A viral Facebook post claims that on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 Afghanistan has fallen to the Taliban and “the guy who killed bin Laden is on Delta’s no-fly list.”
As anyone even casually following the news has seen: The Taliban took control of Afghanistan in mid-August amid President Biden’s widely criticized withdrawal of American troops. An unknown number of Americans remain stranded there, along with thousands of Special Immigrant Visa applicants who assisted the United States in its wartime efforts.
Robert O’Neill is one of the Navy SEALs believed to have shot Osama bin Laden—the U.S. government has not revealed who killed the terrorist leader, and the testimony of members of SEAL Team 6 has been contradictory. (O’Neill himself tweeted a variation of the Facebook post as well.) O’Neill was banned from Delta Airlines in August 2020 after tweeting a picture of himself not wearing a mask on a Delta flight with the caption “I am not a p****.” As a part of its pandemic protocols, Delta requires passengers to wear masks during their flights to limit the spread of coronavirus. Delta told The Intercept at the time: “We’re aware of this customer’s tweet and are reviewing this event. All customers who don’t comply with our mask-wearing requirement risk losing their ability to fly Delta in the future.” O’Neill has been a vocal critic of masking and a COVID conspiracy theorist.
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