US Navy photo.
Chief William "Ryan" Owens.
In an interview with the Miami Herald, Bill Owens, also a Navy veteran, called for an investigation into the raid that left his son, an eight-year-old girl, and as many as 29 civilians dead.
US military sources told Reuters that the fledgling Trump administration executed the raid "without sufficient intelligence, ground support, or adequate backup preparations."
The Obama administration had originally vetted and approved the raid at the very end of Obama's term, but put off the mission, as military planners thought it would be best to proceed on a moonless night.
The raid, which marked the first use of US ground troops in Yemen's two-year-old civil war, resulted in the destruction of a $70 million dollar MV-22 Osprey helicopter. It was criticized by Sen. John McCain of Arizona as a "failure."
The White House has strongly pushed back on disapproval stemming from the raid.
"It's absolutely a success," said White House spokesman Sean Spicer on February 8 of the raid. Spicer later described it as a "huge success."
"I think anyone who undermines the success of that raid owes an apology and a disservice to the life of Chief Owens," Spicer said. "The raid, the action that was taken in Yemen was a huge success. American lives will be saved because of it. Future attacks will be prevented."
But Owens' father suggested he has plenty of questions about the raid.
Pete Marovich/Pool via CNP/MediaPunch/IPX United States Vice President Mike Pence talks with White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer as President Donald Trump speaks with President of Russia, Vladimir Putin on the telephone in the Oval Office on January 28, 2017 in Washington, DC.
"Why at this time did there have to be this stupid mission when it wasn't even barely a week into his administration? Why? For two years prior, there were no boots on the ground in Yemen - everything was missiles and drones - because there was not a target worth one American life. Now, all of a sudden we had to make this grand display?'' Owens told the paper.
Furthermore, Owens demanded an investigation.
"Don't hide behind my son's death to prevent an investigation," Owens said. "I want an investigation. … The government owes my son an investigation."
Spicer has justified the raid and its heavy losses by saying that the intelligence recovered from the Al Qaeda branch in Yemen would save future American lives.
Lance Cpl. Brandon Maldonado/US Marine Corps
Marines with Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marines and Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 163 (Reinforced), set up security around the back of an MV-22 Osprey during the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit's Composite Training Unit Exercise aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, August 23, 2016. TRAP is one of the standing missions a MEU must be capable of executing during its deployment.
Bill Roggio, editor of the Foundation for
"This is a branch that's at the forefront of launching plots to blow up airliners and attack airlines," Roggio said.
Roggio said it would be "hard to know" if the mission succeeded or not without seeing the intelligence recovered - "and we're never going to see it."
Trump made a surprise trip to pay respects to Owens' casket as it returned to the US, but the elder Owens said he declined to meet the president.
"I told them I didn't want to make a scene about it, but my conscience wouldn't let me talk to him," Owens told the Herald.