commander finally had enough with the situation and gave them a weapons-free command and they were able to engage and rescue Captain Phillips. The fallout from the National Command Authority was immediate and extremely unpleasant; the White House did not want the rescue to be conducted in the way that it was.
So the word on the street is that this latest development is payback for the SEALs violating the ROE in rescuing the captain of the Maersk Alabama. The Chain of Command is asserting itself, letting everybody know what’s going to happen to you if you don’t follow orders.
I'm a former sailor and as such know that following orders is critical to a strong military apparatus. That said, I've not been in a critical situation that required split-second timing and rapid decisions in a situation that someones life was at stake. The ROE's have to be liberal to allow commanders with eyes on to make good decisions and weigh options.
If this is true, Obama will lose a military he's about to get deeper into a conflict that he's been wavering on for months. Nothing will dismay and deflate the armed forces more than a CinC who not only hates the military but doesn't understand them and can't make a decision. Add to that the fact that you may be brought up on charges for making decisions that not only were right but resulted in the elimination of a pirate and the rescue of an American. I was in during the Clinton years and can tell you he was hated by NCO's like me.
Please read the entire post and others at the site.
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2 comments:
This is exactly why things like the Fort Hood killings accured.We have turned our country so politicly correct that every country must laugh at the things we do.Its time for people to wake up.Thats why they did'nt take prisoners in ww1 ww2.My friends father told me that last year before he passed away.There was no trial,court was held on the battlefield.Your judge was god!If we continue this bleeding heart mentality you better start finding somewhere else to raise a family because this will not be the United States I Remember.I served in our military if I new then what is happening now I would not have wasted my time.I would have made as much money as I could and got out of this place,its going down the toilet.
While plausible, the connection between the Somalia event and the prisoner capture seems remote. There doesn't seem to be a lot of substance that can be confirmed in the accusations against the President in this case. My gut feeling was the Navy Seals did liberally interpt R.O.E. in the Somali situation and thank God they did. I can understand people being reluctant to go on record if they are in the military to report who said what, but that is quite the harsh critizism to be throwing around on things that can't be checked.
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