ISIS FOUNDER AND LEADER DEAD AFTER U.S. MILITARY RAID

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By Miriam Raftery 
 
October 27, 2019 (San Diego) – Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, founder and leader of the terrorist group ISIS, committed suicide after being trapped during a raid yesterday by U.S. military special forces in northwest Syria, President Donald Trump announced at a White House press conference.
 
Trump announced that the “number one terrorist leader” has “been brought to justice.” No U.S. personnel were lost in the operation, though a “large number” of Baghdadi’s  associates were killed or captured including two women wearing suicide vests that detonated; they are believed to be Baghdadi’s wives. 
 
 Eleven children were removed prior to the raid, but reportedly Baghdadi took three of his children into a dead-end tunnel, where he ignited a suicide vest, killing himself and the youngsters. "He didn’t die a hero. He died a coward,” the President said. “Crying, whimpering, screaming and bringing kids with him to die"

 
CNN reports the military confirms al-Baghdadi was killed, though a DNA test remains pending.  The terrorist leader has been the subject of an international manhunt for years, with several false reports of his death in the past.  
 
But Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire voiced confidence that Baghdadi is dead. He thanked special forces for bringing “one of the world’s most wanted terrorists to justice.” 
 
The daring raid occurred in a region of northwest Syria that has not been a U.S. stronghold.Trump left top Democrats in the dark about the operation, breaking protocol for such high-profile military actions.  The success of the mission drew bipartisan praise, though House Speaker Nancy Pelosi questioned why “Russians but not top Congressional leaders were notified of the raid in advance.”
 
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top-ranking Democrat, learned of the raid on TV but told media afterwards, “Look, it’s great that we’ve gotten al-Baghdadi…He’s a dangerous man, an evil man. The fight against ISIS has to continue.”  But he added, ""New Yorkers know all too well the destruction a small group of terrorists thousands of miles overseas can cause from so far away. I look forward to receiving a briefing about this raid and the plan to deal with the escaped ISIS prisoners."
 
The raid comes on the heels of the U.S. withdrawing troops from Syria, a move that drew international and bipartisan criticism of Trump. The action, done at the request of Turkey’s president, cleared the way for a Turkish assault on Kurdish fighters who were allies of the U.S. in our fight against ISIS in Syria. Trump has since indicated a larger residual force will be left in the region, but not before many Kurds fled the area, some Kurdish soldiers and civilians were killed, and over 800 ISIS fighters guarded by Kurds escaped.
 
According to the Washington Post, Vice President Mike Pence said that he and President Trump were informed Thursday of the raid’s location at the militants’ compound. Pence said Trump authorized the raid Saturday morning.
 
Death of Baghdadi, if confirmed by the DNA test, would be the highest-level terrorist death since special operations forces killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Ladin during a raid in Pakistan in 2011 ordered by President Barack Obama.
 
Locally, San Diego Congresswoman Susan Davis issued this statement on word of Baghdadi’s death: ““My gratitude to our well-trained and accomplished military and national security professionals, as well as our allies, for bringing Baghdadi down. The world is grateful for this barbarian’s end. Hopefully, this brings some relief to the families of his victims.”
 

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Comments

Who’s hiding?

Correction ran. Who's the one really hiding? You 8East? Trump doesn't, though he has in the past. Takes a bit of courage to identify yourself and own your own words. Perhaps consider a Post showing some courage, character, and man-up on what's otherwise empty ramblings.

Dear Miriam,

Why do you continue to allow this man to harass your readers for their choice of username on this site? As a journalist I’m sure you’re well aware of the many reasons people choose to protect their identities. Most notably not for some wrong they have done, but rather to prevent a wrong being done to them or their families for their political viewpoint. I’ve personally seen him attack multiple individuals on this site, always those with a conservative viewpoint and always with the same result. I also know he’s an employee of this site, or a volunteer at the least. I’ve seen you post this yourself in previous comments which makes it that much more concerning. I’ve also seen you admit he’s not actually using his real name either, which makes him the worst kind of hypocrite. I ask that you address this immediately and put policy in place to prevent employees/volunteers from harassing and intimidating visitors in an obvious attempt to suppress their conservative viewpoints and ideas. Thank you.

Names on the site

We have never required use of real names, howver Gene uses a shortened version of his full name, which is not hiding.   Since there was once a serious threat of harm posted here I support his right not to use his exact legal name. He is not an employee or paid worker. 

As for harassment, there has been far more harassment posted by conservatives on the site than by non-conservatives. 

That said I would prefer to see all posters refrain from insulting others in our community and stick with a civil discussion of facts and issues.

 

Sounds good.

Thank you for for verifying Gene's hypocrisy. I too am now using a "shortened version of my name" as I've decided to identify as an Interstate. You may continue to address me as 8East.

8East and Gene, please read:

There was a serious threat made in the past that included someone posting an address they believed belonged to a poster they wished to harass, but it in fact belonged to an elderly man with the same name, and he could have been put at risk.

Safety of posters is the main reason we don't require real names. 

But Gene, I have to agree that if you don't want to use your full name, in fairness you shouldn't chide others for not posting theirs. It is fine to disagree with viewpoints.

That said, 8East, I do see a difference in motive between someone not using a full name because they've had their safety threatened by a harasser, and someone using a false name to harass or harangue others anonymously.

P.S. Love the "I identify as an Interstate" quip.  There are times where the whole identity thing gets taken to ridiculous extremes.

Much appreciated!

And I'm glad you enjoyed my attempt to deescalate with humor. :) For the record, I'm not here to harass or harangue anyone, I'm simply trying present an alternate opinion and defend our President. I will try and be more mindful of how I go about that in the future. Most of what gets published on this site I enjoy, and try and make it known when I do as I did with the recent Cajon Valley article. On the political side, clearly we have different viewpoints, and that's okay, I'm merely trying to defend mine just as you are. One thing I must point out here though, I’ve been a visitor on this site for years too, and I was here when Gene’s information was posted. If memory serves, it was for this exact same reason too. He got into an argument over Russian Collusion, eventually got angry because he was losing the debate, so he started badgering the other poster for not using his/her real name. The other poster attempted to DOX Gene to prove he wasn’t either. And here’s the kicker, Gene was using the same name then as he is now, so he didn’t decide to change or hide his name after that incident, he’s always hidden his name and you’re attempting to cover for him. Clearly Gene doesn’t comprehend the fact that calling other users cowardly for posting under a pseudonym while using a pseudonym himself to post those accusations, is an epic fail on his part.

It’s how I was raised and what I respect

It's difficult for me, Miriam, to see you constantly harrassed and disrespected on a site that you work very hard on. I know you do your best to be factual based on National New's stories. I have followed your site for several years. I've witnessed stories run by you that are very critical of so called Liberals and I've never criticized or borderline slandered you for that, I walk my talk and consider it one of my core values, something very important to me. There are many Conservative values that I agree with and respect. If there are those that feel compelled to continue to treat you and ECM with a constant barrage of hateful disrespect, while hiding behind the very real comfort of anonymity, for whatever reason they claim, and you find that tolerable, I will respect that even though I find it cowardly and guttless when accusers aren't willing to proverbially come forward, face to face so to speak, with their accusations or pointing their fingers at you. Here's a thought Miriam, run your site and everything associated with it under a pseudonym like many of your Posters do. That way your constant critics can rant and rave, in a New York minute, about that! :)

Thank you, Gene.

I am bothered by people who anonymously attack our coverage, especially when at times the criticisms ignore actual facts.  But we know that our efforts are appreciated by many more people than the handful of critics here.

FYI, last night we picked up three more journalism awards from San Diego Press Club for our coverage of the Kalasho scandals and the fire in Alpine last year.

Congratulation’s to ECM

Kudo's Miriam to you and all your Team for your efforts to make East County a little brighter!

Okay Robinhood,

I can appreciate you’re wanting to defend your Maid Miriam, but I think that’s an excuse for your combative behavior. Any time you have a difference of opinion on this site, you go into attack mode rather than defending your position with facts. You’ve done it to me, you did it to Vulcan, and you did it to Dr. Harrison just the other day, along with several others. I think you’re lacking self awareness. If you want to debate politics, or disagree with my viewpoints or opinions fine, but stop with the name calling and attempted character assassination.

He did the right thing

by keeping the Democrats in the dark, they cannot be trusted with this kind of information. I have no doubt they would have leaked the details in order to undermine a potential win for this administration. The resulting leaks would probably have resulted in the loss of American lives, which they'd happily blame Trump for. The Democrats would rather see America fail, then Trump win. Did anyone happen to see the headlines and descriptions of this terrorist scum provided by the Washington Post, or Bloomberg Post? And they wonder why America hates the Media. SMH - Poetic that most of the Libs were probably watching SNL last night making fun of Trump for being soft on ISIS, while President Trump was watching the world's biggest terrorist die at his command.

re:he did the right thing

Once again he tells Russia, instead of the US government . Have you look at the photo white house release. he want's his Obama/ Bin Laden moment. Not happening,no one gives a shit about Baghdadi like they did bin Laden. That photo is 100% stage, Them laptops are used all the time, and you clearly some aren't plug in, cables just laying on the table. and the table looks like a cluster F**** . His reward for letting Russia and Turkey move in on the kurds. I'm not a Dem or Rep

I don't even know

where to start with this one, so I won't bother. Instead I'll offer this, read a book.

It turns out the photo in the situation room was probably staged

It was time stamped not during the raid, but later.  Trump was reportedly golfing at the time the raid took place, several major media outlets have reported.

Trump does deserve credit for authorizing the raid, which was apparently successful assuming Baghdadi is really dead this time.  

There are however reports coming out that his withdrawal of troops from Syria actually delayed this raid on Baghdadi's compound and jeopardized the mission initially, but fortunately Baghdadi remained at the same place long enough for our forces to mobilize and take him out.  The world will certainly be a safer place without him, for now.

He should however have told top House and Senate leaders in both parties. One reason for that is to assure that no members are traveling in areas where they might inadvertently come into harm's way. Just days ago we had prominent Democratic leaders in Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern countries, fortunately not where the raid took place. Sharing such info with high-level leaders in both parties with proper security clearances is an action every prior president has done, not merely for courtesy but for security's sake. 

It turns out you're wrong....again.

Most of this propaganda came from Pete Souza, apparently you missed his correction stating "The latest reporting from the NYT: the helicopters left Iraq at 5PM (Washington time), and they reported it was about a 70-minute flight to Syria. So actual raid had to happen some time after 6:10PM." which would have made golfing in the dark not really feasible. Anyone who thinks Trump would have missed out on that opportunity, really doesn't know or understand Trump. This mission went off smooth as silk, because the Democrats were left in the dark. Oh, and if you want to talk golf, I'll remind you that it was Obama who was golfing and had to be drug off the course by a General for his "Big Moment" Revealed: How Obama was playing golf until 20 minutes before Navy SEALs began mission to take out Bin Laden

It was more than "inaccurate"

It was a lie intentionally meant to discredit the President. If it were an honest mistake, the honorable thing to do would be to delete his initial Tweet with the "inaccurate" information. He has not, which tells me everything I need to know about his intentions. You folks don't seem to understand this is the exact reason you've been labeled as "Fake News" and "The Enemy Of The People". An Obama loyalist makes up a false rumor about Trump, several mainstream news media outlets repeat the false rumor, and then people like you assume the information must be credible considering the "big guys" have ran with it. Inevitably, the lie gets exposed but the damage has been done and only a fraction of the people that read the original false information, will ever see the correction (if one even gets written). We're well aware this isn't a mistake, but rather a tactic in the ongoing disinformation campaign run by the DNC. You can't hide, we see you.

Stop this.

Local media outlets are not in Washington D.C. so have no option other than to rely on normally reliable sources in the mainstream media.  It is impossible for local media to independently verify what happens in Washington D.C.  That includes small newspapers and online news sites as well as even most large newspapers that don't have correspondents in the Capitol.  If we find out any source is wrong, we will correct the information. The alternative would be no reporting at all, or very little, on national news stories.

While we appreciate having an error pointed out so we can correct it, calling us "fake news" is inappropriate. New rule, comments along that line will be removed.  We work hard and take pride in our work; harassment and name-calling of our staff or nonprofit is unacceptable.  If you get something wrong, do you want to be insulted and called names?   Of course not.

 

Easy fix

Your problem here is blindly believing that CNN, NYT or WAPO are "reliable sources" they are not, and they prove it daily by having to post retractions and corrections in their reporting.