# Did Obama cause the 31 US Seal Team 6 Deaths? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 7, 2011, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-cause-the-31-us-seal-team-6-deaths/591827 "2011-08-07T14:38:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-cause-the-31-us-seal-team-6-deaths/591827/1 "2011-08-07T14:38:35Z")
I would argue yes. the reason? After the successful raid that killed Bin Laden,Obamatold the world the details of it, including identifying the seal team (6) that carried out the raid. Now, we know that our afghan “allies” are ridden with spies-someone fed the information about the current raid to the taliban-and they had a RPG ready. Knowing that the Taliban wanted revenge, was it not a supreme error on Obama’s part to even mention any details of the unit that carried out the raid? So, this marks another aspect of Obama “acting stupidly” in the war in Afghanistan-or was it an innocent mistake? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-cause-the-31-us-seal-team-6-deaths/591827/2 "2011-08-07T14:45:53Z")
Unless Obama pulled the trigger on the rocket launcher, no. The helicopter was part of a raid, otherwise known as being in battle. Sometimes Americans die under such circumstances. That’s how war goes. Maybe you should be arguing that we should be out of there by now. In that case, you may be able to blame Obama.Or, you could argue we should never have been there in the first place, then blame Bush. ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-cause-the-31-us-seal-team-6-deaths/591827/3 "2011-08-07T14:49:49Z")
If he didn’t realize he was placing troops in harm’s way by disclosing who they were and how they operated, then he surely is an idiot, or maybe idiot savant would be a better term. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-cause-the-31-us-seal-team-6-deaths/591827/4 "2011-08-07T14:51:06Z")
Well, folks can argue anything. That doesn’t mean that it makes sense. Take this particular claim. Never mind the many news [articles](http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/08/08/110808fa_fact_schmidle?currentPage=all)that were in-depth about the unit and its planning, forget the fact that in many of the articles that what they were doing was extremely routine, just on a very high-priority target, gloss over the fact that conspiracy fans would glom onto Obama not telling anyone what happened, how it happened, or who did it. No, that’s not it. Part of it is “shit happens”, another part of it is “they’re at war”, and another part might be a mole that gave some intelligence. That would have happened with or without the bin Laden raid, I imagine. ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-cause-the-31-us-seal-team-6-deaths/591827/5 "2011-08-07T14:52:51Z")
It was a surprise, middle-of-the-night operation, like about 6 others are most nights. The Taliban had no idea who the attackers were, it was an opportunist, spur-of-the-moment shot that got pretty lucky. What the fuck is the matter with you that you want to ‘blame’ someone who had nothing to do with the planning of the operation?: > [@](#): > > “This whole area is on the side of the Taliban, so as the helicopter was leaving a group nearby opened fire,” she said. > > In a sign of how entrenched the insurgency is in the area, Wardak said one of the Taliban killed was the son of her driver. She added that helicopters had continued to buzz round the area throughout the day conducting recovery operations. > > “The US helicopter was shot down by the Taliban as it was taking off,” provincial spokesman Shahidullah Shahid confirmed. “It was hit by a rocket fired by the insurgents.” > > The Taliban said a rocket-propelled grenade brought down the helicopter. That it was only a lucky shot from such a relatively inaccurate weapon was the cause of the disaster will be some comfort to Nato officials. > **[Worst US loss of life in Afghan war as helicopter crash kills 38](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/aug/06/us-biggest-loss-afghan-war-helicopter-crash-38)** > > Eight Afghan soldiers and 30 US forces from unit that killed Bin Laden die after insurgents shoot down Chinook ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-cause-the-31-us-seal-team-6-deaths/591827/6 "2011-08-07T14:58:16Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Now, we know that our afghan “allies” are ridden with spies-someone fed the information about the current raid to the taliban-and they had a RPG ready. And you’re suggesting that someone was Obama? Because otherwise I’m not following you. ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-cause-the-31-us-seal-team-6-deaths/591827/7 "2011-08-07T15:08:27Z")
> [@PrettyVacant](#): > > The Taliban had no idea who the attackers were, it was an opportunist, spur-of-the-moment shot that got pretty lucky. Do you know this with 100% certainty? Of course it will be played out by the Taliban that it was a planned attack as revenge for the raid and murder of OBL. Even if not true, they will get much mileage out of it, due to the identification of the tropps responsible for the OBL raid ---
**Author:** ![audit1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@audit1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audit1)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-cause-the-31-us-seal-team-6-deaths/591827/8 "2011-08-07T15:18:21Z")
Despite the name SEAL TEAM SIX, there is only one navy seal team. The six was chosen to mislead people into how many seal units there were. The only way to not identify which unit was on the Bin laden raid was to not even identify which branch of service conducted the mission. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-cause-the-31-us-seal-team-6-deaths/591827/9 "2011-08-07T15:20:23Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I would argue yes. > the reason? After the successful raid that killed Bin Laden,Obamatold the world the details of it, including identifying the seal team (6) that carried out the raid. > Now, we know that our afghan “allies” are ridden with spies-someone fed the information about the current raid to the taliban-and they had a RPG ready. > Knowing that the Taliban wanted revenge, was it not a supreme error on Obama’s part to even mention any details of the unit that carried out the raid? > So, this marks another aspect of Obama “acting stupidly” in the war in Afghanistan-or was it an innocent mistake? This is a particularly vile partisan attack. Using dead Americans just so you can try (pathetically) to score a point against Obama is sickening. Aside from the fact that your argument is nonsense. You don’t think they keep RPGs at the ready as a general thing? You think in a war zone that insurgents keep their RPG ammo locked up in a strong box separate from the launcher? Nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-cause-the-31-us-seal-team-6-deaths/591827/10 "2011-08-07T15:25:40Z")
This is stupid. I suggest all the programs on Fox caused it. No wait ,it was all the newspapers who ran stories. No wait, it was magazines that wrote the stories. Of course , the Afghanistanis were told by Obama that the Seal team was in that helicopter and when and where they were going. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-cause-the-31-us-seal-team-6-deaths/591827/11 "2011-08-07T15:26:46Z")
I imagine if the Taliban gets a chance to shoot down a US helicopter with US troops aboard, they don’t really care whose on it. Does anyone really think that if there hadn’t been Navy Seal members, the Taliban guy with the RPG would’ve just shrugged his shoulders, not bothered to shoot at the helicopter, and gone to get an early lunch. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-cause-the-31-us-seal-team-6-deaths/591827/12 "2011-08-07T15:40:30Z")
Obama “caused” their deaths in the sense that every president who send troops into battle “causes” some to die. Of course al Qaeda (and possibly the Taliban) would want revenge for the killing of ObL. It makes no difference if they knew it was “SEAL Team Six” that did it. I just hope that the deaths of these military personnel helps us get the fuck out of there sooner rather than later. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-cause-the-31-us-seal-team-6-deaths/591827/13 "2011-08-07T15:52:39Z")
> [@flickster](#): > > If he didn’t realize he was placing troops in harm’s way by disclosing who they were and how they operated, then he surely is an idiot, or maybe idiot savant would be a better term. But, he was not placing them in harm’s way by disclosing that. We still have no reason to think he was. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-cause-the-31-us-seal-team-6-deaths/591827/14 "2011-08-07T15:55:40Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > This is a particularly vile partisan attack. [Pittably so.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=619312) ---
**Author:** ![Dumbguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dumbguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dumbguy)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-cause-the-31-us-seal-team-6-deaths/591827/15 "2011-08-07T15:56:14Z")
This is even worse than when Obama killed Casey Anthony’s baby. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-cause-the-31-us-seal-team-6-deaths/591827/16 "2011-08-07T15:57:21Z")
Yet another asinine display of breathtaking and, in this instance at least, tasteless partisanship from **ralph124c** who as usual won’t bother to come back to defend his thesis. Some may even go as far to say that there’s a special word for a pattern of behaviour like this. Still, we should count ourselves lucky that he’s at least figured out how to use the parenthesis key on his keyboard. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-cause-the-31-us-seal-team-6-deaths/591827/17 "2011-08-07T16:11:13Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I would argue yes. > the reason? After the successful raid that killed Bin Laden,Obamatold the world the details of it, including identifying the seal team (6) that carried out the raid. > Now, we know that our afghan “allies” are ridden with spies-someone fed the information about the current raid to the taliban-and they had a RPG ready. > Knowing that the Taliban wanted revenge, was it not a supreme error on Obama’s part to even mention any details of the unit that carried out the raid? > So, this marks another aspect of Obama “acting stupidly” in the war in Afghanistan-or was it an innocent mistake? You seem to be under the misapprehension that Osama bin Laden was a member or leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan. He wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-cause-the-31-us-seal-team-6-deaths/591827/18 "2011-08-07T16:15:20Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > Yet another asinine display of breathtaking and, in this instance at least, tasteless partisanship from **ralph124c** who as usual won’t bother to come back to defend his thesis. Some may even go as far to say that there’s a special word for a pattern of behaviour like this. Still, we should count ourselves lucky that he’s at least figured out how to use the parenthesis key on his keyboard. I think you are doing me a grave disservice-I raised a very reasonable issue: that of, should a CIC be allowed to exploit a military operation for political gain. Obama DID publicize the attack which resulted in the death of OBL. He wallowed in the fame, and seemed to revel in the idea that he had a lot to do with it. Now we have 31 Americans dead, and it seems that someone knew all about this mission. Should Obama be held responsible for these deaths? I think so. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Know\_Nothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f04885/32.png) [@I\_Know\_Nothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Know_Nothing)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-cause-the-31-us-seal-team-6-deaths/591827/19 "2011-08-07T16:18:01Z")
I first thought the OP was a parody of the blame everything on Obama crowd. I’m still having trouble believing someone actually believes this. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-cause-the-31-us-seal-team-6-deaths/591827/20 "2011-08-07T16:20:20Z")
It isn’t a secret that we use helicopters. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-obama-cause-the-31-us-seal-team-6-deaths/591827.md?page=2)