As reads the motto of the United States Navy SEALs, the only easy day was yesterday – especially if your name is not Mark Owen. Matt Bissonnette’s name is not Mark Owen. Yet yesterday was the release date of the book “No Easy Day,” which was written by Bissonnette under the pseudonym Mark Owen and detailed the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Surely the publicity Bissonnette’s book garnered made the first day of sales an easy one, even though the Pentagon has threatened to file suit – as it should – because the narrative was not submitted to them for review beforehand. Bissonnette has stated in interviews with CBS that the book is not meant to be political, but from the contradictions with the official reports to the initially planned release date of Sept. 11, all signs point in the opposite direction. Simply put, either the man is a fool or he actively crossed his orders for gain or out of resentment. While at first a pseudonym may appear to be a sincere effort to maintain secrecy, Bissonnette was ignorant to suspect it would help whatsoever. He wrote about the most crucial military act in recent history before his sworn secrecy would allow him to. For this reason, a pseudonym more closely resembles a tail between the legs, an admission of guilt and an empty gesture to prove that he at least tried. It must be noted that it took only a day for Fox News to uncover the author’s identity. Even the charge that the book is not political has been contradicted by Bissonnette himself, and from the get-go at that. Bissonnette has repeatedly voiced contempt for his Commander in Chief and even expressed jealousy for President Obama because “he would take all the political credit for this,” as he told the Huffington Post. Sad as it may seem, fame and glory are not exactly in Bissonnette’s job description. Orders, however, are in the job description – orders that change the course of history and protect the lives of millions. It’s saddening to hear one of these men is so embittered and unsatisfied with his life’s work that he would disobey orders with the intent of belittling the leader of the United States he swore to protect. And this brings us to another case: All members of the SEAL Team 6 were ordered to lay low to avoid attention. Given one’s disposition, this could either be interpreted as a safety measure to keep these men off of international hit lists or an attempt to make sure they don’t get credit for their work. Use your head on this one. Then, look into the Malaysian jihadist forum al-Fidaa, who recently put out a hit on Bissonnette. The recently published e-book “No Easy Op,” written by other Special Operations veterans, bolsters the case that Bissonnette’s account was driven by dishonest motives. According to “No Easy Op,” Bissonnette had been pushed out of SEAL Team 6 after voicing his intentions to leave and start a business, leaving him estranged from his former crew. Brandon Webb, the founder of the site publishing the e-book, mentioned in an interview with the New York Times that he also had published books without prior Pentagon review. The difference, however, was that the material he previously wrote had already been made public. There is no nonpolitical reason Bissonnette needed to publish this book so soon. There’s no reason he could not follow Webb’s example. Every action reeks of political motivation and contempt, and Bissonnette deserves to be punished because, at the end of the day, he disobeyed the orders he swore to uphold.
Clayton Crockett is a 20-year-old international studies junior from Lafayette. ____ Contact Clayton Crockett at [email protected]; Twitter: @TDR_ccrockett