The man who shot Bin Laden?

 

The American SEALs are known to operate and execute missions in different parts of the world in complete secrecy. They are sworn to secrecy of action plans before and after the top secret missions. This is the first time an ex-Navy SEAL has revealed his identity and spoke about the top secret mission and details about the terrorist’s hideout in Pakistan, and the death of the most wanted man, Bin Laden.

For the first time a decorated ex-Navy SEAL, Robert O’Neill, has been unmasked as the man who shot Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden in the head, during the top secret 2011 raid on the terrorist’s hideout in Pakistan. This has come as a shock to the SEALs and the others who took part in this special mission.

O’Neill who grew up in Montana, was one of the 23 SEALs who flew into the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad on the night of 2 May 2011. Identified as ‘The Shooter’ in an Esquire interview, he told Esquire that he joined the army when he was 19, as a reaction to his then-girlfriend leaving him. And this kept him going throughout his tenure in the services.

O’Neill has served more than a dozen tours on duty in active combat, including Iraq and Afghanistan. He has undertaken 400 separate combat missions. O’Neill was identified by the military news website SOFREP. The 38-year-old is expected to talk about himself during a 2-part Fox News TV Special this month. His identity was confirmed by his father, during an exclusive interview to Daily Mail. This has shocked many in the establishment, and has put himself and his family in grave danger.

The Navy hero has reportedly decided to speak out as he lost some of his military benefits by quitting the SEAL’s after 16 years, instead of staying for a full 20 years. In an interview to Daily Mail, the former Navy SEAL’s father Tom O’Neill said: People are asking if we are worried the ISIS will come and get us because Rob is going public. I say I’ll paint a big target on my front door and say come and get us.

 

There is more to it – ‘I thought I would give him a third shot for good luck,’ heroic Navy SEAL Robert O’Neill told rapt 9/11 family members of the bullets he boasts of firing into Osama bin Laden’s skull. He had been taught to fire two head shots – the so-called double-tap. Still, there was ‘no harm in putting one more bullet in him,’ O’Neill explained during a top-secret gathering at 9/11 Museum in lower Manhattan in July, people who heard O’Neill speak told The Post.

The SEAL team had been given few advance details of the May 2011 operation, dubbed Neptune Spear, the former commando told his audience. ‘We didn’t know what the mission was – then we realized we’re going after The Target,’ he said, referring to the Al Qaeda leader. O’Neill said he had time for a phone call and rang up his children, thinking he might never see them again.

 

Once at bin Laden’s hideout in Abottabad, Pakistan, he climbed a stairway to a bedroom, and recalled the sound of his weapon firing – Pop! Pop! Pop!’. ‘I thought I’d give him a third shot for good luck…. Or good measure,’ one listener remembered, at which point, ‘There were murmurs of laughter.’

The gravity of what he had done set in only later, as he ate while guarding the body. ‘I am standing there eating a sandwich,’ he said, ‘and realized I just killed that SOB.’

The SEAL has faced heat from mission-mates who insist O’Neill was only one of the three members whose rounds struck bin Laden. Brass have also complained that O’Neill breached the SEAL ethos, or code of silence. ‘He should have done his job and gone home,’ a retired Navy SEAL commander told The Post, noting that O’Neill has put himself and his family in grave danger.

The 9/11 victims’ relatives had no idea they were about to hear a firsthand story of bin Laden’s death when they accepted an e-mailed invitation to attend ‘a private and confidential’ event. The invitation from Rep Carolyn Maloney said only that a mystery speaker – ‘a combat veteran who has played a pivotal role in international security that has affected all of your lives’ – would be on hand.

At the event – which was filmed – O’Neill spoke in the monotone of a professional soldier, but his descriptions of the raid were met with tears and some laughter. ‘It was a monologue,’ one guest told The Post. ‘He spoke very quickly, boom, boom, boom….There was no emotion.’ ‘He was nonchalant about it,’ another recalled. Afterward, O’Neill showed a more tender side as he greeted family members, asking one, ‘Can I have a hug.’

In USA and amongst the SEALs, they believe, since sworn to secrecy, O’Neill’s outburst is disturbing and could even put his colleagues in the secret mission in danger. They all feel O’Neill should have stuck to the anonymity and should not have taken credit for the success of the mission as there were others too who were with him and risked their lives for the country.

O’Neill’s exploits have inspired filmmakers and has been portrayed on the big screen in action films, Zero Dark Thirty, Captain Phillips & Lone Survivor. However, the question being asked – is he the one who shot Osama bin Laden?

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Picture Post:

Hawa Mahal in Jaipur, known as the Pink city
 in Rajasthan, India

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