Former U.S. Navy SEAL Robert O’Neill spoke about the personality of presidents in a wide-ranging interview with “The Daily Caller”.
O’Neill, the SEAL who reportedly shot terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden, in a raid of his Pakistan compound, spoke a little about events preceding the raid.
Daily Caller Sports and Entertainment Editor David Hookstead broached the subject after talk in the hour-plus interview turned to the events of that day.
“I don’t think your politics probably mesh very well with Obama’s or Biden’s,” Hookstead said, “I think anyone who follows you on Twitter is well aware of that. But, you did have high praise for Obama, as a person, when you met him at Fort Campbell. ”
“I mean, Barack Obama, I don’t care who you are, that’s a cool dude,” replied O’Neill. “We’re going to disagree on quite a few things but the two times I was directly involved with President Obama was the rescue of Captain Phillips, which he authorized. And, when he made the decision on the bin Laden raid.”
Watch:
O’Neill continued by saying Obama pumped up the numbers for the bin Laden raid.
“What do you mean ‘pumped up the numbers’?” asked Hookstead.
“Well, we were going to go in with two helicopters, with a certain amount of fuel and a certain amount of time on the ground and then try to fly out,” responded O’Neill. ” Hopefully, we can make it back across the border or we’re going to have to run. Because you don’t have fueling stops along the way.”
He talked about the initial planning included possible negotiations with Pakistan police because they would be the likely first responders. O’Neill said they didn’t want to shoot any of them because the United States wasn’t at war with them. He said at that point, Obama turned to the head of the Air Force, who was in the strategy session.
“What do you need to rain hell on Pakistan,” Obama asked, adding, “my guys aren’t surrendering to anyone!”
O’Neill said that he wasn’t usually a fan of South Side Chicago’s style of doing things but at that moment, he was a fan.
“I have praise for President Biden, too,” the former SEAL said, adding he shot the bull with Obama’s vice-president for awhile. Everyone was in a good mood because it was politics aside.”
The former SEAL said, “Politics suck because in the big swamp, things get bogged down.”
Watch the entire interview here:
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