Donald Trump: Navy SEAL who killed bin Laden slams military parade
THE navy SEAL who took out Osama bin Laden has unloaded on Donald Trump, whose latest idea for the American military has sparked a fevered backlash.
THE US navy seal who killed Osama bin Laden has blasted Donald Trump’s military parade, calling it a third world idea.
President Trump this week asked the Pentagon to plan a grand parade of the US armed forces in Washington this year to celebrate military strength.
The idea has received a chilly reception from many, including the former Navy SEAL who killed 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.
“A military parade is third world bulls**t,” Robert O’Neill wrote on Twitter.
“We prepare. We deter. We fight. Stop this conversation.”
Mr O’Neill was a member of the elite SEAL Team Six when he killed bin Laden on May 2, 2011 at the compound where he was hiding out in Pakistan.
White House and military officials confirmed preliminary planning was already under way, but said a date had not yet been decided.
The Pentagon also said it isn’t certain that President Trump’s plans for a military parade to salute the country’s armed forces would wind its way through the streets of Washington DC.
“We don’t know that. There are options and we will explore those and the president will ultimately decide,” Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White told Reuters, adding that the US Army was taking the lead in creating options for the event.
Defence Secretary James Mattis said they’re “putting together some options and we’ll send them to the White House”.
The Pentagon is mulling over linking the parade to a significant event like Veterans Day or the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.
“All options are being considered, including linking the parade to a significant event, perhaps a historical event,” Pentagon spokesman Colonel Rob Manning said.
The president’s idea for a military spectacle was inspired by his visit to French President Emmanuel Macron last July, when Paris celebrated Bastille Day with troops marching down the streets and jet fighters soaring through the sky.
“We’re going to have to try to top it,” he told Mr Macron at the time.
Many politicians, both Republican and Democrat, have questioned the costs of putting on such an extravaganza, and the city council in Washington raised concerns that tanks and heavy military equipment would destroy the streets.
While military parades are a highlight of the calendar in Moscow, Pyongyang and Paris, they are rare in the US, where displays of patriotism usually take the form of flag-waving, fireworks and grilled hotdogs.
— With wires and news.com.au
This article originally appeared in the New York Post and is republished here with permission.
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