{"id":94,"date":"2026-05-04T15:48:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T15:48:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postdailys.com\/?p=94"},"modified":"2026-05-04T15:48:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T15:48:41","slug":"us-navy-seal-who-killed-bin-laden-reveals-chilling-code-word-to-be-used-moments-after-the-terrorist-was-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postdailys.com\/?p=94","title":{"rendered":"US Navy SEAL who killed Bin Laden reveals chilling code-word to be used moments after the terrorist was dead"},"content":{"rendered":"

The former US Navy SEAL who fired the shots that killed Osama Bin Laden has used the mission\u2019s 15th anniversary to shed light on some of the finer details, including the code-word the team had been instructed to radio once the infamous terrorist was confirmed dead.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Robert<\/p>\n

The hunt for Bin Laden lasted approximately a decade, stretching from the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York City to the beginning of May, 2011.<\/p>\n

Having strong reason to believe Al-Qaeda leader Bin Laden was holed up inside a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, after tracking his trusted courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, US officials sent in SEAL Team Six to bring an end to the 10-year hunt.<\/p>\n

Robert O\u2019Neill, now aged 50, was part of the team that stormed the compound on May 2, 2011. In 2014, he identified himself as the man who shot Bin Laden dead, and granted a new interview to the New York Post this week to mark the 15th anniversary of the historic killing.<\/p>\n

Operation Neptune Spear\u00a0\u2013 reportedly so secret that the Pakistani government was not even told it was playing out \u2013 saw a team of SEALS fly into the country in stealth Black Hawk helicopters.<\/p>\n

One of the helicopters crash-landed on arrival at the compound, while the SEALS had to clear the place floor by floor.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill revealed how he and a fellow SEAL made their way to the third-floor landing and could see figures moving behind a curtain. Worried that the individuals there might be wearing explosive vests, the two men pushed on instead of waiting for backup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can remember thinking, \u2018We\u2019re going to blow up now, and I\u2019m just tired of thinking about it. Go,\u201d O\u2019Neill recalled to\u00a0Cowboy State Daily\u00a0in 2025.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill\u2019s fellow SEAL tackled two women he believed were wearing explosive vests, a feat O\u2019Neill believes should have earned him a Medal of Honor.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe jumped on a grenade that didn\u2019t go off,\u201d O\u2019Neill said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill himself, meanwhile, was left face-to-face with the man his country had been hunting for the better part of a decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cOsama bin Laden stood near the entrance at the foot of the bed, taller and thinner than I\u2019d expected, his beard shorter and hair whiter,\u201d O\u2019Neill wrote in his memoir\u00a0The Operator,\u00a0<\/em>published in 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a woman in front of him, his hands on her shoulders.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn less than a second, I aimed above the woman\u2019s right shoulder and pulled the trigger twice. Bin Laden\u2019s head split open, and he dropped.<\/p>\n

\u201cI put another bullet in his head.\u201d<\/p>\n

The US government has never officially confirmed or refuted O\u2019Neill\u2019s account. However, Retired Admiral William McRaven \u2013 who oversaw the historic raid \u2013 told CNN in 2020 that O\u2019Neill was \u201cthe SEAL that, in fact, shot bin Laden.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the shooting, the team at the compound, feeding back to the White House Situation Room, had to confirm Bin Laden\u2019s passing. They reportedly did so using a code name.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeronimo\u201d was the code name given to arguably the most infamous terrorist in history, with a SEAL team leader transmitting on the night of May 2, 2011: \u201cFor God and country, Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Admiral McRaven then prompted for confirmation, to which came the reply: \u201cGeronimo EKIA.\u201d<\/p>\n

President\u00a0Barack Obama\u00a0is then reported to have responded with his own three words: \u201cWe got him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though many people rightly see the men who undertook the operation to kill Bin Laden as heroes, O\u2019Neill has come in for criticism based on his decision to go public with the claim that he was the one who fired the critical shots.<\/p>\n

Within the SEAL community, there is a rumored unwritten rule dictating that an operative doesn\u2019t seek credit or plaudits for carrying out an operation.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Neill, however, stood by his decision to tell the world that he shot Bin Laden.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a difficult secret to keep,\u201d he told CBS News in 2014.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The former US Navy SEAL who fired the shots that killed Osama Bin Laden has used the mission\u2019s 15th anniversary to shed light on some of the finer details, including … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":95,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usa-news-today"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/postdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/postdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/postdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=94"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/postdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96,"href":"https:\/\/postdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94\/revisions\/96"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/95"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}