Afghanistan, the former marine who killed bin Laden: “anger and grief” – Corriere.it

“A lot of anger and sadness.” Robert O’Neill speaks in the face of the US evacuation of Kabul, a former Navy SEAL who claims to be A member of the team that shot Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011
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It is clear that this story was addressed with hidden political goals and not in a pragmatic and realistic way. We will always be able to review the images but the conclusion will always be the same: We were supposed to leave in 2005The ex-soldier said in an interview with the French daily newspaper Sunday newspaper. Our initial mission was to defeat al-Qaeda and take over Osama bin Laden. So we had to leave later. This is who. Witnessing such a disaster is a disgrace. I am very sad, especially for those who died there.”

As for the former Navy SEAL, originally known as the “shooter,” the United States didn’t lose out anyway. We won all the battles and we killed bin Laden. But the Taliban are building a myth. After the British and the Russians, it is up to the Americans to get rid of them and they did not even need to fight.” In 2005, O’Neill explained, “We were going to put ourselves out of Afghanistan We had plenty of time to secure air support. It would have been enough insurance Bagram base outside Kabul, which the US left in early July. And again: “Using the skies to eliminate terrorists because we saw them cross the border with Pakistan. We knew where they were, it was enough to just drop a few bombs. Our departure was most visible to me when we finished the job in 2011. We killed bin Laden.

The son of a former Irish copper miner and former ballerina, At the age of 19, O’Neill volunteers for the United States Marine Corps in hopes of becoming a sniper. Then, in January 1996, he took part in BUD/S, the basic course for underwater demolition or sealing, on the beaches of San Diego, and was subsequently recruited to be assigned to the second SEAL team based in Little Creek. From June to July 2003, O’Neill, two years after witnessing the September 11, 2001 attacks while in an office in Stuttgart, Germany, participated in Operation Shining Express. in Liberia with the task of repatriating many American soldiers. Then, in 2004 he joined DevGru, the Navy’s counterterrorism unit. During his career, he was involved in 10 other operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the April 2009 rescue of Captain Richard Phillips, who was kidnapped by a commando of 4 Somali pirates during the hijacking of the merchant ship Maersk Alabama. Until May 1, 2011 and fighting in the Abbottabad compound in Pakistan.

Over the years, O’Neill has often been at the center of controversy. Not least he saw him climb On a plane without a mask, with a self-congratulatory sexual tweet. O’Neill notes that defeating al-Qaeda was “our roadmap and I repeat, where I will stay that way. From this story nation building Afghans don’t want to know and the Taliban don’t want to know even less. They say no to democracy. Our phones yes, our lifestyle in terms of fashion definitely not. But even the smartest make mistakes. The ridiculous thing is that the US government will definitely send troops again in order to get everyone out of the country. «After all – he asserts – the Afghans have already suffered, and frankly they do not deserve it. Now let us leave everything, our materials, our weapons, our lightly armored vehicles, our helicopters.” The former Navy SEAL adds that what is happening today is “pathetic. It was worth killing bin Laden and trying to eradicate Al Qaeda but without leaving such a void that the Islamic State would fill once the Taliban took over.. Daesh (ISIS) will do the same thing that happened in Iraq and Syria, and fill in the gaps.”

O’Neill was not surprised by the speed of the Taliban’s occupation of the country. “Everyone in the field will tell you the same. The Taliban will laugh heartily. After all they always said: You Americans own the watches, and we have all the time. They knew they would win and that is a fact.”

The “shooter”, who has long been a supporter of former US President Donald Trump, He claims that “Biden did not listen to the Pentagon’s arguments not to move forward” as he did.. A version that Biden later denied last Thursday in a TV interview. I don’t like the image that America has given itself. It really is an illustration of bad leadership.”