Robert O'Neill, the former US Navy SEAL who controversially boasted about being the one responsible for killing Osama Bin Laden, recently caused a firestorm on Twitter.
In an Interview with Inside Edition this past Wednesday, O'Neill declared he was not surprised by Afghanistan's fall to the Taliban, but made the declaration President Joe Biden wasn't to blame, saying the US should have withdrawn long ago.
"The Taliban always told us, and I knew this when I first got to Afghanistan, they said, 'You have the clocks, and we have the time.
"They knew they were going to win, and they did."
"This is not President Biden's fault, this is not President Trump's fault, this is not President Obama's fault, [or] President Bush."
"It doesn't matter how we got here. We're just here. We should've left a long time ago."
But then on Thursday, O'Neill all but completely countered his earlier interview, posting a number of Tweets criticizing President Biden for his decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan.
The White House just released their newest pronoun: Losers.— Robert J. O'Neill (@Robert J. O'Neill) 1629247875
Dear \u201c81 million\u201d voters: Your president surrendered to the Taliban.— Robert J. O'Neill (@Robert J. O'Neill) 1629376258
Anyone in the media gonna hold this administration responsible? Or are we good?— Robert J. O'Neill (@Robert J. O'Neill) 1629378748
But there was one Tweet in particular which got the internet buzzing.
In this particular Tweet, O'Neill seemed to show admiration for the Taliban's take over in Afghanistan, even announcing he would love to do the same in the US.
Did you see how the Taliban rolled through the streets and took back their county? I know a few dudes who would do the same with me right now.— Robert J. O'Neill (@Robert J. O'Neill) 1629383142
"Did you see how the Taliban rolled through the streets and took back their country? "
"I know a few dudes who would do the same with me right now."
Twitter users wasted no time in calling O'Neill out, pointing out his tweet read as a blatant call for sedition, a truly shocking declaration for a former Navy SEAL.
That's called sedition.\n\nAnd "a few dudes" tried it on January 6.https://twitter.com/mchooyah/status/1428362541567152138\u00a0\u2026— Jonathan Karl (@Jonathan Karl) 1629387173
Sedition— Char (@Char) 1629387297
This US military veteran views the Taliban's success as an inspiration to talk openly about recruiting others to join in a violent rebellion to overthrow our government. I can assure you he's not the only Trumper thinking that. Hoping the FBI is watching.https://twitter.com/mchooyah/status/1428362541567152138\u00a0\u2026— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@(((DeanObeidallah)))) 1629396857
@FBI sounds insurrection-ey to me— kp (@kp) 1629387799
Oh look. Another traitor fantasizing about overthrowing democracy.https://twitter.com/mchooyah/status/1428362541567152138\u00a0\u2026— Steven DeKnight (@Steven DeKnight) 1629396134
Thanks for showing how your side always resorts to violence <cough JAN 6, 2021 cough> when you don\u2019t like an outcome and why we have a domestic terrorist problem.— Silvia #VetsResistSquadron #VetsAgainstTrump (@Silvia #VetsResistSquadron #VetsAgainstTrump) 1629388224
Truly insane how in the span of 20 years the far right have gone from making country music songs about putting their boots in Taliban asses to 'you know what, those guys have the right idea, i like the cut of their jib'https://twitter.com/mchooyah/status/1428362541567152138\u00a0\u2026— Danny Gold (@Danny Gold) 1629395930
Which constitution did y\u2019all swear to defend when signing up?\n\nBecause it sure as shit doesn\u2019t sound like it was ours.— Tom Hardly (@Tom Hardly) 1629390189
Since announcing himself as the Navy SEAL responsible for killing Osama Bin Laden, despite being sworn to secrecy, O'Neill's career and public image have taken several strange turns, causing controversy all along the way.
O'Neill reportedly made the decision to reveal himself as Bin Laden's primary assassin after an attempt at a career as a motivational speaker did not prove to be lucrative following his departure from the Navy.
But the validity of his claims remains hotly contested, particularly after a fellow SEAL, Matt Bissonnette, claimed in his book, No Easy Day it was the point man, not O'Neill, who killed Bin Laden.
O'Neill would go on to use his self-made fame as a stepping stone to secure himself a job as a contributor on Fox News, where he was hired to offer his "military expertise and analysis" for their daytime and primetime programming.
More recently, following several Twitter posts where he downplayed the seriousness of Covid-19, O'Neill found himself banned from Delta Airlines in August of 2020, after Tweeting a picture of himself without a mask, and refusing to comply.
In spite of his far-right leaning Twitter tirades, O'Neill also made headlines for criticizing Donald Trump in October 2020, when the then President promoted a conspiracy theory SEAL Team 6 had, in fact, killed a decoy and Bin Laden was still alive.
The Huffington Post tried to reach O'Neill for comment regarding his latest controversial tweets, but he has yet to respond.
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