Trump and America Rightly Dance on Baghdadi's Grave, but the Fight Against Terror is Never Over
Trump and America Rightly Dance on Baghdadi's Grave, but the Fight Against Terror is Never Over by Tiana Lowe - Washington Examiner
In a stunning success for both President Trump and the nation at large, American forces killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Well, technically we didn't kill Baghdadi. After clearing out the slain terrorist's remaining compound in northwestern Syria, dozens of Americans from the Army Delta Force and Rangers chased him down to the end of a tunnel, where Baghdadi brought three of his children to use as human shields as he blew themselves up.
"He died after running into a dead-end tunnel, whimpering and crying and screaming all the way," the president told a safer nation today. "He died like a dog. He died like a coward."
The late-night raid, not unlike that of the successful raid on Osama Bin Laden's compound, was a targeted success, though one contingent on clandestine travel and the utmost secrecy. Trump first credited the Russians glowingly and Turks (slightly less so) for allowing American forces to make the hour-and-a-half-long flight to the compound despite not disclosing the purpose of the mission.
Lastly, earning tepid plaudits from the president was the one force that seemed to have deserved more, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. According to the U.S. officials, while the Turks did nothing — except as Trump noted, refuse to shoot down American aircraft — to assist the raid, the Syrian Democratic Forces had spent months providing intelligence on what they considered a joint mission with the U.S. The Syrian Democratic Forces' leader confirmed the reports and Trump's tenuous thanks…