an hour agoThe ex-marine who killed bin Laden: We won the war, we had to leave Afghanistan since 2005.
Periskopi(5 years ago)
(5 years ago)One of the members of the U.S. Special Forces who eliminated al-Qaeda leader 10 years ago says that event should have marked the withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan. Robert O'Neill, who claims to be part of the team that shot Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011, says in an interview for the French [...]
Robert O'Neill, who claims to be part of the team that shot Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011, says in an interview for French “Journal du Dimanche”, that a withdrawal at the time would have spared America the shame of recent weeks.
It is clear that this story was addressed with later political purposes and not in a pragmatic and realistic manner. We can return to developments several times, but the outcome will always be the same: we had to leave in 2005. Our original mission was to defeat al-Qaeda and eliminate Osama bin Laden. So we had to leave after this. To witness such calamity is a shame. I'm very sad especially for those who died there”
For the former Navy Sell, the United States did not lose anyway. We won all the battles and killed bin Laden. But the Taliban are building a legend. After Britain and the Russians, it was up to Americans to leave, and they didn't even need to fight”. In 2005, O'Neill explains, “would have been positioned outside Afghanistan and we would have enough time to provide air support. It would have been sufficient to secure the Bagram base outside Kabul, which the United States left in early July”.
The son of a former Irish copper mine employee and a former balloon, O'Neill, volunteered at the age of 19 in the United States Navy, hoping to become a sniper. During his career, he has participated in 10 other operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, including to rescue Captain Richard Phillips in April 2009 and the blitz attack on the Abbottabad complex in Pakistan that was finalised with the elimination of al-Qaeda leader.
