Votel: no lapses in judgment in Yemen raid

| March 11, 2017

The Associated Press reports that General Joseph Votel, commander of US Central Command told senators that he had investigated the raid in Yemen that cost the life of Chief Special Warfare Officer William “Ryan” Owens and he has concluded there were no lapses in judgment or decision-making surrounding the operation.

Votel, who presided over an internal review, said he was “looking for information gaps where we can’t explain what happened in a particular situation or we have conflicting information between members of the organization. I am looking for indicators of incompetence or poor decision making or bad judgment throughout all this.”

In the end, he said, “I was satisfied that none of those indicators that I identified to you were present. I think we had a good understanding of exactly what happened on this objective and we’ve been able to pull lessons learned out of that, that we will apply in future operations.” He said there was no need for an additional investigation.

Votel added that he believes the U.S. gained valuable information on al-Qaida militants.

Category: Terror War

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Silentium Est Aureum

Well, damn. One more talking point taken away from the Democrats.

borderbill (a NIMBY/BANANA)

It’s a fucking war. In wars (especially the fucking ones) bad things happen. Don’t denigrate the Chief or anybody else who carries the fight to the enemy.

jonp

Sometimes shit goes south and good men lose their lives. Sucks but there it is

2/17 Air Cav

“I am looking for indicators of incompetence or poor decision making or bad judgment throughout all this.”

Just go to hell.

Eden

He was describing the investigation process, and then said he found none of those.

Club Manager

Seen on one of the newscasts where the general said he took full responsibility for the action. Nice to see that type of refreshing leadership. Wish he would have said, “Shit happens” but then he would have sounded like a warrant officer and not a four star.