CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In a brief interview Monday evening with The Daily Caller near the Democratic National Convention sites, Gen. Wesley Clark lamented the release of a new SEAL Team 6 book which accuses the Obama administration of using the Osama bin Laden raid for political ends, and contradicts the government’s original reports.
“I’m sorry to see a book like that come out,” Clark, who ran for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, told TheDC. [RELATED — Book bombshell: Obama canceled Bin Laden ‘kill’ raid three times at Jarrett’s urging]
Clark, a retired four-star Army general, explained that while the country is proud of the Navy SEALs, they must remain loyal to the Constitution and the commander-in-chief, “no matter whether he is [with] your party or some other party.”
“No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden,” was written by the pseudonymous SEAL Team 6 member “Mark Owen” and journalist Kevin Maurer. It debuts in bookstores Tuesday. Excerpts obtained and published by news outlets paint a picture of SEALs aware that the raid would be used for Obama’s re-election bid.
In an interview with CBS News, however, Owen said he was not politically motivated to write “No Easy Day.”
“I promise you if something had gone wrong in that mission, President Obama would have taken the blame, just like President Carter took the heat on Desert One in 1980, so I don’t think there is anything wrong with the president saying he made the tough decision,” Gen. Clark added to TheDC.
Clark chalked the book up to a country divided, but would not elaborate further on Owen’s motivation for writing it.
“I’m proud that [Obama] made that decision. He made it against the advice of the military and he made it because he believed in it,” he added. “You know these are the kinds of things that come out when the county is very bitterly divided like this and I wish it weren’t so.”