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Posted On: 12/28/2018 11:43:23 AM
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Newsweek And Others Claim Without Evidence That Trump ‘Outed’ A ‘Covert’ SEAL Team
Multiple outlets attacked President Donald Trump on Wednesday night, asserting that he had revealed, in a tweeted video, the location and identities of members of a “covert” SEAL Team in Iraq.
Quick hit: Video posted to President @realDonaldTrump Twitter account reveals covert U.S. Navy SEAL deployment during #Iraq visit #Trump https://t.co/HOAYcFvTmY
— James LaPorta (@JimLaPorta) December 26, 2018
Wondering where SEAL Team Five is? — pool report from Iraq: Trump also paused to take photos and selfies with many service members. At one point Kyu Lee, told Trump he was the chaplain for Seal Team Five. Lee recalled Trump telling him: “Hey, in that case, let’s take a picture.”
— James LaPorta (@JimLaPorta) December 26, 2018
Current and former Defense Department officials said the information is almost always classified and is a violation of operational security. Contacted by @Newsweek – @DeptofDefense referred questions to @WhiteHouse #Iraq #Trump #Military #SEALs https://t.co/E5h8P9ANvu
— James LaPorta (@JimLaPorta) December 26, 2018
President Trump violated combat operational security by posting to twitter the faces and location of a special operations unit (Navy Seals) on active combat duty in Iraq.https://t.co/ThC8yZorOP
— Jory Rand (@ABC7Jory) December 27, 2018
The offending video was posted by the president after his surprise visit with first lady Melania Trump to Al Asad Air Base on Dec. 26 — a visit that escaped the detection of NBC long enough for the outlet to publish a story claiming that Trump would be the “first president since 2002” who would fail to visit troops for Christmas.
But what media outlets and critics got wrong about the situation is striking. Many, including SEAL Team 6 member Robert O’Neill, took to Twitter to point out why that probably wasn’t the case.
If they are covert, @JimLaPorta do you really think they’d be at a photo op? https://t.co/k4VHISai6l
— Robert J. O’Neill (@mchooyah) December 27, 2018
This is overwrought. It’s unusual to show these guys’ faces, but they are part of the “white” SOF advisory task force CJSOTF-I, not JSOC operators, and their mission is not “covert.” https://t.co/zMyJJZzpXi
— Wesley Morgan (@wesleysmorgan) December 26, 2018
A retired Navy SEAL told The Daily Caller on condition of anonymity that, based on the video alone, it was clear that those pictured were not currently involved in a covert operation. For one thing, they were too “clean-cut.”
“If they’re truly ‘downrange’ and involved in a covert op they would look different — you try to look native, don’t go out clean-shaven. When you’re in the Middle East, you got a beard. You grow your hair out. If you’re clean cut, you might as well put a ‘kill me’ stamp on your head.”
He also argued that a sitting president would never even be brought into a forward area during a “kinetic operation” in progress, as that would unnecessarily endanger the operators, the president and everyone else in the vicinity.
The fact that the team was relaxed, clean-shaven and taking photographs, he said, suggested that there was no such operation in progress for Trump to endanger. “This is a hot, steaming bowl of nothing,” he concluded.
Task and Purpose reported a similar line of thinking, arguing that if the SEAL Team were, in fact, involved in a covert operation, no one would know they were even there.
Simply belonging to a SEAL Team doesn’t make your every move “covert,” especially if you’re hanging out in the DFAC during the commander-in-chief’s visit.
All of this is to say that if SEAL Team 5 was deployed to Iraq on a covert mission, there’s no way in hell anyone, including conventional U.S. forces, would likely know they were there.
https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/27/trump-atta...seal-team/
Multiple outlets attacked President Donald Trump on Wednesday night, asserting that he had revealed, in a tweeted video, the location and identities of members of a “covert” SEAL Team in Iraq.
Quick hit: Video posted to President @realDonaldTrump Twitter account reveals covert U.S. Navy SEAL deployment during #Iraq visit #Trump https://t.co/HOAYcFvTmY
— James LaPorta (@JimLaPorta) December 26, 2018
Wondering where SEAL Team Five is? — pool report from Iraq: Trump also paused to take photos and selfies with many service members. At one point Kyu Lee, told Trump he was the chaplain for Seal Team Five. Lee recalled Trump telling him: “Hey, in that case, let’s take a picture.”
— James LaPorta (@JimLaPorta) December 26, 2018
Current and former Defense Department officials said the information is almost always classified and is a violation of operational security. Contacted by @Newsweek – @DeptofDefense referred questions to @WhiteHouse #Iraq #Trump #Military #SEALs https://t.co/E5h8P9ANvu
— James LaPorta (@JimLaPorta) December 26, 2018
President Trump violated combat operational security by posting to twitter the faces and location of a special operations unit (Navy Seals) on active combat duty in Iraq.https://t.co/ThC8yZorOP
— Jory Rand (@ABC7Jory) December 27, 2018
The offending video was posted by the president after his surprise visit with first lady Melania Trump to Al Asad Air Base on Dec. 26 — a visit that escaped the detection of NBC long enough for the outlet to publish a story claiming that Trump would be the “first president since 2002” who would fail to visit troops for Christmas.
But what media outlets and critics got wrong about the situation is striking. Many, including SEAL Team 6 member Robert O’Neill, took to Twitter to point out why that probably wasn’t the case.
If they are covert, @JimLaPorta do you really think they’d be at a photo op? https://t.co/k4VHISai6l
— Robert J. O’Neill (@mchooyah) December 27, 2018
This is overwrought. It’s unusual to show these guys’ faces, but they are part of the “white” SOF advisory task force CJSOTF-I, not JSOC operators, and their mission is not “covert.” https://t.co/zMyJJZzpXi
— Wesley Morgan (@wesleysmorgan) December 26, 2018
A retired Navy SEAL told The Daily Caller on condition of anonymity that, based on the video alone, it was clear that those pictured were not currently involved in a covert operation. For one thing, they were too “clean-cut.”
“If they’re truly ‘downrange’ and involved in a covert op they would look different — you try to look native, don’t go out clean-shaven. When you’re in the Middle East, you got a beard. You grow your hair out. If you’re clean cut, you might as well put a ‘kill me’ stamp on your head.”
He also argued that a sitting president would never even be brought into a forward area during a “kinetic operation” in progress, as that would unnecessarily endanger the operators, the president and everyone else in the vicinity.
The fact that the team was relaxed, clean-shaven and taking photographs, he said, suggested that there was no such operation in progress for Trump to endanger. “This is a hot, steaming bowl of nothing,” he concluded.
Task and Purpose reported a similar line of thinking, arguing that if the SEAL Team were, in fact, involved in a covert operation, no one would know they were even there.
Simply belonging to a SEAL Team doesn’t make your every move “covert,” especially if you’re hanging out in the DFAC during the commander-in-chief’s visit.
All of this is to say that if SEAL Team 5 was deployed to Iraq on a covert mission, there’s no way in hell anyone, including conventional U.S. forces, would likely know they were there.
https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/27/trump-atta...seal-team/
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