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Popular vote loser Donald Trump was happy to take credit for the Yakla, Yemen, raid that cost a Navy SEAL his life, as well as that of more than two dozen civilians (including way too many children). Now, as details continue to emerge, he’s trying to deflect and blame others. He’s Trump, it’s what he does. He cannot fail—he can only be failed.
In an operation full of failures from planning to execution, there is one question that should be asked above all others. Check this out:
Through a communications intercept, the commandos knew that the mission had been somehow compromised, but pressed on toward their target roughly five miles from where they had been flown into the area. “They kind of knew they were screwed from the beginning,” one former SEAL Team 6 official said.
You got that? The element of surprise was gone. They knew that. They knew they were screwed from the start. And yet … they pressed on.
Someone made that decision. Someone decided that this SEAL team needed to continue forward, into the maws of a well-prepared enemy.
And remember: the point of the mission was to capture an al-Qaida leader and gather intelligence. If the team was compromised, it was obvious at that point that their target would be gone and any real intelligence was gone with him, or destroyed. Which is what happened.
So who decided to send these SEAL teams into a no-win situation when the entire point of the mission had been compromised? It wasn’t Trump. He was too busy doing whatever in his bedroom to care. So who sent Ryan Owens to his death?