Robert Hagen

Comments by diegonomics

Letters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW8049hZRSo
— December 10, 2012 6:38 a.m.

Letters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6gBx-nYpoE
— December 9, 2012 5:31 p.m.

The Erica Show

The Bassinette Case A former Navy SEAL has written an unauthorized account of the raid on Osama Bin Laden called 'No Easy Day.' Mr. Matt Bassinette, writing under the pseudonym Mark Owen, describes a version of events. Many questions arise from the publication. Among them: -Why did he do this? -Why did he choose to publish his account coming into th presidential election? -Is he motivated by money? -Who shall he rely on to provide protection in the case that he is prosecutedfor violating the law and breaking his word of secrecy? And finally - Why should his version of events be believed? It is unusual that a man would publish what he calls an autobiography under a pseudonym. It is unusual that such a book would appear without any apparent corroboration whatsoever. It is unusual that a former Navy SEAL would challenge military authority. Perhaps Mr. Bissinette believes he is above the code of conduct which circumscribes special forces operations. There is precedent for taking this opinion. 'No Easy Day' is an uncorroborated account of what went down. Therefore, it lacks journalistic credential. It has been published without being vetted, so that it's only claim to not providing juicy intelligence to adversaries lies in it's ambiguous format. Lawyers have no idea whether or not the account has been sanitized. We should admit that 'No Easy Day' lobs a bomb. We should admit that the publication of this de facto after action report to the public represents a straightforward challenge to military authority. We can presume that buyers of this book are interested in the salacious details. This is not a work of open intelligence, let us not masquearde it as such. Without better testimony, incidentally obtainable in the court of law, preliminary assumptions of motive include personal profit and self-aggrandizement. Mr. Bassinette is chargable with revealing special forces tactics and breaking his word.
— September 5, 2012 11:32 p.m.