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Media Frantically Reminding You That Trump Hasn’t “Defeated ISIS”
Hotair ^
| 10/28/2019
| Jazz Shaw
Posted on 10/28/2019 8:33:20 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
While this was entirely predictable, the media pushback on President Trump’s announcement of the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has really been something to see. It was already starting on cable news yesterday morning before the President had even finished taking questions about how the ISIS leader died like a dog, but deep-diving think pieces quickly began to follow in all the usual outlets. Even the Associated Press got in on the action in this piece from Eric Tucker and Robert Burns.
Eliminating the Islamic States elusive leader gives President Donald Trump a new argument for leaving Syria, but the U.S. military campaign against the extremists is far from finished.
The killing of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by U.S. forces leaves the Islamic State without an obvious leader, a major setback for an organization that in March was forced by American troops and Kurdish forces out of the last portion of its self-declared caliphate, which once spanned a swath of Iraq and Syria.
But the militant group, which arose from the remnants of al-Qaida in Iraq after that groups defeat by U.S.-led forces in 2008, has ambitions to regenerate yet again. And it remains a dangerous threat in Iraq, Afghanistan and beyond.
At a moment when most of the western world should have been (and largely was) celebrating the slaying of a monster, our mainstream press was tripping over themselves to seemingly minimize the achievement by our armed forces. And the truly bizarre part of all this was that Trump defied the expectations of his detractors and really never even took credit for the success. He thanked the military and nearly everyone else under the sun for pulling off the feat. But the bottom line for many was the fact that ISIS is still out there.
More than a few of us have been saying this since the news broke. We live in an era of asymmetrical warfare when it comes to terrorist groups and everyone knows it. Killing Baghdadi doesn’t immediately eliminate the entirety of ISIS and their ideology any more than putting a couple of rounds through bin Laden’s head pulled the plug on al Qaeda. But just as with OBL, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t significant or worth doing.
There is, however, one significant difference between bin Laden and Baghdadi. Or more correctly, there’s a significant difference between their strategies and goals. OBL always advocated fighting from the shadows, trying to spread terror by striking unexpectedly against any available targets. I’m not saying that ISIS doesn’t encourage their “inspired” acolytes around the world to do the same. They certainly do. But Baghdadi and the main army of ISIS wanted a lot more.
For a time, when the terror group was really on a roll, they basically fulfilled their dream of taking and holding enough land to establish their own caliphate. Let’s not forget that ISIS was openly processing and selling oil on the black market. They were printing and circulating their own currency. They controlled entire cities and towns, along with all the territory between them, stretching across portions of both Syria and Iraq.
For at least a brief time, ISIS had what was, for all practical purposes, their own country. That was Baghdadi’s dream and the magnet that drew so many Islamic extremists to travel across the world and join him. He planned to hold that land until the end days, defying the west and all civilized nations. That was never OBL’s game plan. And destroying the caliphate (which we have done) was the real blow to ISIS. They’ve now been relegated to the same tactics that AQ employs and are arguably a smaller player now.
So it’s true that chasing Baghdadi into a hole and watching him blow himself up (along with three of his children) won’t spell the absolute end of ISIS. But it was the capstone on the effort to destroy his underlying dream and show that the civilized world will not allow such a massive terrorist wound to openly fester on the face of the planet. And it was worth the risk our military took to do so.
TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Syria; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: abubakralbaghdadi; albaghdadi; isis; media; susanrice; tds; trumpgwot
To: SeekAndFind
Yeah. So he takes back all the territory they GAINED under Obama. Kills a ton of them. Kills their leader and STILL the “news” acts like none of it happened.
2
posted on
10/28/2019 8:36:20 AM PDT
by
DouglasKC
To: SeekAndFind
No but he degraded them to the point they are fringe group of impotent thugs as opposed to a threat to global peace and stability.
3
posted on
10/28/2019 8:36:53 AM PDT
by
MNJohnnie
(They would have to abandon leftism to achieve sanity. Freeper Olog-hai)
To: SeekAndFind
Nothing like the so-called American press, openly rooting for an ISIS
Resurgence!
Im sure they are secretly hoping for an ISIS attack on our shores.
4
posted on
10/28/2019 8:38:22 AM PDT
by
onyx
(#StandWithICE. - #KAG #TRUMP2020Landslideo)
To: SeekAndFind
Islam will never be peaceful. It's against their religion.
5
posted on
10/28/2019 8:41:04 AM PDT
by
Lurkinanloomin
(Natural Born Citizens Are Born Here of Citizen Parents_Know Islam, No Peace-No Islam, Know Peace)
To: onyx
“Im sure they are secretly hoping for an ISIS attack on our shores.”
Think of the possible ratings!!!
6
posted on
10/28/2019 8:42:36 AM PDT
by
Agatsu77
To: SeekAndFind
And bammy didn’t defeat ql-queada
7
posted on
10/28/2019 8:42:53 AM PDT
by
ealgeone
To: SeekAndFind
As appropriate as the jackass is to depict the Democrat Party, I am beginning to think it should be replaced with Wile E. Coyote. For the past three years, the Dems have been obsessed with one mission above all else and they fail miserably every time they try it.
8
posted on
10/28/2019 8:43:13 AM PDT
by
OrangeHoof
(The Democrats - Unafraid to burn in Hell.)
To: DouglasKC
I can only imagine the WW2 coverage from today's liberal media.
They'd revealed the location of Normandy, the Manhattan Project and who knows what else.
9
posted on
10/28/2019 8:43:51 AM PDT
by
ealgeone
To: SeekAndFind
The media needs defeated.
10
posted on
10/28/2019 8:45:29 AM PDT
by
Old Yeller
(Auto-correct has become my worst enema.)
To: MNJohnnie
Agreed. “Defeated” can mean different things. Are they still a threat? Probably, but a drastically reduced threat. They can no longer take and hold significant areas of territory, no longer mount operations that pose a significant risk... There’s a difference between defeated and wiped out. Heck, even wiped out may not be wiped out. We think the nazis are gone, right? But there’s nothing stopping a few fools or even just one fool from declaring himself/themselves nazis. Does that mean the nazis haven’t been defeated?
To: SeekAndFind
Trump said it himself in his speech. He noted that we are not done with ISIS. So did the SecDef and the VP.
12
posted on
10/28/2019 9:08:26 AM PDT
by
RJS1950
(The democrats are the "enemies foreign and domestic" cited in the federal oath)
To: SeekAndFind
So then, it would follow that since there is an admittedly effective ISIS by the press, then Obama taking credit for knocking out OBL was a nothing burger too?? Obama on the helicopter, Obama leading the entry team, Obama pulling the trigger, doing all that from at the golf course in his head but put out there in such a fashion to make it look like he was Caesar leading his legions.
13
posted on
10/28/2019 9:11:14 AM PDT
by
Mouton
(The media is the enemy of the people.)
To: onyx
The mass media are the far Left's major asset in the effort to misdirect attention from the realities of cause & effect into a series of false dichotomies.
Misdirection: Familiar Leftist Tactic
14
posted on
10/28/2019 9:14:20 AM PDT
by
Ohioan
To: SeekAndFind
The media need to be more careful moving the goalposts around like this or they’re going to hurt their backs.
To: Billthedrill
When blaming someone for problem X, Leftists are interested in casting blame instead of fixing the problem; if the problem is fixed, they double down on blaming.
16
posted on
10/28/2019 9:27:00 AM PDT
by
ctdonath2
(Specialization is for insects.)
To: SeekAndFind
$hit on the media. They said nothing when bammy allowed islamic state to gain strength.
17
posted on
10/28/2019 9:54:41 AM PDT
by
I want the USA back
(The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it. Orwell.)
To: SeekAndFind; All
This fact is being avoided reported as media portrays Moslem cleric was following Gods command beheading unbelievers heads off is a saint....
Statement from the President on the Death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
10/27/2019, 10:02:28 AM · by bitt · 82 replies
whitehouse.gov ^ | 10/27/2019 | whitehouse.gov
Last night, the United States brought the worlds number one terrorist leader to justice. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead. He was the founder and leader of ISIS, the most ruthless and violent terror organization in the World. The United States has been searching for Baghdadi for many years. Capturing or killing Baghdadi has been the top national security priority of my Administration. U.S. Special Operations forces executed a dangerous and daring nighttime raid into Northwestern Syria to accomplish this mission. No U.S. personnel were lost in the operation, while a large number of Baghdadis fighters and companions were killed with...
FLASHBACK: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Was Held at US Prison Camp Bucca in 2009 Until Obama Let Him Go The Obama administration shut down the Bucca prison camp and released its prisoners, including Abu Dua in 2009.
GP ^ | October 27, 2019 | JIM Hoft
Posted on 10/27/2019 8:44:55 AM PDT by mplc51
18
posted on
10/28/2019 10:42:55 AM PDT
by
mosesdapoet
(mosesdapoet aka L,J,Keslin posting fobills are nr the record hoping some might read and pass around)
To: SeekAndFind
Media, that's OK. Obama said they were the JV team. No worry.
19
posted on
10/28/2019 11:11:10 AM PDT
by
Right Wing Assault
(Kill-googl,TWTR,FCBK,NYT,WaPo,Hwd,CNN,NFL,BLM,CAIR,Antfa,SPLC,ESPN,NPR,NBA,ARP)
To: Right Wing Assault
Austere, bespectacled, religious leader takes Sunday School class on field trip promising them they will have a blast.
20
posted on
10/28/2019 11:28:19 AM PDT
by
N. Theknow
(Kennedys-Can't drive, can't ski, can't fly, can't skipper a boat-But they know what's best for you.)
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