SEAL who shot bin Laden backs Trump, Gallagher in Navy fight: 'I'd go to war with him tomorrow'
Washington Times, Nov 25, 2019

Robert J. O’Neill sides with Mr. Trump in an extraordinary battle of wills over military justice and a commander’s prerogative, saying in an interview he believes Eddie Gallagher should be able to retire as a chief petty officer and the prized Trident pin signifying his membership in the elite SEALs unit.

Mr. O’Neill said he believes Chief Gallagher had been the victim of a vendetta by military bureaucrats and some members of the Navy Criminal Investigative Service, better known as NCIS.

“It’s like someone wanted a notch on their belt: They took down a SEAL,” Mr. O’Neill said in a telephone interview on Monday. “They were looking to advance their own agenda.”

But while Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs of Staff head Gen. Mark Milley have signaled they’re ready to move on — and President Trump again defended his intervention in a trio of war crimes cases — there was no sign Monday that controversy or the underlying problems that sparked it have been resolved.

Mr. Trump showed no signs of having second thoughts in a session with reporters in the Oval Office Monday.

Mr. Trump said he intervened to “stick up for the warriors,” as opposed to what he characterized as the Obama administration’s leniency for deserter Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl and former soldier Chelsea Manning, who was convicted of military espionage.


More: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201...lagher-navy-se/

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