Marine immortalized in iconic War on Terror photo tears into ‘stupid virtue signallers’ defending 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden’s Letter To America in sick TikTok posts

A Marine veteran who was in a famous combat photo in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks has spoken out against the viral TikTok trend praising terror mastermind Osama bin Laden.

In his memoirs The shotRetired Marine Staff Sergeant Bill Bee told how, as a young recruit at the end of his training, he saw the Twin Towers fall from his barracks at Camp Lejeune.

At just 19 years old, he was one of the first Americans on the ground in Helmand Province to be involved in the fight against the Taliban in the manhunt for Bin Laden and the terrorists responsible for September 11.

“I deployed to Afghanistan four times and lost too many friends to count on either enemy action or suicide when they came home. I received the Purple Heart and a few other medals,” he told DailyMail.com.

“Yet this crap I see on TikTok makes me question the value of defending these clowns,” he added.

The trend appears to have started with TikToker Lynette Adkins (left) who posted a video on November 14 telling her followers to read bin Laden’s manifesto

After videos praising bin Laden’s 2002 letter detailing the former al Qaeda leader’s justifications for attacks on Americans went viral on TikTok, the platform said Thursday it would ban such content.

Discussions about the two-decade-old letter have spread on the platform this week in the context of the debate over the Israel-Hamas war, with some Gen Z users praising bin Laden’s message as a bold stand against capitalism and colonialism .

The letter, which offered a distorted motive for the September 11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, criticized U.S. support for Israel, accused the Americans of financing the “oppression” of Palestinians, and included anti-Semitic comments.

Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan in 2011 by a US military special operations unit.

“I know we have freedom of speech, but we don’t get freedom from repercussions for that speech. Someone needs to slap these motherfuckers with some reality,” Bee said.

“It seems like the flood of videos on Tik Tok and other social media consists of individuals consistently pushing the boundaries of what is good just so their videos can get more views. I don’t think these individuals fully understand the true impact of supporting these organizations,” the Marine veteran said.

‘I just can’t understand how these same people empathize with Bin Laden and Hamas. They literally represent everything the jihadists hate about our culture,” he said.

“So in an effort to be ‘unique,’ these people claim to ‘understand’ why (bin Laden) chose to attack the United States and our allies,” he said.

Osama Bin Laden wrote his ‘letter to America’ in 2002 and used it in a twisted attempt to justify the September 11 attacks

Bee (pictured second from right) was shot multiple times and survived several close calls with the Taliban during his military career

Bee and his wife Bobbie are pictured in 2021 at their home in Jacksonville, North Carolina

‘What amazes me is that these people cherish values ​​that are the antithesis of everything that fundamentalist Muslims cherish. How many LGTBQ groups do you think are tolerated in Gaza, or any Islamic country for that matter?’ he asked.

“I’ve seen a dog’s head sewn onto a little girl’s body just because they thought she had given information to the Marines. And yet these Tik Tok virtue signalers “understand” their actions,” he said.

Despite his anger, Bee added that he still subscribes to the famous saying, “I don’t agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

“That still holds true to this day,” he said. “The right to freedom of speech is one of the most precious rights we have, and I would gladly give my life to preserve it, even for people so utterly stupid that they would advocate for a man who would sooner kill them and their families.” would see. no other reason than to be American.”

In 2008, Bij almost got hit by one Taliban sniper, was captured in an instant in a photo shared around the world.

In total, he served four deployments to Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, TikTok is removing videos praising bin Laden after a wave of backlash.

A search for “Letter to America” ​​on TikTok returned no results Thursday, with a note that the phrase may be associated with “content that violates our guidelines.”

“Content promoting this letter clearly violates our rules against supporting any form of terrorism,” TikTok said in a statement, adding that reports that bin Laden’s letter was “trending” on the platform were incorrect .