'The world no longer looks up to America': Former top Navy SEAL who oversaw the Osama bin Laden raid says he voted for Joe Biden 'because black lives matter and climate change is real'
The former top Navy SEAL who oversaw the Osama bin Laden raid has said he voted for Joe Biden 'because black lives matter and climate change is real'.
In an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal published Monday Admiral William McRaven says he backs the Democrat, arguing 'the the world no longer looks up to America'.
Describing himself as 'pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, small-government, strong-defense and a national-anthem-standing conservative' McRaven did not mention Donald Trump by name but has been an outspoken critic of the president in the past.
He wrote: 'I also believe that black lives matter, that the Dreamers deserve a path to citizenship, that diversity and inclusion are essential to our national success, that education is the great equalizer, that climate change is real and that the First Amendment is the cornerstone of our democracy.
'Most important, I believe that America must lead in the world with courage, conviction and a sense of honor and humility.'
McRaven was head of the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command in 2011 when a team of Navy SEALs killed bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, in Pakistan.
He also led the 2009 rescue of Richard Phillips, a ship captain who was captured by Somali pirates and later portrayed by Tom Hanks in a movie.
Service: Then Vice Admiral McRaven met President Barack Obama days after the death of Osama bin Laden. Now he is backing Joe Biden
The former top Navy SEAL who oversaw the Osama bin Laden raid has said he voted for Joe Biden 'because black lives matter and climate change is real'. In an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal William McRaven, left, says he backs the Democrat, right, arguing 'the the world no longer looks up to America'
McRaven retired from the Navy in 2014 and led the University of Texas System until 2018.
He has previously spoken out against Trump, in 2018, earning him an attack from the president.
In November 2018 he said that Trump's attacks on the press were 'the greatest threat to democracy' he had seen in the U.S.
Asked by Fox News interviewer Chris Wallace to comment, Trump said: 'He's a Hillary Clinton backer and an Obama backer. And frankly, wouldn't it have been nice if we got Osama bin Laden a lot sooner than that?'
McRaven later told CNN: 'I did not back Hillary Clinton or anyone else. 'I am a fan of President Obama and President George W. Bush, both of whom I worked for.'
His backing for Biden now puts him in the same camp as a series of other retired four-star general officers.
The most prominent was General Colin Powell, the first black chairman of the joint chiefs of staff who was in charge of the Gulf War and then became George W. Bush's first secretary of state.
Others have included General Stanley McChrystal, who commanded allied forces in Afghanistan and had to resign in 2010 when a Rolling Stone profile included him mocking Biden and other senior Obama officials.
General Wesley Clark, who was supreme allied commander in of NATO from 1997 to 2000 and General Paul Selva, who was vice-chairman of the joint chiefs of staff until last year have also come out for him.
In his op ed McRaven says the world has 'seen us tear up our treaties, leave our allies on the battlefield and cozy up to despots and dictators'.
He adds: 'They have seen our incompetence in handling the pandemic and the wildfires. They have seen us struggle with social injustice.
'They no longer think we can lead, because they have seen an ineptness and a disdain for civility that is beyond anything in their memory.'
Outgoing USSOCOM commander and now retired U.S. Navy Adm. William H. McRaven exits at the conclusion of the USSOCOM change of command ceremony in August 2014
U.S. President Barack Obama (2nd L) and Vice President Joe Biden , along with members of the national security team, receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House, May 1, 2011.
McRaven was head of the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command in 2011 when a team of Navy SEALs killed bin Laden, pictured, the al-Qaeda leader, in Pakistan
McRaven argues the US needs a leader who will 'understands the importance of American leadership, at home and abroad'.
He added: 'If we remain indifferent to our role in the world, if we retreat from our obligation to our citizens and our allies and if we fail to choose the right leader, then we will pay the highest price for our neglect and shortsightedness.
'I voted for Joe Biden.'
It is not the first time he has penned an opinion piece to express his disapproval of the president.
In October last year McRaven delivered a stinging rebuke of Trump, saying that military leadership and service members are worried about the nation's governance and decisions on the world stage.
William McRaven on CNN later on Monday to discuss his earlier op-ed
Months before, in May 2019, McRaven said he had no regrets about criticizing Trump.
He laid into the president in 2017 for calling the press the 'enemy of the people.'
After Trump revoked the security clearance former CIA Director John Brennan, a critic of the president, McRaven wrote in a Washington Post opinion piece that he would 'consider it an honor' if the president were to pull his clearance as well.
Speaking then, Trump dismissed McRaven in a Fox News interview as a 'Hillary Clinton fan' and an 'Obama backer' who should have captured bin Laden sooner.
On Monday McRaven told CNN: 'It was a difficult decision... to announce that I was voting. Obviously, you know, as a senior retired military officer these are challenging times and there's a little bit of an unwritten rule that senior officers don't come out and endorse a candidate.
'However, I felt that the direction of the country was heading in such a bad direction that we needed new leadership and that Joe Biden will be a much, much better leader than Donald Trump.'