Politics Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

washingtonpost.com

With Baghdadi in their sights, U.S. troops launched a ‘dangerous and daring nighttime raid’
Dan Lamothe

Their target, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the brutal founder and leader of the Islamic State, was holed up in a compound in northwestern Syria with family members and terrorist associates, and the United States had been watching him for days.

And it was a tip from a disaffected Islamic State militant that set the operation in motion, according to a U.S. official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive operation.

What followed was what Trump called a “dangerous and daring nighttime raid” that was carried off “in grand style.” It ended, he said, with Baghdadi fleeing from advancing U.S. forces into a dead-end tunnel and detonating a suicide vest, killing himself and three of his children.

“He didn’t die a hero. He died a coward,” the president said. “Crying, whimpering, screaming and bringing kids with him to die. Certain death.”

Other U.S. officials declined to describe Baghdadi’s state in his last moments.

The disaffected ISIS member had become an informant for Kurdish forces working with the Americans, the official said. And he provided critical information on Baghdadi’s whereabouts.

The informant emerged in early summer, and over time U.S. officials became more confident in his credibility and reliability, the official said. Within the past couple of weeks, it became clear that, when put together with other information, the tip about Baghdadi’s location was solid, the official said.

“It was a montage of a lot of pieces of intelligence that came together with a specific asset that was helpful,” the official said.

How the operation — named after Kayla Mueller, an American aid worker who was abducted and raped repeatedly by Baghdadi before she was killed, according to U.S. officials — came together is still something of a mystery. The troops included some Delta Force members, according to two U.S. officials, but other details, such as how they communicated with more senior commanders in Washington and beyond, and what weapons were involved, remain unknown.

But in colorful and at times taunting language, Trump revealed details Sunday morning of an operation that marks one of the major victories in the five-year U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State.

The president, speaking at the White House, said he “got to watch” much of the raid beginning about 5 p.m. in Washington. He credited undisclosed technology for giving him “absolutely perfect” visuals that were “as though you were watching a movie.”

Trump, who returned to the White House from golfing at about 4 p.m., entered the Situation Room about an hour later, he said. Seated at a table in a navy suit and blue tie, he was flanked in a photo released by the White House by Vice President Pence, Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper, White House national security adviser Robert C. O’Brien and Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Flying after midnight in the Middle East, the helicopters needed to cross airspace controlled by Iraq, Turkey and Russia, and U.S. officials informed them they had an operation planned without providing details. With the Russians in Syria, the Pentagon has called such communication “deconfliction” and said it has prevented accidents and mistaken intent by adversary forces.

When they arrived, they tried to call Baghdadi out to see if he would surrender, Esper said. A couple of adults and 11 children came out, a U.S. official with knowledge of the operation said.

Baghdadi remained inside, as U.S. officials assumed he might. U.S. forces responded by blowing holes in the side of the compound in an effort to avoid any booby-trapped doors, Trump said. Baghdadi retreated into a tunnel, and then detonated his vest.

Five enemy fighters were killed in the operation in the compound, and others were killed outside, the White House said in a statement. O’Brien, speaking in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said U.S. troops confirmed Baghdadi was dead at 7:15 p.m. in Washington.

“The commander of the mission called and said, ‘100 percent confidence, jackpot. . . . Got him. One hundred percent confidence jackpot, over,’ ” O’Brien said.

Despite Baghdadi's vest detonating, U.S. troops were able to recognize him, the official said. A ground commander reported to Marine Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, chief of U.S. Central Command, that they were “absolutely convinced” it was the Islamic State leader. McKenzie in turn relayed that message to the White House. The results of the DNA test were complete Sunday morning, the official said.

Milley was “emphatic” that the military had to dispose of Baghdadi’s remains in accordance with Muslim traditions, which typically require burial within 24 hours, the official said. When Navy SEALs killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011, his body was buried at sea after traditional Islamic rites were performed. It was not clear Sunday whether that occurred in this case.

The remains of at least two wives were left behind. Trump said they had not detonated their vests and were still wearing them, making it too risky for U.S. troops to dispose of the bodies.

Trump said that one U.S. working dog — described by the president as “beautiful” and “talented” — was wounded after chasing Baghdadi into the tunnel. Trump said that no U.S. troops were injured, but Esper said separately that two service members suffered minor injuries.

“They've already been returned to duty,” Esper said, speaking on CNN's “State of the Union.”

Fewer than 100 U.S. troops were on the ground in the raid, with more involved in a supporting role. Several kinds of aircraft were used in the operation, including CH-47 helicopters, the secretary added. They came under fire early in the mission from “locals in the area,” and the Americans returned fire in self-defense, he said.

Videos circulating on social media Sunday from Barisha appear to depict helicopters flying at low altitudes in the dark, heavy gunfire and occasional explosions. Images taken after daybreak show the home where Baghdadi lived reduced to rubble. Esper said it was deliberately destroyed.

Trump and other U.S. officials credited Syrian Kurdish forces — whose alliance in the battle against the militants the president has recently played down as he withdraws forces from Syria — with providing useful information. Mazloum Abdi, commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, said in a tweet that they had been gathering information about Baghdadi for five months, while Trump said the operation itself started two weeks ago once the United States had him “scoped.”

“We thought he would be in a certain location,” the president said. “He was. Things started checking out very well.”

But it wasn’t clear how long Baghdadi would stay in Barisha, a small village west of Aleppo.

Pence, speaking on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” said the United States received information about Baghdadi’s most recent location early in the week.

“Through a combination of intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, we believe we knew where he would be, and by Thursday afternoon were informed that there was a high probability he would be at the compound in Idlib province,” Pence said.

The president directed the military to develop options, and they were presented Friday, Pence said. “Actionable intelligence” obtained Saturday allowed the raid to go forward, he added.

“It was incredible to be in the Situation Room and to see this unfold in real time as our Special Forces were on the ground, to see their professionalism over a period of two hours,” he said. “America and the world are safer today with the leader of ISIS dead.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...88a484-f8d0-11e9-9534-e0dbcc9f5683_story.html

 

The 41 most shocking lines from Donald Trump's Baghdadi announcement


CNN) On Sunday morning, President Donald Trump announced that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had died as a result of a US raid in northern Syria. And then he kept talking. And taking questions. And more questions.

I went through the transcript of Trump's remarks and pulled out the most, uh, notable lines.

1. "He died after running into a dead-end tunnel, whimpering and crying and screaming all the way."
Trump is very interested in painting a specific picture of Baghdadi for the public -- of a cowardly fake tough guy. His detailed description of how Baghdadi met his end is a direct contrast to the light-on-details presentation by President Barack Obama when announcing the death of Osama bin Laden in 2011.

2. "The thug who tried so hard to intimidate others spent his last moments in utter fear, in total panic and dread, terrified of the American forces bearing down on him."
Like I said, Trump is very interested in you knowing the gritty details -- with the primary aim of casting Baghdadi as a fearful wimp in his last moments.

3. "As you know, last month we announced that we recently killed Hamza bin Laden, the very violent son of Osama bin Laden, who was saying very bad things about people, about our country, about the world."
"Saying very bad things about people."

4. "Baghdadi has been on the run for many years, long before I took office. But at my direction, as commander-in-chief of the United States, we obliterated his caliphate 100% in March of this year."
It's not at all clear that 100% of the ISIS caliphate has been defeated -- or if that is even possible or what it would look like.

5. "Baghdadi was vicious and violent. And he died in a vicious and violent way, as a coward, running and crying."
Again, Trump is making very sure you know that the world knows that Baghdadi was no hero -- far from it.

6. "He died like a dog. He died like a coward."
So, yeah.

7. "I don't want to say how, but we had absolutely perfect -- as though you were watching a movie. It was -- that -- that in -- the technology there alone is -- is really great."
"As though you were watching a movie."

8. "Russia treated us great. They opened up. We had a fly over certain Russia areas, Russia-held areas. Russia was great."
[Vladimir Putin nods, smiles]

9. "Turkey -- we dealt with them. They knew we were going in. We flew over some territory. They were terrific. No problem. They were not problem."
Good job, Turkey. Thanks for letting us fly "over some territory!"

10. "We flew very, very low and very, very fast."
"Fast and Furious 20: Very, very low and very, very fast."

11. "They had the gunfire terminated immediately, meaning they were shot from the air ships."
Shot from the air ships, you say? Is that a technical term?

12. "And we would kill terrorist leaders but they were names I never heard of, they were names that weren't recognizable and they weren't the big names. Some good ones, some important ones, but they weren't the big names."
When killing terrorists, you always have to go for the big names. Also: Sort of weird that the President admits he didn't know the names of some of the terrorists the US has killed under his watch, no?

13. "You know, they use the internet better than almost anybody in the world, perhaps other than Donald Trump."
So, ISIS uses the Internet better than everyone except Donald Trump? OK, got it! Totally normal stuff here!

14. "And what they've done with the internet through recruiting and everything -- and that's why he died like a dog, he died like a coward. He was whimpering, screaming and crying."
These sentences are not edited at all. This is exactly what Trump said and in this order. Why did he switch from talking about the Internet to talking about, again, how Baghdadi died? (It was like a dog and a coward, FYI.) I have no idea.

15. "He didn't die a hero. He died a coward: crying, whimpering, screaming and bringing three kids with him to die."
OK, got it.

16. "I've been looking for him for three years. I've been looking for him."
"I've."

17. "We were going to notify them last night, but we decided not to do that because Washington leaks like I've never seen before."
This is big news. Usually in major operations like this one, the administration would alert top congressional leaders of both parties. Trump chose not to do that. "The House must be briefed on this raid, which the Russians but not top Congressional Leadership were notified of in advance, and on the Administration's overall strategy in the region," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (California) said in a statement.

18. "This is the biggest one perhaps that we've ever captured, because this is the one that built ISIS and beyond, and was looking to rebuild it again."
Even when it comes to capturing or killing terrorists, Trump has to be the biggest and the best. "The biggest one perhaps that we've ever captured."

19. "That was to notify you guys that you have something big this morning, so you wouldn't be out playing golf or tennis or otherwise being indisposed."
This is Trump's defense of his "Something very big has just happened!" tweet at 9:23 p.m., Eastern time on Saturday night. Worth noting: Trump plays golf at least once virtually every weekend.

20. "The Kurds have worked along incredibly with us, but, in all fairness, it was much easier dealing with the Kurds after they went through three days of fighting, because that was a brutal three days."
You mean when Turkey invaded northern Syria and started slaughtering Kurds? Yeah, that seems like it was a "brutal three days." For sure.

21. "Now, Russia likes us being there for two reasons, because we kill ISIS. We kill terrorists. And they're very close to Russia."
In summary: Russia likes us because they hate ISIS. And we kill terrorists. Any questions?

22. "Now, maybe they can get here, but we have done very well with homeland security and the ban, which, by the way, is approved by the United States Supreme Court, as you know."
Wait, so we are talking about the Muslim travel ban now? Why? How?

23. "But it's many thousands of miles away, whereas Russia is right there. Turkey is right there. Syria is there. They're all right there."
So, the United States is geographically further from Syria and Turkey than Russia? [Consults map] Yeah, this checks out.

24. "Excuse me. Iran is right there. Iraq is right there. They all hate ISIS."
Are we doing the thing where we name countries? Lichtenstein! San Marino!

25. "The European nations have been a tremendous disappointment, because I personally called, but my people called a lot, take your ISIS fighters. And they didn't want them."
Just a reminder: This is still Trump's "statement" on the death of Baghdadi. In case you forgot.

26. "They can't walk to our country. We have lots of water in between our country and them."
"This is an island surrounded by water, big water, ocean water." -- Donald Trump, on Puerto Rico

27. "If you read about the history of Donald Trump, I was a civilian. I had absolutely nothing to do with going into Iraq and I was totally against it."
First off, great third-person here by Trump. Second, he was not "totally against" the war in Iraq.

28. "Our K9, as they call -- I call it a dog, a beautiful dog, a talented dog -- was injured and brought back, but we had no soldier injured."
A "dog," you say? Can't say I'm familiar with the word.

29. "By the time those things went off, they had a beautiful big hole and they ran in and they got everybody by surprise."
The US troops blew a "beautiful big hole" in the area where Baghdadi was staying. And yes, Trump uses the word "beautiful" to describe all sorts of odd things.

30. "And as I said, they brought body parts back with them, et cetera, et cetera. There wasn't much left. The vest blew up, but there are still substantial pieces that they brought back."
Whole lotta detail here.

31. "Osama bin Laden was very big, but Osama bin Laden became big with the World Trade Center. This is a man who built a whole, as he would like to call it, a country, a caliphate, and was trying to do it again."
Again, Trump's obsession with being the biggest and the best is on full display here. People might think bin Laden was the biggest but it was actually Baghdadi!

32. "When we use our intelligence correctly, what we can do is incredible. When we waste our time with intelligence that hurts our country, because we had poor leadership at the top, that's not good."
In which the President takes a(nother) shot at the intelligence community during a statement on the death of an ISIS terrorist.

33. "And it's really a deserving name, intelligence. I have dealt with some people that aren't very intelligent having to do with intel. But this is the top people."
No words.

34. "There's a lot of Syrian people with lots of guns."
Uh, OK. So, uh, well, OK.

35. "But he was screaming, crying and whimpering. And he was scared out of his mind."
Again, for the people in the back.

36. "And then I also wanted Hamza bin Laden, because he's a young man, around 30, looks just like his father, tall, very handsome, and he was talking bad things just like his father."
On the one hand: Tall and handsome. On the other: Saying bad things.

37. "I wrote a book. A really very successful book. And in that book, about a year before the World Trade Center was blown up, I said there's somebody named Osama bin Laden, you better kill him or take him out, something to that effect, he's big trouble."
It will stun you to learn that this, in fact, is not true, as CNN's Daniel Dale noted in this fact check.

38. "And I'm writing a book. I think I wrote 12 books, all did very well."
... Said the President of the United States in a press conference announcing the death of an ISIS leader.

39. "And I'm saying to people, take out Osama bin Laden, that nobody ever heard of."
Trump's claim that no one had ever heard of bin Laden before September 11, 2001 is simply false.

40. "We had nobody even hurt. That's why the dog was so great."
Big dog energy.

41. "He was an animal. And he was a gutless animal."
This feels like as good a place as any to end.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/27/politics/donald-trump-baghdadi-death-isis/index.html

 

dailystar.co.uk

ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi ‘not killed by US military’ Russia claims
Sofie Jackson

Russia has attempted to cast doubts on Donald’s Trump’s claim that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died after being hunted through his compound in Syria by US special forces last night.

The US President announced on Twitter today that the caliphate leader died “whimpering and screaming” in a tunnel after detonating his suicide vest, which reportedly also killed three of his children.

However, Russian Major General Igor Konashenkov claimed there has been no airstrikes from the US or coalition forces in the Syrian city of Idlib — where the mission was said to have taken place — state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported.

The Russian Ministry of Defence also claimed there had been “contradictory details” about the mission from other countries.



Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in what is reported to be his final appearance in ISIS propaganda (Image: REUTERS)
In a statement, it said: "The increase in the number of direct participants and countries allegedly taking part in this operation, each with completely contradictory details, raises legitimate questions and doubts about its reality and all the more in success.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told RIA Novosti to be guided by the MoD’s statement.

"The Defence Ministry said it all," he said.

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/isis-leader-abu-bakr-al-20738636

 

Why do I suspect they just showed Trump this video and told him it was live?

 

Remember, he always projects.

barfo

 

Dog Injured In Syrian Terrorist Raid Is Hailed As A Hero In The Mission




President Trump on Monday released a photograph of the dog used in the weekend raid in Syria that resulted in the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the founder and leader of the Islamic State. The dog was injured in the operation but is making a full recovery, defense officials say.

President Trump's Twitter Account
Before Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi detonated a suicide vest, he was "screaming, crying and whimpering" fleeing American forces, winding up trapped in a dead-end tunnel in his Syrian compound, according to President Trump.

Baghdadi was being chased through the tunnel by an American officer who is being celebrated as a crucial part of the top-secret mission that ended in the demise of one of the world's most-wanted terrorist leaders.

That officer is a dog.

And the world got to know the canine a little better on Monday when Trump shared a declassified portrait of the dog.

Earlier in the day, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the dog performed "a tremendous service," in the operation that targeted Islamic State founder Baghdadi, noting that though the canine was slightly wounded in the mission, it is making a full recovery.

"The dog is still in theater, returning to duty with its handlers," Milley said.

The dog's breed, name and back story are being kept under wraps for now.



In special operations, the dog breed of choice is usually a Belgian Malinois, the kind of dog that assisted in the Saturday mission against Baghdadi. It is also the same breed deployed to hunt down Osama Bin Laden.

The breed resembles a German Shepherd but is smaller and with shorter hair, a valuable asset when on patrol in the hot deserts of the Middle East.

"They're going into high-security areas on very dangerous missions, and those dogs will train with those troops for weeks," Aiello said.

And that can sometimes means the dogs parachute out of planes, descend by rope out of helicopters with their handlers and swim to shore from a submarine.

"They have to be intelligent, and they have to be very strong," Aiello said.

Aiello, who in the 1960s was part of one of the first Marine scout dog teams to be deployed with his canine partner Stormy, now focuses on the needs of America's "canine veterans."

War zone dogs do more than sniff out improved explosive devices, Aiello said. They also serve as a morale-booster to soldiers. Handlers and the military dogs, in particular, form strong bonds in conflict zones.


"You depend on your dog to save your life, to protect the troops behind you, and your dog depends on you to take care of that dog," he said.

But military dogs, he said, return from duty with both physical and psychological injuries, and his organization helps the hero dogs connect with treatment.

"We have a free prescription drug program we started about five years ago. We provide wheelchairs for the dogs when they can no longer walk. We help with the dogs that have PTSD, we have a program for that," he said.

In his weekend address, Trump noted how no American soldiers were killed or injured in the counterterrorism mission in northwest Syria, but said the canine who was wounded was "a beautiful dog, a talented dog."

On Monday, in tweeting a declassified photograph of the dog, Trump said, wonderful dog (name not declassified) that did such a GREAT JOB in capturing and killing the Leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi!"

https://www.npr.org/2019/10/28/7741...orist-raid-is-hailed-as-a-hero-in-the-mission

 

State official: Syrian Democratic Forces "played a key role" in the raid
From CNN's Jennifer Hansler

A senior State Department official told reporters Monday that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) “played a key role” in the raid on Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's compound.

The official also said the US has been “in close touch” with SDF Commander Gen. Mazloum Abdi “about all aspects of what we’re doing.”

“He, his people, and his intelligence sources, played a key role in all of this,” the official said. “It’s a very, very important role. Nobody should underestimate how key the SDF was in all of this.”
The official said Mazloum’s statements about the raid were accurate.

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/baghdadi-monday-dle-intl/index.html

 

They may have helped us but the Kurds are still refusing to fight in WWII.

 

The dog was wearing a suicide vest.

barfo