A decorated ex-Navy SEAL who grew up
in a run-down Montana mining town has beenidentified as the hero who gunned down Osama bin Laden — and he’s now facing
possible legal action for revealing the
tightly held secret.
Robert
O’Neill, 38, is the SEAL Team Six member who fired three shots into the head of
the al Qaeda leader during a top-secret May 2011 raid on his hideout in
Abbottabad, Pakistan, according to SOFREP, a website dedicated to military
news.
He was called “The Shooter” in a March
2014 Esquire article about the daring raid, and is expected to reveal himself during a
two-part Fox News TV special next
week.
His
exploits have already been portrayed on the big screen in the action flicks
“Zero Dark Thirty,” “Captain Phillips” and “Lone Survivor.”
And
while he’s angered military brass by going public — violating the SEALs’
honored “ethos” that prizes secrecy and disdains self-promotion — his proud
dad, Tom O’Neill, says he has nothing to be ashamed of.
“He is not allowed to talk, yet they
are using this big bullhorn to shut him up,” he said, referring to a letter
from military commanders chastising the younger O’Neill for going public.
“I
support him in everything he is doing,” Tom O’Neill told The Daily Mail.
“What are you
supposed to do when you come out of the military after such service — become a
greeter at Walmart?” he asked, adding that his son decided to reveal his
exploits to help earn a living.
SEAL leaders said revealing
classified information is against the law, and that the command will actively
seek “judicial consequences.”
The elder O’Neill also said he was
not worried about terrorists taking revenge on him or his son.
“I say I’ll paint a big target on my
front door and say come and get us,” he said.
Robert
O’Neill has two Silver Stars, four Bronze Stars, a Joint Service Commendation
Medal, three Presidential Unit citations and two Navy/Marine Corps
Commendations.
His exploits include being the first
SEAL to jump aboard the Maersk Alabama, the tanker taken over by Somali
pirates, as depicted in “Captain Phillips.”
He
also helped rescue SEAL Marcus Luttrell, who survived a failed mission to
capture a Taliban leader in Afghanistan, as recreated in “Lone Survivor.”
Source:nypost.com
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