The man who killed Osama bin Laden said shooting the al-Qaeda leader may be “the worst thing” he’s “ever done.”
During an interview on British television marking the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, former U.S. Navy Seal Robert O’Neill said he was unsure whether killing the man behind the 9/11 attacks was the best thing he’s ever done or the worst.
O’Neill claims to have been the one who shot and killed bin Laden during a raid on the al-Qaeda leader’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2, 2011.
He recalled bin Laden’s two-year-old son witnessing the deadly U.S. raid.
“Me, being a father, and thinking this poor kid has nothing to do with this. I realized this isn’t over and I wish no one had to see this stuff. But it was a kind of a realization that we are not going to win this war through bullets and guns but through education.”
“It’s a shame we have to live that way, we are not afraid of it, just aware,” said the 42-year-old retired seal when asked whether he lives in fear after taking part in the operation and revealing his identity.
After his retirement from service, O’Neill went on to work as a writer and give public speeches.
