[Closed] Would you want the Americans to rescue you?

Do you think the journalist missed the irony in:

Landing the Seals some distance away and creeping of the compound on foot was impossible. There was nowhere flat to set down for miles around.

The only realistic option was for the US special forces to descend on the target compound out of the night sky, sliding down ropes

I find it hard to believe the Seals would have been so daft not to consider the idea of sliding down ropes somewhere else before creeping up, had that been a good option. Or am I being unfair to the journo, and the Seals really are that thick?

Seems a bit harsh to get killed because somebody's throwing around indiscriminate weapons

You're right, it's full of harsh - like that war thing or something

Supposed to be a very mountainous and forested area - and both US and UK have said that intelligence sources indicated the need for an urgent rescue attempt, so direct assault may well have been the only option...

That said, the report linked above suggests that the op was pretty much done and succesful before the grenade was thrown. Sounds like snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Pretty grim story, but hindsight is 20/20 vision no?

I read that Guardian article as the soldier is being disciplined for withholding the fact that he threw a grenade, not that he threw a grenade in the first place. The use of the weapon should have come out in the debrief.

That said, the report linked above suggests that the op was pretty much done and succesful before the grenade was thrown. Sounds like snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

PLOPS (Particularly Loud and Obnoxious Phonetic Spellers)? Shoddy work? Surely not! Wasn't the highest ranking US military person to die in combat during WWII killed by his own side?

An outlaw country (after refusing to recognise the UN's World Court), professing to be civilised yet still executing people and mutilating the genitals of children, the sooner we make a clean break from them the better.