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December 17, 2012

Should individual get glory?

The Norman Transcript

NORMAN — Many, particularly politicians, have tried hard to take credit for the special forces operation that resulted in killing Osama bin Laden.

The movie “Zero Dark Thirty,” which will soon be released, suggests that a covert CIA operative, a woman still employed by the CIA in undercover work, should be given much of the credit for planning that operation.

And many in the CIA do not like that kind of publicity. Supposedly the CIA employee has been passed over for a promotion because of her access to moviemakers and the stories she has provided for background information to support the film. She in turn seems to be rather angry, though still unidentified publicly.

Don’t forget the concerns expressed this past fall over a book published by a former Navy SEAL who allegedly participated in the planning and execution of that operation. At one point, there were at least threats to prosecute that man for leaking classified information in his book.

So our question is: Who gets the glory for a successful special forces operation?

The correct answer should be that America, using military justice, ended the life of a brutal killer.

The hunt for bin Laden lasted more than a decade, and we are certain that many men and women in various branches of the federal government contributed to that effort. Let’s give them all a big round of approval and not try to pick out the ones who “stood out” in such efforts. In particular no politician, president or otherwise, should gain standing for such a long and broad effort by probably thousands of people.

Instead let’s simply acknowledge that our system brought a real enemy to America and others to justice. America won that round in our longstanding attempts to defend against radicals. We don’t need to pick individual winners and losers of glory.

— The Joplin, Mo., Globe

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