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Anonymous
Slain SEAL's dad wants investigation, refuses to meet trump: 'Don't hide behind my son's death' 2017-02-28 01:10:10 Post No. 116028
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Slain SEAL's dad wants investigation, refuses to meet trump: 'Don't hide behind my son's death' 2017-02-28 01:10:10 Post No. 116028
[Report] Image search: [Google]
Slain SEAL's dad wants investigation, refuses to meet trump: 'Don't hide behind my son's death'
Anonymous
2017-02-28 01:10:10
Post No. 116028
[Report]
When they brought William “Ryan” Owens home, the Navy SEAL was carried from a C-17 military plane in a flag-draped casket, onto the tarmac at Dover Air Force Base, as President Donald Trump, his daughter, Ivanka, and Owens’ family paid their respects.
>It was a private transfer, as the family had requested. No media and no bystanders, except for some military dignitaries.
>Owens’ father, Bill, had learned only a short time before the ceremony that Trump was coming. Owens was sitting with his wife, Marie, and other family members in the solemn, living room-like space where the loved ones of the fallen assemble before they are taken to the flight line.
>“I’m sorry, I don’t want to see him,’’ Owens recalled telling the chaplain who informed him that Trump was on his way from Washington. “I told them I don’t want to meet the President.”
>It had been little more than 24 hours since six officers in dress uniform knocked on the door to Owens’ home in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. It was not yet daylight when he answered the door, already knowing in the pit of his stomach what they had come to tell him.
>Now, Owens cringed at the thought of having to shake the hand of the president who approved the raid in Yemen that claimed his son’s life — an operation that he and others are now calling into question.
>“I told them I didn’t want to make a scene about it, but my conscience wouldn’t let me talk to him,” Owens said Friday, speaking out for the first time in an interview with the Miami Herald.
>Owens, also a military veteran, was troubled by Trump’s harsh treatment of a Gold Star family during his presidential campaign. Now Owens was a Gold Star parent, and he said he had deep reservations about the way the decision was made to launch what would be his son’s last mission.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article135064074.html#storylink=cpy
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>Ryan and as many as 29 civilians were killed Jan. 28 in the anti-terrorism mission in Yemen. What was intended as a lightning raid to grab cellphones, laptops and other information about terrorists turned into a nearly hour-long firefight in which “everything went wrong,” according to U.S. military officials who spoke to the New York Times.
>Bill Owens said he was assured that his son, who was shot, was killed early in the fight. It was the first military counter-terrorist operation approved by the new president, who signed the go-ahead Jan. 26 — six days into his term.
>“Why at this time did there have to be this stupid mission when it wasn’t even barely a week into his administration? Why? For two years prior, there were no boots on the ground in Yemen — everything was missiles and drones — because there was not a target worth one American life. Now, all of a sudden we had to make this grand display?’’
>In a statement from the White House Saturday, spokesman Michael C. Short called Ryan Owens “an American hero who made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of his country.”
>The White House did not address his father’s criticisms, but pointed out that the Department of Defense routinely conducts a review of missions that result in loss of life.
>Bill Owens and his wife sat in another room as the President paid his respects to other family members. He declined to say what family members were at the ceremony.
>Trump administration officials have called the mission a success, saying they had seized important intelligence information. They have also criticized detractors of the raid, saying those who question its success dishonor Ryan Owens’ memory.
>His father, however, believes just the opposite.
>“Don’t hide behind my son’s death to prevent an investigation,” said the elder Owens, pointing to Trump’s sharp words directed at the mission’s critics, including Sen. John McCain.
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>“I want an investigation. … The government owes my son an investigation,” he said.
Among the elite
>Next week, Ryan Owens would have turned 37. At the time of his death, he had already spent half his life in the Navy, much of that with the elite SEAL Team 6 — chasing terrorist leaders across deserts and mountains around the world. The team, formally known as DEVGRU,had taken part in some of the most high-profile operations in military history, including the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
>At the time of the 2001 9/11 attacks, Owens was in SEAL training, arguably the most physically grueling and mentally grinding regimens in the military. The team, tasked with tracking terrorists and mythologized in books and movies, had once been dubbed a “global manhunting machine” by the Times.
>Despite the lore surrounding the SEALS’ exploits, almost everything about them is kept secret, even their names. Bill Owens knows very little about the actions that his son participated in, but takes pride in the dozens of awards he earned during his 12 deployments. Among them: the Silver Star, Navy and Marine Corps Medal, a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.
>Ryan served under three U.S. presidents, and met former President Barack Obama, his father said. At his home on Friday, Bill Owens pulled out piles of photographs: Ryan as a toddler, clad in a brown military jumpsuit on his father’s lap; Ryan with his two older brothers playing army as kids; Ryan’s wedding picture; Ryan with his children and Ryan clad in military gear with a handful of his SEAL teammates. There’s one of Ryan sitting on the floor in the White House playing with Obama’s dogs.
>Ryan joined the Navy after high school, following in his brothers’ footsteps. His brother, John, 42, was also a SEAL, and his oldest brother, Michael, 44, a Hollywood police officer, was also in the Navy for a time.
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>They in turn were inspired by their father: Bill Owens served four years in the Navy, then joined the Army Reserves in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Ryan was born in downstate Peoria. While in the Reserves, Bill worked for Caterpillar tractor company, until he was laid off during the recession in the 1980s. Shortly thereafter, he saw a notice in a military magazine for new recruits for the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, and he successfully applied.
>Owens and his then-wife, Ryan’s mother Patricia, moved with Ryan to South Florida. His elder sons remained with Owens’ first wife in Illinois.
>Despite the distance between them, the half-brothers were very close, Owens said. They played sports and spent many summers and holidays together. Ryan and his brothers became interested in the military at a very young age. And Ryan dreamed of becoming a SEAL.
>“He was always happy,” Bill Owens said of Ryan. “Every picture you see he has a smile on his face. He just had a real positive attitude.”
>He was also driven. Ryan was so determined “to be the best” his father said, that when he failed the dive phase of SEAL training, he went out and hired a private instructor to get more training on his off time, and was initially certified as a civilian.
>“He went out on his own and became more proficient. That’s the kind of dedication and determination that he had,” his father said.
>Bill Owens’ marriage to Ryan’s mother ended soon after they moved to South Florida, and Patricia, who also became a Fort Lauderdale police officer, eventually moved with Ryan and her new husband back to Peoria. She died in 2013.
>Ryan spent summers and holidays with his father and brothers in Fort Lauderdale and played catcher during the school year for the Illinois Valley Central High School baseball team, the Grey Ghosts.
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A SEAL’s heartache
>Standing 6-4, and weighing about 225 pounds, Ryan loved the physical part of the job and serving his country, even though it took him away from his family much of the year.
>“I always kept hoping that we would eventually make up for lost time, but that’s not going to happen,” his father said.
>Ryan’s military career wasn’t always filled with the adrenaline of hostage rescue missions and midnight raids. In between, there were endless hours of training and planning.
>There was also the heartache of losing his military brothers. Ryan was tasked in 2011 with escorting the bodies of 17 of his fellow SEALS home following a CH-47 helicopter crash in Afghanistan, his father said.
>“He came back from Afghanistan and had to go to their funerals. It’s unnerving to go through something like that. It was one of the worst days in SEAL history as far as casualties go. He didn’t talk about it,” his father said. “A lot of them, they don’t talk about it, even with their parents.”
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Doomed mission
>Owens and his SEAL commandos set out in the dark of night. Planning for the Yemen raid began last year during the Obama administration, but the execution was tabled because it was decided it would be better to launch the operation on a moonless night, which wouldn’t occur until after President Trump took office Jan. 20.
>According to a timeline provided by the White House, then-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn briefed the president about the operation Jan. 25 over a dinner that included Vice President Mike Pence, Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and top security aides. It was not held in the Situation Room, as had been a practice under previous administrations.
>President Trump signed the memo authorizing the action the next day, Jan. 26.
>“This was a very, very well thought-out and executed effort,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Feb. 2 as questions first arose about the mission. He stressed that it had been thoroughly vetted and planned on Obama’s watch.
>Colin Kahl, a national security adviser to former Vice President Joe Biden, however, tweeted his contention that Spicer was mistaken.
>“Obama made no decisions on this before leaving office, believing it represented escalation of U.S. involvement in Yemen,” he wrote on Twitter.
>At the time of the firefight, Trump was not in the Situation Room, where he would have been directly involved in monitoring developments. Spicer said he kept in touch with his national security staffers, who were directly plugged in. White House officials also pointed out that, in general, counter-terrorism operations are routine and presidents are not in the Situation Room for every mission.
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>U.S. forces, targeting a suspected al-Qaida compound, immediately faced armed militants, a sign that their cover had been blown. The Washington Post reported that militants, some of them women, fired from the rooftops. Three other commandos were injured when an MV-22 Osprey, sent in to evacuate the troops, crash-landed. It was later destroyed by a U.S. airstrike to prevent it from falling into militant hands.
>Some reports have said as many as 23 civilians, including an 8-year-old girl, were killed.
>Afterward, McCain characterized the mission as a failure, and Trump responded with a series of tweets defending the Yemen action, and criticizing McCain. The rancor further escalated when Spicer later stated that McCain — or anyone — who “undermines the success of that raid owes an apology and a disservice to life of Chief Owens.”
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The last President didn't have the guts for a daring raid on terrorist hq. Now some dead guy's dad doesn't want to accept his son's death. How disappointing!
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>>116042
Father doesn't want to meet the president. Sad!
No but really SEALs are the definition of American interventionism these days. I fail to see why it's suddenly a problem for him.
It's all fun and games to kill bin laden in Pakistan until someone gets hurt?
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>>116043
the scandal is that Obama sat on that raid for months and months and never launched it because it looked too risky. Obama was super cautious to a fault and deliberated and stalled military operations frequently.
Then Trump immediately launches it on his first day in office over dinner and tweets about a TV interview he will be on while its actually happening (pretty much confirming he wasn't in the situation room monitoring his first raid)
Obama essentially predicted this was a bad, risky raid, and Trump was either too headstrong or too stupid.
Really though, America is getting what it voted for. A less risk averse president who is okay with more American deaths. One osprey down, a 75 million dollar whoopsy.
Like it or not, Americans hate attrition, losing military equipment and lives is the worst for us. Why do you think terrorists use SVBIED's? Its not to win the war, its to sway the American public to want to pull out of certain countries.
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>>116042
>Implying Obama didn't get Osama Bin Laden
Or is "that the joke?"
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>>116060
No it's pure hypocrisy in this article, scandal or no. It doesn't matter the risk, Americans will always be gung ho about violating another country if it suits their interests or their media spins it as a positive. I blame the same media that went full "fuck the world" when it tried spinning every American intervention under (most recently) Bush and Obama as good for the world.
I will agree with the remainder of your points, however. Two American candidates who want to continue fucking up the world except this time, at least one of them doesn't have the backing of the MSM.
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>>116069
Anon said it right above your post
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>>116074
how does trump not have the backing of the MSM?
Fox News is the number one most watched cable network in the country.
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>>116084
http://www.indiewire.com/2016/12/cnn-fox-news-msnbc-nbc-ratings-2016-winners-losers-1201762864/
Even if you were right, worldwide negative media attention to Trump dwarfs Fox and the extreme right networks that support him. Face it, finding a media outlet that backs him is significantly harder than all other options
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>>116084
He has the backing of the mainstream right, in the US.
But he put the Daily Mail on his enemies peoples list despite them sharing a love of immigrant bashing..
The Telegraph seems more favourable.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/27/donald-trump-says-oscars-focused-politics-sad-happened-la-la/
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>>116111
the daily mail, as tabloid as it is, gets credit from me for at least being even handed in its sensationalism
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>>116110
like hell it is.
most of the radio networks I listen to on my way home are pretty friendly if not overtly pro-trump and anti-democrat.
i wouldn't be surprised if pro-trump outlets get higher viewership on average among Americans than the anti-trump outlets.
And when does a medium start to become mainstream? 4chan is one of the highest trafficked websites in the world, and /pol/ is the highest trafficked board on 4chan. That influences the dialectic as well.
I don't buy the idea that the MSM is conspiring against Trump, I think a lot of the heinous stuff Trump and the GOP have said and done speaks for itself, no need for a conspiracy to villanize folks that act like villains.
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>>116110
It's the most watched cable news that is what matters and Fox absolutely dominates that field.
http://fortune.com/2016/12/29/top-cable-news-2016/
http://deadline.com/2016/12/fox-news-channel-2016-most-watched-basic-cable-network-1201871574/
http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/2016-ratings-fox-news-channel-is-cable-tvs-most-watched-network/315009
http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/the-top-cable-news-programs-of-2016-were/315007
http://thehill.com/media/312009-fox-news-to-end-2016-as-most-watched-network-in-all-of-cable
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>>116117
>4chan is popular
this is where I go to escape people
... fucking hell it's true, it's in the top 500 globally, and top 200 domestically according to alexa
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>>116177
alex is utter shit and generally can't be trusted, but 4chan is pretty high up in the rankings.
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>>116183
>>116177
I really, really, reeaaaally miss the days where 4chan was a half a blip on nobody's radar. 4chan's perceived countercultur and "outsider" culture will and has been its own undoing. Maybe if the old moot was here (not the kike bitch that he was when he left this shithole) he would've pulled a ban on everyone in /pol/, /mlp/, /co/ and /tv/. Permaban everyone and all the newfags too stupid to ban evade would be cleansed. That's what needs to happen. Hirohito needs to hiroshima 4chan
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>>116028
Oh abloo bloo...
Seems his son was more of man than his father is..
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>>116525
Pussies hide behind chans. Lets see you enlist! Also he is more man in one of his oldman farts than you will ever be in all your 800lb life.
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>>116211
Dude, I called it in 2011. I don't even know if the term meme was used in the way it is today at that time.
I clearly remember sitting in my room just browsing /b/ and had a Goybook tab up. Well someone uploaded pictures of like pedobear, FBF, and Scumbag Steve, and they were WELL received by normies. To be fair the last two are pretty tame compared to a PEDOPHILE BEAR.
But I said to myself "it's going to be a very dark and weird time if this type of humor actually goes beyond my little secret club. If regular people start just thinking they can make good internet jokes and images, this shit will water itself down in no time"
I wish I would've been wrong.
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>>116629
LOL you should literally kill yourself. What exactly makes me new? Should i upload my screencaps from the last decade to imgur and share them with you or what?
Sadly i'll venture out to say I've been here far longer than you friendo, you need to get a fucking grip. This place is going shit, and i'm sorry you just got on board in recent years in the recession period of 4chan.
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>>116700
This place went to shit 6 years ago. You're not fitting in.
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>>116788
It was shit at least since 2004.
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FALSE!
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>>116788
>6 years ago
You mean 7 or 8? My point was I saw it becoming mainstream in 2011. I'm not sure what your point is or why you're posturing so hard, but it leads to something you can't prove vs. something i can prove.
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>>116583
>Pussies hide behind chans.
Trigger much? You outed yourself, kid. I kinda feel bad for you.
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