The US Navy Seal who killed Osama Bin Laden has called Donald Trump’s plan for a military parade “third world bulls***”.
“We prepare. We deter. We fight. Stop this conversation,” Robert O’Neill wrote on Twitter.
The member of the elite Seal Team Six which killed the al Qaeda leader in May 2011 at the compound where he was hiding out in the Pakistani city of Abbotabad, said: “A military parade is third world bulls**t.”
Mr Trump made the parade request of his military chiefs in late January, after reportedly being impressed by a French Bastille Day parade last year.
"It was one of the greatest parades I've ever seen," he told French President Emmanuel Macron at the time. "We're going to have to try and top it."
But the idea has been criticised by his rival Democratic Party, who compared the plan to displays of military might organised by autocratic nations.
Retired US Army Major General Paul Eaton also claimed that the parade was about “making a display of the military saluting him”.
In a statement he said that Mr Trump had “authoritarian tendencies” and had previously praised Russian leader Vladimir Putin and former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
He added that the armed services should not be “reduced to stagecraft to prop up Donald Trump’s image.”
It is unclear whether the parade will be able to take place in Washington DC.
“There are options and we will explore those and the president will ultimately decide,” said Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White, adding that the US Army was taking the lead in creating options for the event.
Her colleague, Colonel Rob Manning added: “All options are being considered, including linking the parade to a significant event, perhaps a historical event.”
The city’s council has also raised concerns that tanks and heavy military equipment would destroy the streets.
Defence Secretary James Mattis said they were “putting together some options and we’ll send them to the White House”.
It is thought the parade will be linked to a significant event like Veterans Day or the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.
