FWIW, Murdoch’s The Times is even more outrageous:
While I get your strong emotions about this, it’s important to stress their doctrinal origins, otherwise you’re unconsciously feeding the “nothing to do with Islam” crowd.
The fact is, ISIS are strictly following the how-to teachings in the Quran, however someone may find it unsettling - it’s not senseless violence, they’re just reading their book and taking it literally, something literally no one has been doing in the West for over 500 years.
I suggest watching Tom Holland’s documentary about the very Islamic origins of ISIS, discussed in the podcast below as well:
The reactions have been hilarious. Paraphrasing from memory:
Adolf Hitler, noted community organizer and dynamic public speaker, dies . . .
Ted Bundy, aspiring lawyer and successful ladies’ man . . .
Gengus Khan, beloved father of many, world traveler, able horseman . . .
John Wilkes Booth, famous thespian and marksman . . .
The truth is the Washington Post hates Trump. Hence, even though killing this scumbag is a win for the world, this win must be pushed through its agenda of hating on Trump. Ergo, they can’t help but make anything he does look like crap.
I fully understand Trump dislike. Irrational, everything-is-bad, twist-straight-news, agenda, however, destroys their credibility. Everything they say is suspect. I didn’t see this kind of silliness, even from the wing-nut right media when Bin Laden was killed. It’s just stupid.
There are far worse people in this world than Trump, Obama, et al.
You could add failed art school student. I know better than to tell you about the banality of evil and the boring origins of many Nazi leaders but I think for many Americans it’s important for them to see that ordinary people can be monsters.
This guy couldn’t get into a regular university. He couldn’t get into the army. But he was able to get into a religious university and from there he eventually became a murderous fanatic.
I was cool with Trump’s prepared response…(especially calling the guy a spineless dog, and a coward who killed 3 kids when he blew himself up).
Then he started to ad lib…and talking about if people would have read his book (where he “predicted” 9/11) everything would be much different…blah, blah, blah…
I don’t “hate” Trump (most days)…but what he gets a pass on by Conservatives that would have had President Obama thrown to the Dogs (even more than he was) is extremely aggravating to me.
Hey…but I guess that’s how the game is played, right?
The article was pretty glowing, really. A naive reader would have to read several lines in to realize the WaPo was writing the obituary of probably the preeminent butcher of the decade (although Xi Jinping of China, with his concentration camps for Muslims may want to dispute the title, but I give the crown to al-Baghdadi on style points).
No, that’s a different game. Here we have a supposedly straight news article that buries the lede in an absurd manner because it can’t admit Trump’s team managed to get something right.
Whether to forgive/hate/ignore/glorify Trump’s verbal malfeasance and endless showman puffery is a completely different issue, and a fair partisan issue.
He won when he burned the (Syrian?/Egyptian?) pilot alive; broadcast beheadings; threw gay men off of roofs; and stoned and beat women publically for just about anything…
A. It’s the news, so accuracy is indeed the priority.
B. I don’t see what they wrote as something that gives a positive image of him. He was the leader of ISIS after all.
C. All of the terrible things he did wouldn’t fit in a headline.
D. I think the real issue is people not knowing what austere means. Austere religious scholar who led ISIS = fanatic.
President Trump knew the Central Intelligence Agency and Special Operations commandos were zeroing in on the location for Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State leader, when he ordered American troops to withdraw from northern Syria earlier this month, intelligence, military and counterterrorism officials said on Sunday.
For months, intelligence officials had kept Mr. Trump apprised of what he had set as a top priority, the hunt for Mr. al-Baghdadi, the world’s most wanted terrorist.
But Mr. Trump’s abrupt withdrawal order three weeks ago disrupted the meticulous planning underway and forced Pentagon officials to speed up the plan for the risky night raid before their ability to control troops, spies and reconnaissance aircraft disappeared with the pullout, the officials said.
Mr. al-Baghdadi’s death in the raid on Saturday, they said, occurred largely in spite of, and not because of, Mr. Trump’s actions.
Armed with that initial tip, the C.I.A. worked closely with Iraqi and Kurdish intelligence officials in Iraq and Syria to identify more precisely Mr. al-Baghdadi’s whereabouts and to put spies in place to monitor his periodic movements. American officials said the Kurds continued to provide information to the C.I.A. on Mr. al-Baghdadi’s location even after Mr. Trump’s decision to withdraw the American troops left the Syrian Kurds to confront a Turkish offensive alone.
The Syrian and Iraqi Kurds, one official said, provided more intelligence for the raid than any single country.
"The al-Baghdadi raid is the most high-profile exhibit of a reality U.S. officials have had to contend with since Trump took office: a president with a background in show business who relishes delivering a compelling narrative and deals daily with the kind of covert, life-and-death sets of facts that inspire movie scripts."
“The overarching concern about Trump’s disclosures on the al-Baghdadi raid, officials said, is that he gave America’s enemies details that could make intelligence gathering and similar military operations more difficult and more dangerous to pull off in the future”.
Oh, noes! It became so complicated, the raid succeeded, with zero casualties, aside from a dog that is already back at work.
It amazes me how liberals went from pearl-clutching “no boots on the ground” (Obama’s promise regarding Syria) to wanting to build a nation there.
As this raid shows, we have plenty of forward deployed people to get done what needs to be done in Syria, without being human shields in the middle of a tribal fight and in range of late 19th century weapons and wondering if your “security” will slaughter you in the middle of the night.
So, we take off from somewhere in Iraq or Israel or Saudi, do what needs to be done, and leave.
Fantastic. I’d be all over hitting the bars in Tel Aviv after a mission vs. sitting in a fucking pile of sand, listening to guys jerk off to reruns of Saved By the Bell.*
