Famous Navy SEAL Robert O’Neill fired back at former President Obama on Friday for his “Nazi” remarks at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The SEAL Team 6 member who helped kill Osama bin Laden during 2011’s operation Neptune’s Spear in Abbottabad, Pakistan, says Mr. Obama shouldn’t lecture President Trump — who has condemned all forms of racism — on “Nazis” when he resisted talk of “radical Islam” for years.
“We are Americans,” Mr. Obama told the Illinois audience. “We’re supposed to stand up to bullies, not follow them. We’re supposed to stand up to discrimination and we’re sure as heck supposed to stand up clearly and unequivocally to Nazi sympathizers. How hard can that be? Saying that Nazis are bad.”
Mr. Obama’s comment was a reference to Mr. Trump’s handling of the 2017 clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia, between white supremacists and Antifa counter-protesters.
Critics said the president did not act quickly and forcefully enough to condemn white nationalists for violence that culminated in the death of 32-year-old Heather Heyer.
Heyer was rammed on Aug. 12, 2017, by a car operated by James Fields.
“Nazis are bad,” Mr. O’Neill wrote. “Now try saying, ‘Radical Islam,’” Mr. O’Neill tweeted to his nearly 120,000 followers.
The Obama administration avoided references to “radical Islam” due to the rationale that it exacerbated cultural tensions at home and created friction with allies around the globe.
Nazis are bad. Now try saying “Radical Islam…” https://t.co/2jS4b8OgwJ
— Robert J. O’Neill (@mchooyah) September 7, 2018
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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