[Washington Examiner] Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is hopping mad about media reports disputing his assessment that the U.S. special operations raid in Yemen last month yielded "vital intelligence."
Aides say Mattis is particularly upset about an NBC News report suggesting that so far none of the intelligence gathered in the raid, which cost the life of Navy SEAL William "Ryan" Owens, has proven to be either "actionable or vital."
"That is inaccurate," said a senior Pentagon official, who said while much of the intelligence is still being exploited, the cache of seized computers, cell phones, and hard drive has already produced leads as to where other al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula terrorists were located in Yemen, and their contacts.
The official said the raid was considered worth the risk of sending U.S. ground forces because AQAP has a history of plotting, inspiring, and exporting terror to America and the West, and because the U.S. has no military presence on the ground. |