Media Relations

"The media" turned out to be a favored topic of conversation at the National Defense Industry Association's annual special operations conference in Washington this week, thanks to the forceful voice of retired Army Lt. Gen. James Vaught of Operation Eagle Claw fame.

On Tuesday, he demanded to know from Rear Adm. Sinclair Harris, head of the Navy Irregular Warfare Office, why the service wasn't more forcefully confronting Iranian speedboats in the Strait of Hormuz. "Blow these bastards out of water," he shouted into the microphone, which clearly wasn't calibrated to handle such an outburst. The suggestion netted applause from the audience, which to that point had been entertained only by an abstract debate about strategies for integrating Special Forces with general-purpose forces.

No can do, responded Harris, offering three letters as an explanation -- "CNN." By that he meant that news about anyone being blown out of any water these days likely would end up on the evening news. Oh, and there are also rules of engagement to be considered, Harris added.

Vaught had made news earlier that day, too. In what is now an international story, he confronted Special Operations Command chief Adm. William McRaven about the wisdom of publicizing sensitive operations like the one that led to the killing Osama bin Laden. (ABC News has footage of the exchange.)

In setting up his piece of advice -- "Get the hell out of the media" -- he brought to light this somewhat puzzling nugget recalling the capture of Iraq's former leader:

Back when my special operators extracted Saddam [Hussein] from the hole, we didn’t say one damn word about it. We turned him over to the local commander and told him to claim that his forces dug him out of the hole, and he did so. And we just faded away and kept our mouth shut.

Vaught's account could not be immediately verified, as they say in the media. According to a SOCOM official, however, the retired three-star "had no role" in the operation in question, having retired two decades prior. (It is possible that Vaught was referring to his special operators in an endearing way, as a former commander might do.)

As for the rest of the information, perhaps the history books of the Iraq war must be rewritten? There is a public record of how the capture was announced to the world. It was during a -- wait for it -- press conference, the one that then-Coalition Provisional Authority chief Paul Bremer opened with the now-famous words, "Ladies and gentlemen, we got him."

The event transcript, courtesy of CNN, is available here. (Hint: Special operators did get public kudos at the time. And: The local commander Vaught was referring to has since made his way up the Army ranks and became the chief of staff.)