During Wednesday’s press briefing, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer stood by the administration’s position that last week’s raid in Yemen was a “success,” despite the death of a Navy SEAL and many civilians and reports that President Trump signed off on it “without sufficient intelligence, ground support, or adequate backup preparations.” Then, he went a step further.
“It’s absolutely a success,” he said, “and anyone who would suggest it’s not a success does disservice to the life of Chief Ryan Owens. He fought knowing what was at stake in that mission, and anyone who would suggest otherwise doesn’t fully appreciate how successful that mission was, what the information that they were able to retrieve was, and how that will help prevent future terrorist attacks.”
NBC’s Kristen Welker followed up to ask if that generalization would apply to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), a war hero who on Tuesday called the raid a “failure.” McCain added later, “I would not describe any operation that results in the loss of American life as a success.”
Spicer was unfazed and insisted his characterization would apply to McCain. He said McCain should apologize. “I think my statement is very clear on that, Kristen. I think anybody who undermines the success of that raid, owes an apology and a disservice [sic] to the life of Chief Owens.”
Wow. Spicer: Anyone, including John McCain, who says Yemen raid wasn't a success does disservice to slain Navy SEAL's life & owes an apology pic.twitter.com/baPCRc88wT
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) February 8, 2017
Many on Twitter were quick to point out the hypocrisy of the idea that operations in which military personnel died cannot be criticized. For example, Trump has repeatedly called the Iraq War, which resulted in the deaths of 4,424 U.S. soldiers, a “disaster.”
Spicer himself was very critical of the attack on Benghazi that killed several Americans. In fact, he specifically criticized Obama’s White House for not sharing more details at press briefings about the attack, suggesting they were hiding something.
new charges in #benghazi – @PressSec dodges questions in briefing
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) May 6, 2013
After State Dept cancels press briefing, WH holds off the record briefing on #benghazi -why? What r they hiding?
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) May 10, 2013
Spicer was far from alone. Many Republicans harped for years on conspiracy theories about how then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton failed because Benghazi happened under her watch.
Spicer’s comments leave unanswered the question of what raids will be called when no service members or civilians die — or how many will have to die for them to no longer be called “successful.”
UPDATE: Later Wednesday afternoon, McCain responded to the remark, highlighting the failed mission to rescue him when he was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam:
McCain has responded to Sean Spicer's comment, telling NBC News the following: pic.twitter.com/1oidCbl8eN
— Marianna Sotomayor (@MariannaNBCNews) February 8, 2017