NEW YORK (AP) – The Navy SEAL who has said he fired the shots that killed Osama bin Laden has a memoir coming out this spring.
Scribner told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Robert O’Neill’s “The Operator” will be published April 25. According to Scribner, O’Neill’s book will “vividly recount” a career that included some 400 missions, notably the May 2011 raid on bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan. O’Neill also was on the missions that helped rescue Capt. Richard Phillips from Somali pirates and SEAL Marcus Luttrell from Afghanistan.
In a statement issued through Scribner, O’Neill said he wanted to show “the human side” of the battles fought for the country worldwide.
“They are extraordinary people, but they are also normal and I was proud to serve with them,” he said. “I also wanted to show that it is possible to do anything you want, no matter where you are from, as long as you work hard, avoid negativity and never quit.”
O’Neill first alleged that he had killed bin Laden in 2014, an announcement that the government has neither affirmed nor disputed. Around the same time, the head of Naval Special Warfare Command issued a letter criticizing violations of the SEAL “ethos” against self-promotion.