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Tags: ny times | osama bin laden | family man | robert oneill | navy | seal

NY Times Changes Headline Calling bin Laden a 'Devoted Family Man'

The New York Times Building is seen in New York City on February 4, 2021.
(Daniel Slim/Getty Images)

By    |   Tuesday, 03 August 2021 08:58 PM EDT

The U.S. Navy SEAL who shot 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden excoriated The New York Times' initial headline on a book review that referred to the world's deadliest terrorist as a "devoted family man."

Robert O'Neill tweeted a rebuke of the headline before it was changed Tuesday by the Times:

"Family man. He used his wife as a human shield. Lucky for me he was taller than her."

O'Neill was referencing the fact bin Laden grabbed one of his wives to use her as a human shield before the Navy SEAL executed a head shot without hitting her May 2, 2011, according to reports.

After O'Neill's tweet, the Times changed their headline to: "A Fuller Picture of Osama bin Laden's Life."

But the damage was done and the evidence can be found via Internet tools showing what the original headline was at 5 a.m. ET on Tuesday morning:

"Osama bin Laden, the Fanatical Terrorist and the Devoted Family Man"

You can view the original headline on the Times story here.

The story was reviewing author Peter Bergen's nonfiction book "The Rise and Fall of Osama bin Laden," the day it was released worldwide Tuesday.

O'Neill's own book detailing his strike on al-Qaida terrorist leader bin Laden was released April 25, 2017: "The Operator: Firing the Shots that Killed Osama bin Laden and My Years as a SEAL Team Warrior."

This is not the first time liberal media has been criticized for headlines praising terrorists. Similarly, The Washington Post was mocked for initially having called ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi an "austere religious scholar" in the headline of his October 2019 obituary. The Post, too, ultimately changed its headline.

Eric Mack

Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.

© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


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The U.S. Navy SEAL who shot 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden excoriated The New York Times' initial headline on a book review that referred to the world's deadliest terrorist as a "devoted family man."
ny times, osama bin laden, family man, robert oneill, navy, seal
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2021-58-03
Tuesday, 03 August 2021 08:58 PM
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