The final moments of Osama bin Laden explained.
The former Navy Seal Robert O’Neill has spoken on Irish radio today about the moment he shot and killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan back in 2011.
O’Neill – speaking to Cormac O’hEadhra, standing in on Today with Sean O’Rourke – revealed how the notorious al-Qaeda leader pushed his wife towards him, while O’Neill had less than a second to discern whether or not bin Laden was a suicide bomber.
“I saw Osama bin Laden standing on his two feet with his hands on his wife’s shoulders pushing her towards me,” he said.
“I recognised him as a threat, I recognised who he was… I assumed he had a suicide vest on so I shot him in the face twice and once more on the ground.”
O’Neill was asked by O’hEadhra if he felt the presence of American troops in countries like Afghanistan and Iraq made matters worse in terms of global terrorism.
“I think what radicalises people is the hate speech that’s delivered by their own superiors. There’s going to come a time where we gotta realise that people aren’t born hateful they’re just taught it,” he said.
He was also pressed on why he didn’t take bin Laden alive.
“Because I didn’t want to blow up and die with him,” responded O’Neill.
Listen to O’Neill’s interview about the moment he killed Osama bin Laden in full here:
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