Though the Navy SEAL team that was responsible for killing Osama Bin Laden was supposed to keep the details about the operation and their participation in it secret, multiple members have now stepped forward to tell their story. The latest SEAL to step forward is Robert O’Neill who claims to have been the one to have shot and killed Osama Bin Laden.

The details of what happened on the Bin Laden raid first came to light when another SEAL on the raid, Matt Bissonnette, wrote a book about the operation called No Easy Day under the pen name Mark Owen. Bissonette’s book and subsequent interview with 60 Minutes led to a still on-going instigation being initiated by the Department of Defense. In the book Bissonette credits another SEAL team member, not O’Neill, with killing Bin Laden.

The disclosures by two SEALs of a purportedly secret operation has led to Naval Special Warfare Command issuing a letter reiterating the principle of classified information and claiming that special operation forces have a duty to keep the information they know a secret.

In a letter signed by both the senior commander and enlisted man of Naval Special Warfare Command, the SEAL leadership emphasized that the majority of SEALs spend each day living up to the label “quiet professionals.” Unspoken is the implication that the former SEAL, who is in fact, former Red Squadron SEAL Robert O’Neill, is seeking notoriety for his own story.

The two SEAL leaders go on to point out that members of the Naval Special Warfare community not only serve alongside other U.S. military members, but also other U.S. government agencies and foreign allies. “Little individual credit” is ever given, according to the letter, due to the “nature of our profession.” The two also point out the years of hard work that go into operations like the one that targeted Bin Ladin, seemingly defying one or two individual shooters’ claims on the glory and fame that result

Bissonette passed on disputing O’Neill’s account of the Bin Laden raid despite it contradicting his own but did say when he first faced criticism for violating his oath of secrecy vis a vis details about the operation that “Everybody and their brother was talking about this.” A not so subtle reference to leaks about the operation from the White House.

Robert O’Neill will tell his story in an interview that will air this month on Fox News. An imprudently worded press release about the interview by Fox News earlier this week is believed to have given away enough information for other news organizations to have put the story together before the interview airs.

Hey everyone, how are you enjoying your Thursday?

International Politics

Overall

- Pew: A majority of respondents in emerging and developing countries report crime and corruption as two major problems

- The Pentagon accused Iran of supporting the Taliban and fighting against Western forces

- Despite the International Criminal Court acknowledging war crimes may have taken place, they will not charge Israel with war crimes for the flotilla raid to Gaza in 2010

- Glenn Greenwald: “How many Muslim countries has the U.S. bombed or occupied since 1980?”

Middle East

- Rania Khalek: “Leading Israeli lawmaker ‘trying to start holy war’ in East Jerusalem”

- A suicide bomber and bombings in Iraq killed at least 13 people and wounded 20 people.

Europe 

- Alexei Devotchenko, a Russian actor and critic of the government, was found dead with allegations he was murdered.

- Russian President Vladimir Putin talked with some of his security officials about the “deterioration of the situation” in eastern Ukraine

Surveillance Planet

- The Justice Department supported the FBI’s call for expanded surveillance powers, despite it, you know, not working

- Emptywheel: “Even the Government Can’t Figure Out How It Uses Its FISA Dragnet”

- Across the pond, the GCHQ was authorized to spy not only on lawyers, but also journalists in “sensitive professions”

- Home Depot announced 53 million email addresses and credit card data were taken by hackers

Financial Matters

- Part seven of eight with philosopher Sheldon Wolin and journalist Chris Hedges about the transformation of capitalism and the state, as well as its conflict with democracy in the new century

- Authorities arrested a man in Texas and charged him for running a Ponzi scheme using Bitcoin

- Despite Proposition 45 in California limiting the times health insurance companies jack up premium rates, it failed with 60 percent opposing it; Big money wins again unfortunately

Labor’s a-Brewing

- Amy Goodman: “Maximum Progress on the Minimum Wage”

Politics US

Washington USA

- Howie Hawkins: “America just took a wrong turn. It’s time to take a hard left”

- Pew: The GOP must thank older, white voters for providing them the support to win in the most recent election

- Billions were poured into the most recent election for a low voter turnout. We cannot help ask when will a limit to campaign spending come?

- Journalist Thomas Frank speaks with Salon about the failure of the Democrats to provide a clear alternative and why this will persist with President Barack Obama

- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) sent money to reactionary Democratic politicians such as Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA); This is certainly disappointing as this runs contrary to his rhetoric

- Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) warned President Obama of acting on his own, with immigration for example, as Boehner used the recent election to show the GOP is still in control

Anytown USA

- Gallup: Twenty-six percent of American households report someone in the household affected by crime

- The Real News covers where the left in Maryland, a blue state, will go after a Republican was elected governor in the state. As the video said, it is “stunning.”

- I would recommend reading on the case of the Dallas 6, six prisoners who blew the whistle on the awful conditions in Dallas, Penna. (not Texas). As a result of sending information to outside organizations, the state charged the six men with a felony.

- It is possible to defeat big money as evident in Richmond, Calif., where candidates not funded by Chevron were victorious.

- After the Working Families Party failed in New York State, such parties are better off supporting real leftist candidates or wither away for good

- An appeals court upheld same-sex marriage bans in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee

We Don’t Need No Education

- Gallup: Only nine percent of business major graduates reported emotional support from a faculty or staff member when in college

- Despite children with ADHD being very creative, schools often neglect to help develop that creativity thereby failing in providing an education

The Second Sex

- Despite women outperforming men, they are paid less than men, a new report found.

- Jessica Valenti: “2014 was an election of firsts for Republican women. But it wasn’t a ‘win’ for women at all”

Planet Earth

- Doctor Giovanni Baiocchi argues the importance of reducing carbon emissions and advocates for energy efficiency in the developed and developing world

- In Washington D.C. this week, at least 50 demonstrators were arrested after protesting the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s decision to allow hydrofracking

- Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) is set to take over the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee, which means nothing will be done on climate change

Mixed Bag

- Pew: One-in-five Americans talk about their religion online through social networks, for example

- Holland will make a bike path that also will be solar-powered.

- Henry A. Giroux: “Capitalism Is a Tumor on the Body Politic: What’s the Alternative? Beyond Mid-Election Babble”

Break Time

- Welcome to the Machine [Pink Floyd]

Fighting resumed today in East Ukraine. Artillery fire in the Donetsk region has already killed two teenagers who died when a shell hit their school. The teens were playing soccer on their lunch break when a shell hit their high school killing them and injuring an estimated four others who are said to be in intensive care. The combat comes in the aftermath of the election of separatist leaders in Donetsk and Luhansk who are seeking to secede from Ukraine.

Authorities in Kiev claim the rounds came from separatist fighters while separatist authorities in Donetsk have blamed Kiev and said the government has started a new military offensive. For its part, the government in Kiev has denied there is a new offensive. Regardless as to who started it one thing is obvious – the ceasefire is over.

All that is certain so far is that the school where the shells landed is at least 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the nearest government position but close to rebel posts. That would appear to lend weight to claims of Ukrainian culpability — government troops shelling the rebels — but Lysenko said the shelling was planned in advance by the rebels to discredit government forces.

Government officials have failed to produce cast-iron evidence of such claims in the past, and independent rights groups say there’s evidence that government artillery has hit homes in eastern Ukraine. Residents of stricken areas have frequently complained that rebels deploy artillery near homes, invariably drawing return fire.

Military forces loyal to Kiev have already been caught firing cluster bombs in residential areas. And human rights organizations have condemned both sides for not observing more restraint when operating around densely populated areas. The fighting between Kiev and separatist forces is taking place in close proximity to civilians with missiles and artillery – even unintentional fire can inflict significant damage.

The ceasefire has been shaky from the start and after the elections in the Donbass region the government in Kiev started withholding state funds from the area and appears to have restarted its military program to reintegrate Donestk and Luhansk by force. This is problematic not just because it destroys any chance for peace between Kiev and the separatists, but because it will likely lead to further tensions between Russia and NATO.