Oh, how times have changed.
Back in May 2011, Robert O’Neill was one of the Navy SEALs responsible for hunting down Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan. O’Neill later claimed to be the man who actually killed the terrorist leader.
But on Thursday, the former SEAL commented on the Biden administration’s withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan with a tweet suggesting he is envious of how the Taliban was able to quickly take back the country.
He then shockingly suggested he wouldn’t mind doing the same in the US:
The tweet was one of several O’Neill posted criticising President Joe Biden and the way his administration has handled the withdrawal.
HuffPost reached out to O’Neill for comment about the fiery tweet, but did not immediately receive a response.
However, many Twitter users pointed out that his comments went beyond expressing a political opinion to appearing to fantasise about another violent insurrection in the US.
O’Neill’s life has taken some strange turns since 2011.
He first came forward claiming to be the specific soldier who killed bin Laden in 2014 – which sparked controversy among at least some of the 24 Navy SEALs who carried out the raid, because they were all sworn to secrecy, CBS News reported.
In 2015, O’Neill parlayed the notoriety into a contributor gig on Fox News. In 2019 he attempted to launch a stand-up comedy career.
Last August, he was banned from Delta Air Lines for not wearing a mask on a flight, and in October, he criticised then-President Donald Trump for promoting a false conspiracy theory that the SEALs actually killed a body double of bin Laden.