Former SEAL: Obama administration leaks ‘a personal insult,’ will ‘get Americans killed’
by David Martosko
August 31, 2012
TAMPA, Fla. — Former Navy SEAL Benjamin Smith said Thursday that the Obama administration is “leaking like a sieve” about the exploits of American special forces, and that special operations are being weakened to the point where “it’s going to get Americans killed.”
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s Republican or Democrat,” Smith told the Daily Caller at the Republican National Convention, “but on the field of battle if the enemy finds out what intelligence we have, they have time to change tactics. Or they sidestep us completely because they know we’re coming.”
“Then we don’t get to fight them overseas. They come here and they kill Americans.”
Smith is a spokesman for the Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund, a non-profit group of military veterans whose TV ads have been critical of President Barack Obama for quickly claiming credit after SEALs killed Osama bin Laden in 2011.
While some political observers believe Obama’s hastily called press event unintentionally compromised American intelligence collected during the raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, Smith said he wasn’t certain.
“Was it unintentional?” he asked. “A leak can be a mistake, or it can be intentional for either political gain or tactical or strategic advantage.”
Smith spent nearly six years as a Navy SEAL, and said he left the service when his superiors wanted him to leave the active military theater and train future SEALs instead. “I said ‘get me back out there,’” he recounted.
“I protected people for a living — both Americans and non-Americans alike,” he told TheDC.
Smith said he was frustrated with the Obama administration’s failure to protect Shakeel Afridi, a Pakistani doctor who helped SEAL Team Six identify bin Laden, then the leader of the al-Qaida global terror network.
Pakistani authorities arrested Afridi shortly after the raid on bin Laden’s compound. He was convicted in May on treason charges and sentenced to 33 years in prison.
“What do you think that tells other potential intelligence sources around the world?” Smith asked. “It says, ‘Don’t give them anything. Don’t trust them or you’ll be tortured and your family will be wiped off the face of the earth.’”
The White House, said Smith, should respect the quiet dignity of special operators and keep mum about what they do.
“Stop the leaks,” he said. “Silent professionals within special operations don’t seek accolades for achievements. They go back into the shadows.”
Read more: http://goo.gl/VLq0d
THE BLAZE
RNC Scrapped Hologram of Ronald Reagan over Concerns it Would 'Overshadow' Romney's Speech
by Jason Howerton
August 31, 2012
For those of you who were hoping to see a hologram Ronald Reagan this year at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, here’s the good news: it exists. There was some speculation that the conservative hero would be making an appearance at the convention, but many wrote it off as hearsay. As it turns out, it was true.
Similar to the surprise Tupac hologram that stole the show at this year’s Coachella music festival, a hologram of Reagan was initially scheduled to make an appearance outside of the GOP convention this week. However, RNC officials requested that the creators of the digital Reagan to delay the presentation because it may “overshadow” Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech on Thursday, Yahoo News reports.
“It wasn’t officially going to be part of the convention,” Tony Reynolds, one of the creators, told Yahoo News. “It was going to be outside of the convention at the Lakeland Center.”
Reynolds said he plans on using the Reagan hologram to promote the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS) and has obtained the rights to a Reagan speech talking about small businesses. To craft this plan, he has been collaborating with AV Concepts, one of the companies that made Tupac Shakur come to life at Coachella.
But those plans were shot down when Reynolds says a number of Republican activists asked him to delay the project out of concern it would “overshadow” Romney’s acceptance speech.
Read more: http://goo.gl/fpgYC
REDSTATE
WI Union Boss Busted in Prostitution Ring
by LaborUnionReport
August 30, 2012
According to Brockmiller’s LinkedIn profile, the AFL-CIO boss is also employed as a labor market analyst for the La Crosse Job Center
The La Crosse Tribune provides these details:
All had answered an online ad and showed up between 3 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. at the Brookstone Inn on Rose Street, where they agreed to exchange money for sex, according to police.
Investigators and an undercover officer arrested the men on suspicion of soliciting prostitution, a misdemeanor.
Brockmiller, a county supervisor representing the 11th district in the city of La Crosse, said Tuesday, ”I very much want to take full responsibility for my actions and express extreme sorrow and disappointment in myself.”
A labor market analyst, Brockmiller is also president of the Western Wisconsin AFL-CIO.
According Media Trackers’ research, Brockmiller is also a player in Wisconsin politics, donating to fellow union-bought Democrats, and was also involved in the recent failed effort to recall Republican Governor Scott Walker.
Read more: http://goo.gl/P3hU3
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