Chain Letters For Democracy
Good afternoon!
I received this from my dad today, and decided to spend my lunch break reading it. My primary impulse when I receive one of these forwarded email chain-letters is to begin identifying sources and tracking down the authenticity of claims. After all, what is social awareness and commentary without critical thought?
Statement: “Let’s be clear on this: OBAMA did NOT kill Bin Laden. An American sailor, who Obama was, just a few weeks ago, debating on whether or not to PAY, did. “
Barak Obama never stated that he had killed Osama Bin Laden. The closest that could be inferred to that was during his address when he stated that he authorized the assault, which is entirely accurate and within his responsibilities as President for taking military action on foreign soil. Transcript follows: “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 Pakistan. A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability.” As you can see, far from taking sole responsibility for the operation he authorized, he gave credit directly to the members of the team involved. (Huffington Post) (DiscoveryNews)
The President does not create the national budget or determine military wages. Those are responsibilities of the United States Congress. There is an excellent summary of the President’s duties and powers on Wikipedia, if you need to refresh your memory. (Wikipedia) Likewise, there is a page dedicated to the powers of Congress. (Wikipedia)
Statement: “If you remember little less than two years ago, Obama’s administration actually charged and attempted to court-martial 3 members of Seal Team Six, when a captured terrorist complained they had punched him during the take down and bloodied his nose.
This refers to an 2009 incident involving Ahmed Hashim Abed, and they were never accused of assault, but rather of not safeguarding the prisoner (Associated Press via FayObserver). You’ll note that “The sailors could have received a disciplinary reprimand, but insisted on a military trial to clear their names and save their careers”. They were found “Not Guilty” by the court, incidentally (Associated Press via Salon). Additionally, the President and the Executive Branch do not oversee military court-martial proceedings. Rather, this is the jurisdiction of the United States Congress (Wikipedia).
Statement: “Obama’s administration further commented how brutal Seal Team Six was.“, “The left were calling them Nazi’s and Baby Killers.”
I can find no source for these quotes and they are unattributed. I am forced to disregard them as anecdotal, and thus irrelevant. (Google)
Statement: “Now all of a sudden, the very brave men they vilified are now heroes when they make his administration look good in the eyes of the public. “
I can find no reliable source “vilifying” ST6. As a group, they have been active since the 1980’s in a number of engagements, but without a great deal of public attention. In part this is due to the classification of their full mission (Wikipedia). The latter half of the sentence is an “Appeal to Emotion” (Wikipedia). It seems unlikely that the author is claiming that they are not, in fact, heroes, leaving us with the statement that it us somehow unseemly for the government to promote the actions of its soldiers. Whether it is proper or not, we can likely agree that politicians are a self-supporting breed, and will generally take actions and make statements that promote themselves to the electorate.
Statement: “Obama just happened to be the one in office when the CIA finally found the (sic) bin Laden. And our sailors took him out. “
Is the author somehow holding Barak Obama at fault for holding the Presidency at that time, or would he likewise have found any other officeholder at fault if the timing had been different?
Statement: “OBAMA’S OWN WORDS”
2008: “Navy Seal Team 6 is Cheney’s private assassination team.”
2011: “I put together Seal Team 6 to take out Bin Laden.”
2008: “Bin Laden is innocent until proven guilty, and must be captured alive and given a fair trial.”
2011: “I authorized Seal Team 6 to kill Bin Laden.”
2008: ” Guantanamo is entirely unnecessary, and the detainees should not be interrogated.”
2011: “Vital intelligence was obtained from Guantanamo detainees that led to our locating Bin Laden.”
I discovered that Politifact received this same letter earlier this year and took the time to track down each of the quotes listed. The results of their research are as follows: “A few of the sentiments have some link to reality – Obama did order the raid to kill bin Laden, and he did oppose Guantanamo, even though he ultimately failed to carry through on his promise to close it. The critics may have wished Obama had made these statements, but appears the statements have no basis in reality. It’s clear from our research that all six quotes are fabrications.“ (Politifact)
Statement: “I HOPE THIS GETS SENT AROUND TO PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT THE TRUTH!”
This is a “Fallacy of Sweeping Generalization”, making the implication that any who don’t forward the letter are liars or perpetuating lies. In addition, the usage of entirely capitalized words to declaim the sentence could be considered an “Appeal to Emotion” as well, rather than any sort of logical statement.
Although I found various postings around the net attributable to an “Ed Schriber” in relation to the United States Marine Corps, I found no public profile or posting on which this letter was originated, nor any contact information for the author. Making public commentary in this manner without opening yourself to comment or debate is indicative of a strong bias, and is completely inexcusable in the current era. Tools like Tumblr, Blogger, Wordpress, Livejournal and Facebook Pages are both free and easy to use, and provide a strong platform for social discourse.
Overall, it seems as if the original author has a significant lack of awareness as to the role of the United States government branches, prefers false and unattributed quotes to actual evidence, as well as ignores the details of current events that are easily researched through Google News,
Regards,
Tom Scott
Citizen of the United States of America
“All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field.” ~Albert Einstein
From:
Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2011 11:01 AM
To:
Subject: FW: Lets Be Clear
From:
Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 8:18 PM
To:
Subject: Lets Be Clear
Subject: Let’s Be Clear !
Oh, no a politician spinning something for his own good???almost unheard of, ( well maybe for a deaf person)
Let’s be clear on this: OBAMA did NOT kill Bin Laden. An American sailor, who Obama was, just a few weeks ago, debating on whether or not to PAY, did.
If you remember little less than two years ago, Obama’s administration actually charged and attempted to court-martial 3 members of Seal Team Six, when
a captured terrorist complained they had punched him during the take down and bloodied his nose. Obama’s administration further commented how brutal
Seal Team Six was. The left were calling them Nazi’s and Baby Killers.
Now all of a sudden, the very brave men they vilified are now heroes when they make his administration look good in the eyes of the public. Obama just
happened to be the one in office when the CIA finally found the bin Laden. And our sailors took him out.
Ed Schriber
Col. USMC (Ret.)
“Semper Fi”
OBAMA’S OWN WORDS :
2008: “Navy Seal Team 6 is Cheney’s private assassination team.”
2011: “I put together Seal Team 6 to take out Bin Laden.”
2008: “Bin Laden is innocent until proven guilty, and must be captured alive and given a fair trial.”
2011: “I authorized Seal Team 6 to kill Bin Laden.”
2008: ” Guantanamo is entirely unnecessary, and the detainees should not be interrogated.”
2011: “Vital intelligence was obtained from Guantanamo detainees that led to our locating Bin Laden.”
I HOPE THIS GETS SENT AROUND TO PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT THE TRUTH!
