Biblical and Constitutional Politics

ISIS Leader Killed

Let's celebrate!
No wait, let's criticize Trump instead

By Gary F. Zeolla

      At 9:00 am, Sunday morning, October 27, 2019, President Trump held a press conference in which he announced ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi had been killed by US special forces. About 50-70 soldiers were involved in the operation, flying in on six military helicopters. However, no US soldiers were killed or even injured. Only one military dog was injured.

“A Sick and Depraved Man”

      Al-Baghdadi had been the leader of ISIS since 2010. He was responsible for the series of beheadings that occurred a few years ago, the burning of a caged Jordanian pilot, and the raping of many women.

      US special forces planned this raid for two weeks. The operation actually occurred the evening before, starting at 5:01 pm ET Saturday. They entered Al-Baghdadi’s compound, then military dogs chased Al-Baghdadi into a dead-end tunnel. As the despicable person that he was, he dragged three of his young children with him. He then exploded his suicide vest, killing himself and his three children. That was also when the military dog was injured.

      Trump said Al-Baghdadi “was a sick and depraved man, and now he is gone.” Trump also said Al-Baghdadi died, “Whimpering, crying, and screaming all the way” and that he “Died like a coward.” He also said he was, “a thug who terrorized others, but he spent his last minutes in utter fear of US special forces.”

      A DNA test was done immediately after his death to confirm his identity, which was positive. Two of his wives were killed who also were wearing suicide vests. Trump said Russia, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey all cooperated in the raid, but only in the sense of not getting in our way. They did not provide any military support.

      Trump also said, “Al-Baghdadi will never again harm another innocent man, woman, or child. He died like a dog. He died like a coward. The world is now a much better place.” Later, Secretary of state Mike Pompeo said Al-Baghdadi’s death is proof the US “will not stop in the pursuit of bringing evil to justice.”

      Along with Al-Baghdadi and his family members, many other ISIS fighters in the building were killed. The US also gained valuable intelligence in the operation.

      Trump said he watched the operation unfold in the Situation Room “in real time.” He said it was like “watching a movie.” He also said the US already has Al-Baghdadi’s possible successors in our sights. He also said the US will protect the oil in Syria and Iraq from ISIS getting control of it.

Additional Comments by Trump

      Trump then added his longstanding belief that the US should have taken control of Iraqi oil after we freed Iraq from Saddam Hussein as payment for the trillions we spent and for the lives and injuries of our brave soldiers.

      And in an interesting point I had not heard before, Trump said he wrote book before 9/11 in which he said the US should take out Osama Ben Laden, as he was dangerous man.

Additional Details

      The operation was named after Kayla Mueller. She was a Christian aid worker, caring for Syrian refugees until she was kidnapped by Al-Baghdadi. He held her hostage for 18 months. During that time, she was repeatedly raped and tortured by Al-Baghdadi himself, then executed. That is what a despicable person Al-Baghdadi was.

      Kayla’s mother Marsha issued a statement saying that Kayla’s death was unnecessary, and that if Obama had been as decisive as Trump, Kayla would still be alive.

      We also learned later that as the helicopters flew off, they bombed the compound, completely destroying it. Then Al-Baghdadi’s remains were buried at sea, just as was done with the body of Osama.

      Then more great news was revealed that not only was Al-Baghdadi killed on that day, but so was his most likely successor. The latter was killed in a separate airstrike. The primary ISIS spokesman was also killed.

      As such, our great military took out the top three men in ISIS. That is great blow to the terror organization and a great victory for not only the USA but for all the world.

      Later, Trump said he might release part of the recording of the raid on Al-Baghdadi’s compound, though that would need approval of the military. But he did declassify a picture of the hero dog that was injured, though not its name or even sex. But it was good to hear the dog was already back to full duty, so it was obviously not injured that severely.

Great Success, but Dems Cannot Admit it

       This was a great operation and success for the USA. It should have been cause for all of America to come together and celebrate a great military victory that rid the world of a despicable and dangerous man. You would think both sides of the aisle would be praising the operation.  But Dems just cannot let go of their hatred for Trump to fully support the great thing that was done here.

      Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff went on the morning talk shows, but rather than congratulating Trump and our special forces on this great victory, they complained they were not informed about it before it happened. They only learned about it when the rest of us did, from Trump’s press conference.

      Trump’s response was that he did not tell them because of the many leakers in Washington. Given all that has during the impeachment inquiry, that is a very real concern. Schiff himself has been notorious for leaking.

      In fact, that is the very reason for Schiff's unprecedented move of holding his bogus impeachment hearings in the SCIF [Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility]. It is so he can keep Republicans from reporting what is happening in the hearings, just so he can be the one to leak information to the press, but only the stuff that sounds most damaging to POTUS of course. While that is going on, did he really think Trump would trust him with the lives of brave soldiers, that he would not leak about the operation before it was completed?

The Media’s Spin

      Just like the Dems, rather than admitting this was a great success for America, which would require admitting it was a great success for President Trump, the mainstream media [MSM] criticized Trump for talking so negatively about Al-Baghdadi! They said Obama was more dignified when he announced the death of Ben Laden.

      Are you kidding me? Al-Baghdadi was a sick and depraved man, just as Trump said, just as Ben Laden was. Neither deserve any kind words. Yet, the MSM managed to find some to say about Al-Baghdadi.

      The Washington Post (WaPo) reported his death as a regular obituary! The initial headline read, “Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, astute religious scholar at helm of Islamic State, dies at 48.” The obituary then provided a full biography, as if this was just another death. It even praised Al-Baghdadi, “He was the guy who could build bridges between the foreign fighters and local Iraqis” and “His ability to move between these two factions helped his rise to become caliph and then allowed him to stay on top” (Archive).

      WaPo received such a blowback for this stunt, they changed the headline to “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, extremist leader of Islamic State, dies at 48.” But that still does not capture that a disgusting person had been killed by US forces, in what should be celebrated as a great military victory.

      But it was not just WaPo, CNN and MSNBC downplayed the event and quickly turned the conversation back to impeachment. They would talk about the raid for a few minutes, but then say something like, “This came at an opportune time for the President, as he is fighting an impeachment battle.” Then they would go back to talking impeachment.

      By Monday, the first full news day after the Sunday announcement, FNC was still covering the raid in detail. But CNN and MSNBC were mostly back to talking about impeachment. The rare times they mentioned the raid, they quickly turned to criticizing the President for his “undignified” remarks about Al-Baghdadi, all the while comparing Obama’s more “dignified remarks about Osama’s death. They made it sound like how Obama handled that great victory was the “gold standard” of how such things should be done.

      However, I remember that announcement well, and I was very disappointed by Obama’s comments. He announced the death of Public Enemy #1 with all of the enthusiasm of an announcement about the White House’s annual Easter egg roll. Or better, he sounded more enthusiastic when he would do the silly pardoning of the turkeys at Thanksgiving. I wanted an announcement that would get me and the rest of America jumping in the air with fist pumps, chanting “USA! USA! USA!” But his tone toned down any such enthusiasm.

      Trump got it right in detailing what a despicable man Al-Baghdadi was, and the greatness of our military in pulling off the raid without a hitch and with zero casualties.

      One talking head on MSNBC complained about Trump saying Al-Baghdadi died, “Whimpering, crying, and screaming all the way.” The pundit said there was no audio in the video feed, so there was no way Trump knew that.

      First off, how does he know there was no audio? The video has not been released. Second, even if there wasn’t audio, there were soldiers there who hear the scumbag’s whimperings and could have relayed that info to the President. But as always, the media will not give the President one bit of the benefit of the doubt, always jumping to say he got something wrong.

      They also complained about Trump saying he might release part of the video. They said the video would be too violent, and “children might see it.” As if children in USA have not seen far worse thanks to the violence-laden movies and TV shows Hollywood produces. But I think the media was more concerned that Trump would be proven right in his description of Al-Baghdadi dying “like a coward.”

      Then they were saying this triumph happened “in spite of the President not because of him.” But you can be sure that if the raid had failed, the media would have been quick to blame Trump for the failure. That was the case when the attempted rescue of our hostages in Iran failed back in 1980. President Carter was held fully responsible. Moreover, Obama got full credit for the success of the Osama raid. This writer even gave him credit for that call. In fact, I list it as the lone success of his presidency.

      Of course, in all of these cases, it is our brave soldiers who have to execute the plan. And they deserve lots of credit, or blame, as the case may be. But the President is Commander-in-Chief, and the buck stops at the top, both for successes and failures.

      Then CNN and MSNBC would quickly turn the conversation to Trump’s pullout of troops from Syria and their disagreement about that decision. Then again, they went back to impeachment talk. They just could not bring themselves to dwell on such an obvious victory for the President and for America.

      This should have been an unqualified success for the President, but the media just could not do it, so they still found something to criticize.

Game Five of the World Series

      But even worse was later that day, President Trump attended Game Five of the World Series between the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals.

      It has been the longstanding tradition for POTUS to attend baseball games, and he is always warmly greeted by the crowds. You would think that would be doubly the case on this day, given this great victory for the United States Trump had just overseen. But no! The crowd booed the President and started chanting “Lock him up!”

      Given that the game was being played in the very blue city of Washington DC, the boos shouldn’t have been surprising, but it was disappointing. It shows how the MSM’s unrelentless attacks against the President have left such a mark that the normal respect for the President and pride in America, especially when it does something great, is now overshadowed by hatred for the President. So sad.

      As for the “Lock him up!” chant, that is a takeoff of the “Lock her up!” chant often heard at Trump rallies during the 2016 election. I will express my displeasure with that chant in my forthcoming Breakdown book and will do so here about this chant. In both cases, it is a dangerous mob action that ignores the rule of law and presumption of innocence that all American should enjoy, and that includes the Secretary of State and POTUS.

      But more to the point, the chant should have been “USA! USA! USA!” Again, this was a time for all of America to celebrate a great military victory and the death of a horrible person. “Ding dong the witch is dead!” That is the attitude that should have been expressed across America.

      I also want to mention, I had been rooting for the Nationals to win the World Series, as they had yet to win one, while the Astros won the World Series two years ago. But after this fiasco, I switched to rooting for the Astros. I would guess the reaction would have been much different if Trump had gone to the red state of Texas for the next two games.

KDKA Caller

      KDKA was the world’s first radio station. It is based here in Pittsburgh, PA and airs on 1020 AM. But I usually listen to it on CBS’ Radio.com app. KDKA is a news/ talk station. Most of the talks show hosts are liberal, which is not surprising given that Pittsburgh is very liberal. The lone conservative host is Wendy Bell, whose show airs from 3-6 pm weekdays. She is a strong Trump supporter.

      On the Monday after the raid, she started her show by playing, “God Bless the USA” and chants of “USA! USA! USA!” She then spent the next 15 minutes celebrating this great victory for the USA. But her first caller was a Trump-critic, and the things he said were truly astounding but probably reflects the attitude of millions of Trump-critics across the country.

      First, he refused to give Trump any credit for the victory, echoing CNN’s line that the raid was successful in spite of Trump not because of him. Then he criticized Trump for his negative words about Al-Baghdadi, again, echoing CNN and the rest of the MSM. But most of all, he was upset that Trump “trusted Putin more than Pelosi.” In that, he was referring to the US having notified Russia prior to the attack.

      Wendy calmly tried to explain to him that the US had to notify Russia that our forces would be flying through their airspace, that we were not attacking them but going after an ISIS member. Otherwise, Russia might try to shoot down our helicopters, just as we would shoot down any Russian aircraft flying through our airspace unannounced. That is also why the US informed Syria, Turkey, and Iraq. They all had to know we were not coming for them.

      She also tried to explain that we have no idea what exactly was told to those foreign powers. But most likely, it was the bare minimum, just enough to let them know we were not coming for them. She also tried to explain that most likely Trump did not talk directly to Putin. More likely, it was some lower official in the White House talking to some lower official in Moscow.

      But all of that just fell on the deaf ears of the caller. He just kept insisting it was ridiculous that Trump trusted Putin more than Pelosi. It truly is difficult to reason with people who so filled with hate they are not thinking straight.

      But then the caller said a new one I hadn’t yet heard. He said Trump did not really watch the raid in real time in the Situation Room, like Trump claimed. He said Trump was off playing golf when it went down. He claimed the photo that was released of Trump with the Joint Chiefs of Staff was a “staged photo.” Of course, he offered no evidence for that outrageous claim, but I would guess he got that idea from the same source as the other ones, from CNN or some other MSM outlet.

      It was at that point that Wendy rightly cut the guy off, as he was just spouting nonsense and hate, with nothing to back up anything he was saying. But most of all, he was in no way rejoicing over this great military victory, as to do that would require giving at least some credit to Trump. And I am guessing the same is true of Trump-critics across the country, as demonstrated by the Nationals’ fans at the World Series.

     Note: I later learned the idea that Trump was golfing and not in the Situation Room was a Twitter rumor. It was started by someone who saw Trump golfing at 3:30 pm on that day, so he assumed he couldn’t have been in the Situation Room for the raid, which he thought also occurred at 3:30 pm. However, as indicated, the raid started at 5:01 pm. That is when the helicopters took off. They then took almost an hour to get to their target, so it was closer to 6:00 pm that the actual raid took place. As such, Trump could have easily finished his round of golf and made it back to the White House to view the raid in real time.

Conclusion

      This whole situation really saddens me. It would seem the hatred the MSMS’s has instilled in millions of Americans for the President is overriding any love for the country. It is also preventing Americans from coming together on something that should be a unifying point—a great military victory. Instead, what we are seeing is a breakdown of American society at every level. That will be the point of my forthcoming book by that name. That will actually be the second of two books I am working on. The first will be titled Dems Cannot Beat Trump, So They Impeach Trump. In it, I am chronicling the impeachment inquiry as it is unfolding.

      God-willing, I hope to finish the Impeach book shortly after the final resolution of the impeachment situation. The best estimate at this time is that will be early next year (2020). I will then get back to work on my Breakdown book. I hope finish it sometime next spring. Although, I might wait to publish it until after it is known who the Democrat Presidential nominee will be, so that I can include that information in the book.

      These two books, along with my current Tearing the USA Apart book, will then be invaluable books for Americans to read before voting in November 2020. These books will still be valuable after that election, as the topics they address will sadly be with us for a long, such as mass shootings and the divisive political rhetoric that has led to this sad situation over Al-Baghdadi’s death.

References:

      Standard References, plus:

      Archive Today. Obituaries: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, austere religious scholar at helm of Islamic State, dies at 48.

      Breitbart. NPR Praises Terrorist Baghdadi: ‘He Was a Real Leader,’ ‘A Movement We’ve Never Seen Before.’

      NPR. Special Coverage: Trump Makes Announcement.

      Reuters. Baghdadi’s death: a major blow to Islamic State.

      Reuters. For Trump, Baghdadi death a signature moment, but troubles remain.

      Reuters. Islamic State’s Baghdadi: a trail of horror and death.

      Reuters. Trump says Islamic State leader Baghdadi dead in U.S. forces raid.

      Snopes. Was a Photo of Trump in the White House Situation Room Staged?

      Trib Live. Trump intends to uphold tradition of presidents and baseball.

      Trib Live. Trump draws boos when introduced to Nationals Park crowd at World Series.

      Trib Live. Trump says Islamic State leader dead after US raid in Syria.

      Trib Live. Trump suggests impeachment was reason he kept IS raid secret.

      Washington Times. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the left's beloved 'religious scholar.'

ISIS Leader Killed: Let's celebrate! No wait, let's criticize Trump instead. Copyright © 2019 by Gary F. Zeolla (www.Zeolla.org).

The above article was posted on this website October 31, 2019.

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