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| The late Job W. Price |
In late September, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh raised eyebrows when he declared that the 2011 SEAL Team Six raid which killed Osama Bin Laden was “one big lie” and that “not one word” of the official narrative on what happened is true.
In Hersh's interview, which appeared in The Guardian, the journalist lashes out at American media for blindly accepting, and failing to raise questions, about the Obama administration's narrative about the raid which allegedly killed Bin Laden. For example, the White House initially claimed that situation room photos showed President Obama watching the raid live-- even though there happened to be a blackout on the live feed. In addition, residents who lived next to the compound have stated that they had never seen Bin Laden, adding that there was no evidence suggesting that he had ever lived there.
Unfortunately, Hersh missed a golden opportunity in his interview to drive home his point. Although he stated that "Nothing's been done about that story, it's one big lie, not one word of it is true", he failed to point out one startling fact about SEAL Team Six-- the fact that numerous members of the mythical special forces group have been killed under bizarre circumstances in the weeks and months following the purported killing of Bin Laden.
In August 2011, the elite special forces unit suffered the heaviest losses in its history when a Taliban fighter shot down a Chinook helicopter carrying 22 Navy SEAL Team 6 members in Afghanistan. Some have speculated that the government "tipped off" enemy fighters by disclosing highly-sensitive information, eventually leading them to shoot down the helicopter.
One of the members killed in the attack, Aaron Vaughn, feared that he and his family were about to become a "sacrificial lambs". He told his mother, Karen Vaughn, to delete every reference to SEAL Team 6 from her Facebook and Twitter accounts.
On August 9 of this year, Jeffrey T. Kuhner of the Washington Times wrote:
SEAL-gate is potentially a bigger scandal than Benghazi, Libya. The administration — along with the top military brass — are desperately trying to cover up what took place on that fateful raid. Taliban guerrillas were waiting for the Chinook as it approached its landing site. Apparently, someone tipped them off that the SEALs were coming; the helicopter was attacked from three sides in a coordinated ambush. The U.S. military claimed that the Chinook was blown to pieces by a shoulder-fired missile, in which everyone on board was burned beyond recognition. Hence, senior military officials ordered the American bodies cremated without the prior approval of their family members.
Charles Strange, the father of SEAL member Michael Strange, who was also killed in the crash, stated that on at least three separate occasions his son grabbed him by the arm and announced that he had prepared his will.
On December 22, 2012, SEAL Team 4 Commanding Officer Job W. Price committed suicide. He was best known for finding and then killing Osama bin Laden.
To date, twenty-five SEAL team members who took part in the raid which purportedly killed Bin Laden have either committed suicide, died in freak accidents, or have been killed under mysterious circumstances.