Journalist Seymour Hersh’s allegations that the White House lied about how Osama bin Laden was killed are being described by the Navy SEAL who killed the al Qaeda leader as “almost an insult to the word ’ludicrous.’ “
Former SEAL Team Six member Robert O’Neill told Fox News on Tuesday that he couldn’t even read Mr. Hersh’s London Review of Books piece on a possible cover-up by the Obama administration without putting it down. The journalist charged on Monday that no firefight with Navy SEALs occurred and that top Pakistani officials were informed prior to the U.S. military’s raid.
“When I was first sent this article, I thought it was a joke. This thing is so ludicrous, it’s almost an insult to the word ’ludicrous.’ […] For this guy to have a few guys from Pakistan just lie to him and to write this ridiculous story, it’s a comedy,” Mr. O’Neill told Fox, Business Insider reported.
When Fox’s Shepard Smith asked about the allegation that Navy SEALs “strolled” into the compound because Pakistani guards were gone, Mr. O’Neill bristled.
“I’m sure that my friends who got shot at and almost took a few bullets in the face through the doors would disagree with him there and would be a little bit insulted that he would suggest that especially because he’s never really risked his life for anything,” Mr. O’Neill said.
He added that Mr. Hersh did not reach out to him to discuss the killing of the al Qaeda mastermind.
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Mr. Hersh is known for breaking the My Lai massacre in Vietnam in 1968. He was also involved with exposing U.S. troops who abused Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in 2004.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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