Almost a week after the Taliban took over the Afghan capital, marking a failure of the US-built Afghan government, several American commentators have expressed their dissatisfaction with how their government has handled the event, including the evacuations of Americans and Afghans who have worked with the Americans.
"I don't want to be in charge, but if I was ... give me 9 guys, I'm gonna walk through the streets [in Afghanistan] and I'm gonna kill everyone I see, and I'm gonna grab the Americans. It is not difficult" -- Rob O'Neill
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 20, 2021
This is the sort of commentary Fox News platforms. Yikes. pic.twitter.com/LwFrgxQ1XM
Amongst the loudest voices angry at the administration of US president Joe Biden was the Fox News contributor Rob O’Neill, who is quite known for sparking controversies.
In his comments over the approach taken by US troops to help evacuate US citizens, journalists, and diplomats from the now Taliban-controlled capital, Rob O’Neill suggested that if he was in charge of the operation, he "would walk through the streets and kill everyone I see, and I'm gonna grab the Americans. It is not difficult."
As soon as Rob O’Neill's comments made it to social media, thousands of online users attacked his statements, saying that he is ignoring the fact that thousands of Afghans who are in Kabul's streets are not part of the Taliban and that suggesting risking their lives to only rescue Americans "sounds like a war crime."
This is nuts, but also has some roots in a broader sickness inside the Navy SEAL’s culture that I hope gets addressed. https://t.co/F8mV6ZKP73
— Greg Jaffe (@GregJaffe) August 21, 2021
Genocidal mania on prime time. Replace “Afghanistan” with “France” or “Italy” and see if this guy could get away with chuckling like this at the prospect of mass murder. https://t.co/EvJwL2ZgSi
— Laila Lalami (@LailaLalami) August 21, 2021
Some other users compared Rob O’Neill's comments with ones made by terrorists targeting Americans in different parts of the world and condemned Fox News for hosting him and not apologizing for his remarks.
In 2013, Rob O’Neill stirred a similar controversy after claiming that he was the individual Navy SEAL officer who "cornered Al Qaeda's leader Osama bin Laden and shot him dead" during Operation Neptune Spear in May 2011, near Abbottabad, Pakistan. O'Neill's statements were considered a major violation of the code of silence that forbids special forces from revealing such details.
