"The majority of the (22) Navy SEALs who died belonged to the same covert unit that conducted the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May, though they were not the same men, the military official said."..."The best of the best"...7/24/11, "Pro-Russia policy stalls Afghan copters," Washington Times, Gertz
- 8/6/11, "President Obama's downgrade blues," NY Times, Maureen Dowd
The White House clearly blessed the dramatic reconstruction of the mission by Nicholas Schmidle in The New Yorker — so vividly descriptive of the SEALS' looks, quotes and thoughts that Schmidle had to clarify after the piece was published that he had not actually talked to any of them.
"I'll just say that the 23 SEALs on the mission that evening were not the only ones who were listening to their radio communications," Schmidle said, answering readers' questions in a live chat, after taking flak for leaving some with the impression that he had interviewed the heroes when he wrote in his account that it was based on "some of their recollections."
The White House is also counting on the Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal big-screen version of the killing of bin Laden to counter Obama's growing reputation as ineffectual.
The Sony film by the Oscar-winning pair who made "The Hurt Locker" will no doubt reflect the president's cool, gutsy decision against shaky odds. Just as Obamaland was hoping, the movie is scheduled to open on Oct. 12, 2012 — perfectly timed to give a home-stretch boost to a campaign that has grown tougher.
The moviemakers are getting top-level access to the most classified mission in history from an administration that has tried to throw more people in jail for leaking classified information than the Bush administration.
It was clear that the White House had outsourced the job of manning up the president's image to Hollywood when Boal got welcomed to the upper echelons of the White House and the Pentagon and showed up recently — to the surprise of some military officers — at a CIA ceremony
- celebrating the hero SEALs."...
8/6/11, "U.S. official: Killed forces were reinforcing troops in Afghanistan," CNN, Ariosto, Starr
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US soldiers forced to use inferior helicopters due to indifference and mismanagement by Obama. Their blood is on his hands:
7/24/11, "Pro-Russia policy stalls Afghan copters," Washington Times, Bill Gertz
"The Obama administration in May lifted the sanctions as part of its so-called “reset” policy with Russia and opened the helicopter deal to Moscow’s bureaucratic red tape and corruption, according to officials involved with weapons procurement....
"A Pentagon program to rush 21 helicopters to Afghan military forces in time for this summer’s fighting season was derailed by the Obama administration’s conciliatory policy toward Russia and by Army procurement missteps amid allegations of corruption, according to
- current and former defense officials and military contractors."....
8/7/11, "Copter shot down, killing 30 US troops, 8 Afghans," AP, Moore, Dozier
"The downing Saturday was a stinging blow to the lauded, tight-knit SEAL Team 6, months after its crowning achievement"...
NY Times column via RedState.com, CNN article via Weasel Zippers
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