Navy SEAL Rob O'Neillon why the rest of the world is 'mocking' the US

2022-08-21

EXCLUSIVE: Navy SEAL in Bin Laden raid Rob O’Neill says the rest of the world is ‘mocking’ the US while it ‘fights over pronouns’, military morale has been crushed and veterans are asking what they were fighting for a year on from the Afghanistan pullout

O’Neill has issued a warning to for the US and the Afghan people, 12 months on
The two-time Silver Star winner says the Taliban has only been emboldened
He says rights of Afghan women are now where they were in September 2001
Believes US legitimacy is steadily declining in the wake of the withdrawal
China is ‘mocking’ the U.S. because we are ‘fighting ourselves about what pronouns to use’
With veteran suicide rights still high and in the midst of a military recruitment crisis, he says morale is at a low point

Rob O’Neill, a former Navy SEAL who was part of the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, has issued a warning for the US and the Afghan people, 11 years after the operation to take out the 9/11 mastermind and 12 months on from the withdrawal of troops from Kabul.

Speaking to DailyMail.com, the two-time Silver Star winner says the Taliban has only been emboldened by taking over the government, filling the vacuum left by Western forces, and has taken rights – especially for women – back to where they were on September 10, 2001.

The veteran who completed more than 400 operations around the world during his career and knows more than most about terrorists and the grim realities of war said Al Qaeda and the Islamist insurgents The Haqqani Network are now ‘everywhere’ and enjoying a safe haven..

O’Neill believes US legitimacy is steadily declining in the wake of the withdrawal and superpowers like China are ‘mocking us’ because ‘we’re fighting ourselves about what pronouns to use’.

He doesn’t pin the blame on the Biden administration and the chaotic departure that led to the deaths of 13 U.S. service members and hundreds of Afghans, but instead the politicians who have been on Capitol Hill for decades and are only interested in votes and messaging.

He also fears Afghan special forces, who he once trained, are now fleeing to Iran, where they are being grilled for U.S. military secrets.

The anniversary for him is also personal. He served multiple missions in Afghanistan during, and veterans he knew or fought alongside in the aftermath have killed themselves.

He says many of those who risked their lives are now asking: What were we even doing there?

Speaking to DailyMail.com, the two-time Silver Star winner says the Taliban has only been emboldened by taking over the government, filling the vacuum left by Western forces and has taken rights – especially for women – back to where they were on September 10, 2001

O’Neill member the SEAL Team Six that took out the 9/11 mastermind in the deadly raid in Abbottabad in 2010 and has been portrayed on the big screen in Zero Dark Thirty, Captain Phillips and Lone Survivor.

He is now launching a podcast, The Operator, to discuss his career and today’s military.

‘It’s bad over there. The Taliban’s as brutal as they ever were. They continue to say that Afghanistan is the “graveyard of empires”, and they could beat anybody.’

When the U.S. ended their longest war after 20 years in August 2021, they joined the British and the Soviet Union in a list of superpowers who were unable to fully defeat or effectively govern Afghanistan.

The U.S. spent more than $2.3 trillion over two decades on infrastructure, the military and trying to develop a democracy similar to a Western nation.

But it rapidly unraveled when the Taliban rampaged through the country and then Kabul and overthrew the government.

Photos of desperate Afghans trying to get on evacuation flights – with some falling out of planes – and the suicide attack that killed 13 US service members and more than 200 local men, women and children sent shockwaves around the world.

For O’Neill the problems started with the lack of ‘will’ to win the war, a prospect he thought had been achieved in Helmand Province as early as 2005.

‘The problem is the coalition refused to win a war because we are too politically correct. We’re too worried about hurting feelings.

‘We have the ability to crush anybody. We still do. But we don’t have the political will. And we have a bunch of people with the wrong agendas in charge,’ he said.

In the year since the horrific scenes unfolded in Kabul, veterans who served in Afghanistan have reflected on their roles in the war that was ultimately lost and achieve stability in a country ravaged by terror and poverty.

The psychological impact of deployments in Helmand Province and then returning home to try and integrate back into civilian life have had a disastrous impact on some, especially those with PTSD or life-altering injuries.

O’Neill says his wife calls him the ‘the luckiest unlucky man in the world’. He was in multiple gun fights, but fortunate not to come out unscathed.

He also didn’t see anyone die in front of him in combat, but the story is different since he has left the service.

‘I lost so many friends for no reason. I’ve seen friends commit suicide after the fact recently. It’s personal.

‘It’s bad for the soldiers who fought there for people that I know are wondering what the hell they were doing there.

O’Neill was one of the SEAL Team Six members involved in the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. He fired one of the fatal shots

‘With veteran suicide rates being as high as they are it’s bad for morale and bad for the country.

‘I was lucky, but a lot of people that went there and fought had friends died for really nothing. I’m sure, they’re feeling the pain and it’s just sad.’

An average of 17 American veterans kill themselves every day. The number has decreased since a surge of 4.5 percent after 2001.

While there are concerns about the rise of Al Qaeda and the Haqqani network in Afghanistan, the US is turning its attention to new global threats during a recruitment crisis in the military.

China flexed their muscle with military drills and missile tests around Taiwan as a result of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit and Vladimir Putin is still at war in Ukraine – even though progress appears to have stalled.

Beijing is growing the armed forces and is making headway in the arms race, including the development and testing of intercontinental ballistic missiles.

And, for O’Neill, the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal showed world superpowers the US is slipping further from its position as the most feared country in the world.

‘They’re making a mockery of us on so many levels because we’re fighting ourselves about what pronouns to use.

‘They’re fighting for world dominance. They’re fighting for their causes that they’re realizing that we’re slowly just slipping away from legitimacy.

O’Neill admits he doesn’t have the answers on how the US could fix its military or the situation in Afghanistan.

With no presence on the ground, intelligence gathering has become nearly impossible.

He says it requires a collective on Capitol Hill to come up with the solution, because he doesn’t think the Biden administration alone can turn it around.

‘I’ve met Joe Biden and personally like him,’ he said. ‘But it’s not the person who’s in the White House for four or eight years that’s the problem.

‘It’s the person that’s been on Capitol hill for 45 years that’s the problem.

‘Hopefully my grandchildren see a change. But Donald Trump learned the swamp is real and it has fangs and will attack everything you have.’

O’Neill was decorated 52 times, leaving the Navy as senior chief petty officer. His decorations include two Silver Stars, four Bronze Stars with Valor, a Joint Service Commendation Medal with Valor, three Presidential Unit citations, and two Navy/Marine Corps Commendations with Valor.

Rob O’Neill has launched a new podcast, The Operator. New episodes are available every Wednesday.

The veteran who completed more than 400 operations around the world during his career said Al Qaeda and the Islamist insurgents The Haqqani Network are now ‘everywhere’ and enjoying a safe haven under the regime

O’Neill believes US legitimacy is steadily declining in the wake of the withdrawal and superpowers like China are ‘mocking us’ because ‘we’re fighting ourselves about what pronouns to use

Source: Read Full Article