Group claiming to be made up of ex-OPSEC personnel attacks Obama for claiming to have killed OBL [View all]

[Bill USA]

A political group, "registered as a 501c4 corporation -- or a social welfare group" has launched an attack directed at the President saying: "You did not kill Osama Bin Laden, America did,".

the group claims to be without a political slant but members of the group have run for office as republicans or are associated with the Tea Party. Ben Smith, identified as an ex-Navy Seal, who says in the film: "you did not kill Osama bin Laden, America did." .. is also known for his "activist work with the Tea Party Express and Move America Forward".


Group says to President Obama: "You didn't kill Obama, America did."

"You did not kill Osama Bin Laden, America did," Ben Smith -- identified as a Navy SEAL -- says in the video, "The work that the American military has done killed Osama bin Laden. You did not."

Wednesday on "CBS This Morning, senior CBS News correspondent and former Deputy Director of National Intelligence John Miller discussed what he called the "very carefully crafted 22-minute documentary style video." Miller called the video "a mixture of some undeniable facts threaded through some conjecture, some speculation, and some propaganda" and added "it's got some information and it's got some spin." Miller stated that the group claims to be non-partisan and unpolitical and is registered as a 501c4 corporation -- or a social welfare group -- out of Delaware. The group launched their campaign with $1 million, and guarantees donor anonymity in soliciting donations.

According to Miller, the members of OPSEC group claim to be national security personnel and their spokesman, Chad Kolton, was formerly the spokesman for the office of National Intelligence during the George W. Bush administration.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/15/opsec-special-forces_n_1777538.html
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Leaders of the group, the Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund Inc, say it is nonpartisan and unconnected to any political party or presidential campaign. It is registered as a so-called social welfare group, which means its primary purpose is to further the common good and its political activities should be secondary.


The president of Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund Inc, Scott Taylor, is a former Navy SEAL who in 2010 ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for a congressional seat in Virginia.

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Following the film's release, OPSEC's spokesmen said, the group expects to produce TV spots on the anti-leak theme that will air in a number of states, including Virginia, Florida, Ohio, Colorado, North Carolina and Nevada - key battleground states.

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Chad Kolton, a former spokesman for the office of Director of National Intelligence during the George W. Bush administration who now represents OPSEC, also said the group's message and make-up are nonpolitical.
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more on Ben Smith, not just a Navy Seal:
(emphases my own)
http://agonist.org/steve_hynd/20120815/reuters_reporter_gives_republican_attack_group_free_pass_on_nonpartisan_claim

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Ben Smith, the ex-SEAL named above, is nowadays better known for his activist work with the Tea Party Express and Move America Forward , the pressure group set up by California Republican public relations firm Russo Marsh & Rogers. Fred Rustmann, "a former undercover case officer for the CIA who is a spokesman for the group" is the same Fred Rustman who appeared in a co-ordinated campaign on Fox News and in the conservative press claiming to be Valerie Plame's case officer and saying that she openly acknowledged her status as a CIA agent, blowing her own cover.[/font] Larry Johnson dealt with Rustman's claims in his testimony to Congress. Finally, Hosenball mentions "Chad Kolton, a former spokesman for the office of Director of National Intelligence during the George W. Bush administration who now represents OPSEC". A moment's work with Google reveals that Kolton "led the public affairs department" at DNI during the Bush administration and now is a founding partner in the D.C.-based firm of HDMK, a PR firm founded by four Republican "communications veterans".
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Mr. Smith needs to be reminded of what the President said when he addressed the nation on the successful completion of the raid to GET bin Laden:
(emphases my own)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2011/05/01/president-obama-death-osama-bin-laden#transcript

"Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.
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We were also united in our resolve to protect our nation and to bring those who committed this vicious attack to justice. We quickly learned that the 9/11 attacks were carried out by al Qaeda -- an organization headed by Osama bin Laden, which had openly declared war on the United States and was committed to killing innocents in our country and around the globe. And so we went to war against al Qaeda to protect our citizens, our friends, and our allies.

Over the last 10 years, thanks to the tireless and heroic work of our military and our counterterrorism professionals, we’ve made great strides in that effort. We’ve disrupted terrorist attacks and strengthened our homeland defense.

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Then, last August, after years of painstaking work by our intelligence community, I was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden. It was far from certain, and it took many months to run this thread to ground. I met repeatedly with my national security team as we developed more information about the possibility that we had located bin Laden hiding within a compound deep inside of Pakistan. And finally, last week, I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action, and authorized an operation to get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice.

Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.
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Apparently, Smith also needs to be apprised of something the President did not say in his address to the nation that night. That is that it was PRESIDENT OBAMA'S IDEA TO ADD ANOTHER HELICOPTER JUST IN CASE THINGS DIDN'T GO AS PLANNED. I WOULD POINT OUT TO MR. SMITH THAT WITHOUT THE EXTRA HELICOPTER WE WOULD LIKELY NOT SEEN ALL OUR OPSEC PERSONNELL COME BACK FROM THAT OPERATION. FOR THAT EXTRA HELICOPTER, MR. SMITH, YOU CAN THANK PRESIDENT OBAMA.