Wednesday, March 1, 2017

A Widow's Grief


Carryn Owens was in the House chamber last night when President Trump spoke to a joint session of Congress. Her husband, Chief Petty Officer William (Ryan) Owens, was killed during a military raid in Yemen just a few weeks ago. It was reported in the press (I did not watch the speech) that the applause CPO Owens and his widow received was the loudest of the evening. The President himself noted that Owens must hear the cheering in heaven.

 

While it is pedestrian gross to use the death of a member of our military for political gain, it is a special kind of gross to trot out a widow for such a public spectacle when you (the President) cared so little about the details surrounding the raid, you reportedly approved it between courses of dinner with your political advisors in tow and did not even bother to stop by the Situation Room at the White House during the operation to check on its status. It is also a special kind of gross for members of the Republican party who made the tragic death of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others in Benghazi a cause célèbre for years to ignore the sketchy circumstances surrounding Owens’s death and the apparent lack of rigor that went into signing off on the mission.

 

It might be too much to ask for that the sacrifices of our military be apolitical, but for the man who approved a mission under questionable circumstances to use a dead man’s widow as a prop to make himself look good is a level of cynicism rarely reached in politics. That the media pointed to it as a high point for Trump and not another sub-basement of his venality, is another story altogether.

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13 comments:

  1. Your facts are wrong. First was planned by Obamas defense team. Turned down by Obama because date of execution was after inauguration of Trump. Secondly you can have the best planed operations and until the bullets fly no one can guarantee an outcome.

    He tried to honor the widow, sure timing was bad but don't blame Trump for actions on the ground. I have been in these type of situations and when the shit goes south it damn sure is not because the president was not in the situation room.

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    1. How do you know it wasn't "executed" by Obama because it was after Trump's inauguration? There may have been MUCH more at play thasn such a simplistic assertion.

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    2. Um, because the raid did not occur until after Trump's inauguration (at least a week, in fact) and Presidential orders do not work the way you suggest they do, but thanks for writing!

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    3. Pretty sure it's the current President who makes the decision, not the former one.

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  2. No, you have your facts wrong. The final approval was left to Trump. Just because something was in the planning stages when Obama was President, do not drop responsibility on his doorstep. Trump was the C-in-C when the raid was approve, not Obama. And it is clear from the reporting that he did little vetting of the pros/cons before greenlighting the raid.

    As for whether he should have been in the Situation Room during the raid, he sure as hell should not have been on Twitter (as has also been reported) and his absences from the Sit Room speaks to the lack of seriousness he takes his job as commander-in-chief.

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  3. But hey, if you're cool with a guy who cares so little about the lives of the soldiers he leads using a widow to score political points, I suppose you won't be persuaded by reason or logic. Go Make America Great Again, or something.

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  4. I watched the speech. I was horrified when he did that. I kept thinking that he was the reason her husband was dead how could he trot her out and use her like this. I was ashamed.

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  5. Well said scary. It was the most astonishing piece of political capital and made all the more disgusting when you think how he has treated other grieving female relatives of servicemen in the past. The fact that the US (and by extension our own armed forces here in the UK through NATO and a 'special' relationship) has a commander in chief that cares so little about the lives of the The people he commands should terrify every right thinking person.

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  6. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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    1. Please feel free to provide a legitimate link documenting that?

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  7. And the remark he passed after the ovation made my skin crawl.

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  8. I expect that The Donald will do anything he can to garner "likes" and attention. But, "it is a special kind of gross" the way that Repub congress members tolerate or support the anti-American and trivially ludicrous actions and statements of the current presidency.

    Watching the looks on Pence and Ryan's faces as they watched him and looked at each other made me want to vomit.

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