Slate - "Trump has no Valor. So he Steals It"

[NRaleighLiberal]

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2017/03/donald_trump_s_appropriation_of_ryan_and_carryn_owens_was_a_disgrace.html

His selfish appropriation of a family's grief is an insult to the miliary.

by Philip Carter

If you stuck with President Donald Trump to the end of his speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, you would have been treated to a patriotic display that much of the media felt was guaranteed to warm your heart. For two minutes and 11 seconds, Trump exhorted the audience in Congress—and at home—to stand for Carryn Owens, the wife of Navy SEAL William “Ryan” Owens, who was killed during a disastrous counterterrorism raid in Yemen ordered by Trump just days after his inauguration.

Words cannot convey my compassion and sympathy for Owens and her family. And yet, at the same time, I can barely contain my anger and disgust at the way that Trump put her on display, seeking to appropriate her grief—and her deceased husband’s heroism—for his political gain. This was stolen valor on a presidential scale. And to make matters worse, it fits into a broader pattern of integrity theft by Trump, wherein he’s sought during his first weeks in office to attack or corrupt the integrity of the CIA, the military, and the Department of Homeland Security.

Owens served with the best of the best: Navy SEAL Team 6, an elite counterterrorism force created in the early 1980s that stands above and apart from other SEAL teams (let alone conventional military units). Trump ordered Owens’ unit to conduct a raid in Yemen one week after taking office; the raid had been previously deferred as too risky by the Obama administration. On the ground in Yemen, Owens died during the first few minutes of the operation, which appears to have gone wrong for a multitude of reasons. The raid’s intelligence and strategic value is now being hotly debated, along with broader questions about our national objectives and operations in Yemen.

The president’s critics are not the only ones with doubts about this mission. On Feb. 1, a U.S. Air Force jet brought Owens’ body home by way of Dover Air Force Base. There, upon being told that President Trump would be attending the arrival ceremony, Owens’ father told a military chaplain, “I don’t want to see him.” The elder Owens later explained that “[m]y conscience wouldn’t let me talk to him” due to how Trump lashed out at a Gold Star family during his presidential campaign, and because of reports about Trump’s ineptitude in ordering the raid that cost the younger Owens his life. “Why at this time did there have to be this stupid mission when it wasn’t even barely a week into his administration?” Owens asked. “Why?”

[scscholar]

1. This

I liked how we didn't clap for the widow of the SEAL that rump killed.

[3catwoman3]

2. DFT has done a lot of really shitty things, but...

...the way he used this woman is reprehensible. I was watching with the sound muted, and closed captioning on, and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the crap about "he's smiling down" because of how long the applause lasted. I thought I must have read it wrong. Alas, no.

WHAT A COMPLETE FUCKING GODDAMNED IDIOT!

[Wellstone ruled]

3. I doubt if Trump has any clue as to what he did.

His narcissistic personality precludes any compassion. The Guy has a Black Heart.

[smirkymonkey]

4. Excellent article!

K&R