Free Republic

Leadership: The lack of respect our commander in chief has for our fallen heroes was shown by the sending of a form letter signed by auto-pen to the families of 17 Navy SEALs killed in a crash in Afghanistan. 'I don't take these folks too seriously," President Obama recently told the Virginian-Pilot, referring to a group of former SEALs who formed the Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund Inc., to run ads attacking the leaking of details of the Osama bin Laden raid and other national secrets to further his reelection chances. Apparently the president doesn't take the sacrifice of Navy...

The Record: A group of former U.S. intelligence and Special Forces operatives is launching a media campaign to scold the president for taking credit for killing Osama bin Laden and endangering lives with self-serving leaks. No doubt Team Obama will deride it as "son of Swift Boat," the 2004 ad campaign that cast doubts on Democrat presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry's claims about his service in Vietnam. But the group, the Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund Inc., says its campaign is a necessary expose of the exploitation by President Obama of the actions of genuine American heroes for his political...

Killing Bin Laden: Like so many others, the final decision to pull the trigger on the world's most-wanted man was delegated to an admiral who undoubtedly would have been thrown under the bus had the mission failed. It's been almost a year since President Obama's leadership and foreign policy bona fides were allegedly established by the operation that killed Osama bin Laden. A campaign film narrated by Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks tells of the president's alleged solitary, agonizing decision. With apologies to Vice President Biden, maybe President Obama doesn't carry quite as big a stick as Joe would lead us...

Politics: The president who wagged the dog and let bin Laden get away raises millions for the president who jokes about eating one while taking credit for Osama's death. A deal for Hillary as veep, perhaps? Politics makes strange bedfellows, the cliche goes. In 2008, Hillary Clinton waged a protracted and sometimes bitter battle for the Democratic presidential nomination against a former community organizer and absentee state senator from Illinois only to wind up as President Obama's secretary of state. Husband and former President Bill Clinton even made racially tinged remarks about Obama's primary victory over Hillary in the South...

Leadership: Disrespecting grieving families, the president sneaks a photographer into the ceremony honoring the SEALs who died in Afghanistan. The presidential scrapbook and campaign are more important. We thought perhaps the White House had received a sufficient dose of condemnation as well as some sensitivity training over a planned Sony film hyping President Obama's "gutsy call" regarding the successful Navy SEAL mission that killed Osama bin Laden. The film was to be released three weeks before the 2012 vote. We were wrong. When 30 U.S. Special Operations forces, including Navy SEALs from SEAL Team 6, the unit that got the...

War On Terror: The deaths of more than 20 Navy SEALs from the unit that took out Osama bin Laden may be linked to a loose-lipped vice president and a presidential action figure. The last scene of the 1954 Korean War film "The Bridges at Toko-Ri," based on the James Michener novel, shows a carrier commander watching planes take off for another mission and asking, "Where do we get such men?" The same may be asked of the members of Navy SEAL (sea, air, land) Team 6 who died when the helicopter they were riding was hit by a Taliban-launched...

War On Terror: Attempts to punish the Haditha Marines and Navy SEALs for their courage and bravery under fire failed. Now some would reward timidity and cowardice with a medal for "courageous restraint" under fire. A nonsensical proposal circulating in the Kabul headquarters of the International Security Forces in Afghanistan would give a medal to soldiers in battle who show restraint in the use of deadly force in situations where civilian casualties might result. This will not protect civilians as much as it will endanger the lives of our troops. Our soldiers are already disciplined and trained not to wantonly...

<p>Military Justice: The first of three Navy SEALs charged with abusing a captured jihadist has been cleared. Why has this administration taken the word of terrorists and let American heroes twist in the wind?</p> <p>The acquittal of Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas, 29, of Blue Island, Ill., by a six-member U.S. military jury in Baghdad on Thursday is good news and the correct verdict.</p>

The use of our democratic system and the rule of law by those whose intent is to destroy our civilization is a cynical tactic that Americans ought to be smart enough to see straight through. Islamic jihadis are manipulating Western-style legal systems everywhere to their own benefit while we, the founders of those systems, are floundering in a morass of moral relativism, multicultural meaninglessness, and a deplorable amnesia about the genuine worth of our own heritage, traditions, and values. The current case in point involves the three Navy SEALs who, as members of Seal Team 10, captured the Iraqi terrorist...

Military: Two U.S. congressmen take the lead in proclaiming the obvious — that those who attack this country should be punished and not those who risk their lives to defend it. The Navy SEALs are a special breed of patriot and warrior. This highly trained and select group — the best of the best — is a daily participant in the long twilight struggle against the enemies of freedom that President Kennedy warned us about. Kennedy formally created the SEAL (sea, air, land) outfit as an elite force capable of combat operations in any environment. It was a team of...

First the Obama Administration opened up the possibility of prosecuting CIA interrogators doing their jobs seeking information from terrorists. Then they tried to go after the Bush Administration lawyers who acted in good faith to protect us in the months after 9/11. Now some of the military brass are court-martialing three brave Navy SEALs for allegedly throwing a single punch at Iraqi terrorist leader Ahmed Hashim Abed. This is wrong. The Washington Times got it right: Save the SEALs. These brave warriors belong in combat, not in the courthouse. They captured the most wanted terrorist in Iraq. We may never...

Law: American heroes are arraigned for allegedly punching a terrorist in wartime. What happens to Tiger Woods isn't vital to our country's future. What happens to Matthew McCabe, Julio Huertas and Jonathan Keefe is. People are more likely to recognize the names of Tiger's alleged bimbo eruptions than the names of these three Navy SEALs we sent into battle. They are not household names in a nation consumed with Climate Gate, the public option and the antics of billionaire athletes. An administration consumed with apologies has said the architect of 9/11's massacre, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, must be given all the...

War On Terror: As Khalid Sheikh Mohammed receives the benefits of U.S. justice, three Navy SEALs face court-martial for allegedly punching a captured terrorist who hanged Americans from a bridge in Fallujah. Apparently our efforts to impress the world about the marvels of our criminal justice system require us to give foreign terrorists such as Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the man who invented the manned cruise missiles that flew into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and plowed into a Pennsylvania field on its way to the Capitol Building, the full rights and protections of the American citizens he conspired...