USA: The Navy Seal who killed Osama bin Laden has spoken of the final moments of the war lord’s life saying “when he took his last breath, I heard it audibly”,
Former soldier Rob O’Neill revealed how he ended the Al Qaeda chief’s reign of terror during the dramatic raid on his home in Abbottobad in Pakistan in 2011.
When asked where he shot bin Laden, the 38-year-old replied “three times in the face”.
O’Neill said he was stood only two feet away from bin Laden’s corpse while watching President Obama announce the terrorist’s death.
“I hear him say Osama bin Laden, and I look at Osama bin Laden, and I wonder, 'How in the world did I get here,” O’Neill recalled.
Discussing the mission as part of a two part interview on US television he said: “One minute out and I’m thinking, ‘This is some serious Navy SEAL stuff we’re about to do’.
“I’m looking at Osama bin Laden’s house, and I’m thinking, this is so cool.”
O’Neill, along with other members of SEAL Team 6, America’s most elite unit, entered the compound from the roof under the cover of darkness abseiling from two helicopters.
As the SEALS made their way on to the second floor, several others peeled off to clear out the rooms.
Only O’Neill and one other were left together.
He said: “The first guy, he’d taken a shot up the stairs already.
“My job was to wait to make sure we had enough people to go up the stairs.
“I wanted four people to go up the stairs.”
However the team leader was eager to keep moving forward in attempt to locate bin Laden as quickly as possible and so O’Neill failed to get the required men.
The lead man then pushed aside several women inside the house and shielded them from O’Neill with his body, believing they were wearing suicide vests.
“He gave his life so the guy behind him could get a shot,” O’Neill said.
He then moved into the room the CIA had briefed them on being bin Laden’s room.
“Standing about two feet in front of me with his hands on his wife's shoulders, behind her, was the face that I’d seen thousands of times, UBL” he said.
“My first thought was, we got him.
“After weeks of training, 82 mins into flight, I’m like, I’m on this mission, we’re gonna kill [UBL]”
UBL referred to bin Laden whose first name was sometimes spelt Usama.
He continued: “Very quickly I recognised him, pop pop pop, in the face three times. He just fell.
“I was standing above him when he took his last breath, and I heard it audibly.
“We met for a second, that’s it.
"We got him. We just ended the war.”
The SEALs placed bin Laden’s dead body in to a bag before carrying it in to a helicopter.
After a quick search of the house for computers and more information, they left.
“It’s almost like watching a race." O'Neill beamed.
"Like, wait a minute, we can survive, we can live,” O’Neill beamed.
“Someone came over the radio and said, ‘Alright, gentlemen, for the first time in your lives you’ll be happy to hear this, welcome back to Afghanistan.’”
As his two part interview concluded on Wednesday night O'Neill admitted he is still troubled by the shooting, that it's something he has to live with.
"I'm still trying to figure out if it's the best thing I ever did, or the worst thing I ever did," he said while appearing on ‘The Man who killed Osama bin Laden’.
Despite the fear of death, O'Neill was excited to be part of the historic mission.
"We wanted to go." he said.
"We really wanted to do this."
“We’re going to die eventually.
"This is a good way to go.”
Before the mission, O'Neill told how he had called his father Tom back home in Butte, Montana and wrote letters to his children, as he thought he would never survive the raid.
"It was sad," he said.
"You know, there were a few times the tears hit the pages."
After he survived he shredded the letters.
On the programme one relative of a 9/11 victim was seen thanking O’Neill saying: “You killed the devil, and I salute you for that, sir.”
Despite praise from the American public for talking, the decorated veteran’s decision to speak about the mission has angered many in the US military.
The commander of the Navy SEALS spoke of his disgust at the former special ops soldier's decision to give a TV interview.
Rear Admiral Brian Losey said that seeking “public notoriety and financial gain” from sharing secret operations is a betrayal of the unit's values.
In an open letter to all SEALs he said a critical part of their ethos is, “I do not advertise the nature of my work, nor seek recognition for my actions.”
He added it was a lifelong commitment, both during and after military service, to remain silent about the work they undertook.
“Violators of our Ethos are neither teammates in good standing, nor Teammates who represent Naval Special Warfare,” said Losey, who had signed the letter alongside Force Master Chief Michael L. Magaraci (corr).
“We do not abide wilful or selfish disregard for our core values in return for public notoriety and financial gain, which only diminishes otherwise honourable service, courage and sacrifice.”
Rear Admiral Losey vowed to take legal actions against any SEAL who disclosed classified information and puts families or future operations at risk.
The SEALs - which stands for Sea, Air, Land Teams - are the US Navy's principal special operations force and a part of the Naval Special Warfare Command and United States Special Operations Command.
