The former Navy SEAL who claims to have shot terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden shocked Fox Business host Stuart Varney on Tuesday by offering his support for women in combat roles.
"Can I ask you for a flat-out judgement?" Varney asked Rob O'Neill on the Tuesday edition of Varney & Co. "Do you think that women should be part of special ops teams that go in and shoot down Osama bin Laden?"
"I've operated with women," O'Neill explained. "They've actually come with us on special operations. We use them a lot for some of the searching of women and children, cultural sensitivity type stuff."
"Also, I know these Islamic fighters, they don't fear death, but they do fear Hell," he continued. "And if they are killed by women, they go to Hell as far as they know."
"So, I like to say, lock and load, ladies. If they don't lower the standards and they pass them, I think they should get a shot."
Varney admitted that he had never been in combat but he had a hard time understanding how O'Neill could feel safe with a female SEAL team member.
"Are you telling me you are perfectly okay going into a life and death situation with a woman by your side?" Varney opined. "I'm told that it changes the dynamics of the group that you're operating with."
O'Neill agreed that women could "potentially change the dynamic," but he was comfortable with women in combat "if the standards stay the same."
"It's equal opportunity type stuff," O'Neill observed. "If they don't lower the standards, yes, they should be able to."
"Women and men working together is better," he added.
Varney, however, disagreed: "I think men have a sort of hunter-gatherer mentality. They go out and break things and kill people."
Watch the video below from Fox Business, broadcast Feb. 16, 2016.
