My latest in PJ Media:
Islamic State (ISIS) caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead, killed by an American airstrike in northwest Syria. President Trump announced this morning: “U.S. Special operations forces executed a dangerous and daring night-time raid in northwestern Syria, and accomplished their mission in grand style. The U.S. personnel were incredible.”
But the question now should not be avoided: why was al-Baghdadi hiding so close to Turkey? Were the Turks protecting him? If not them, then who was?
It strains credulity that Turkey, with its interests in northern Syria, did not know he was there. Al-Baghdadi was killed in Barisha in the Idlib province, a town of no more than 2500 people right on the Turkish border. If the Turks didn’t know that the world’s most wanted terrorist was there, they’re incompetent beyond measure. If they did know, they’re complicit in protecting him.
Given the track record of the Turkish government in aiding the Islamic State, complicity is much more likely than cluelessness. There ought to be a full investigation of Turkey’s involvement, and if the Erdogan regime is definitively found to have been protecting al-Baghdadi, Turkey should be expelled from NATO and the sham alliance with the United States ended. Given, however, the determined head-in-the-sand policy of the State Department establishment, none of that is likely to happen.
Meanwhile, the Islamic State is likely to go on pretty much as it has for the last year or two, after losing almost all of the area of its former caliphate in Iraq and Syria. If al-Baghdadi has a successor, he will be, like al-Baghdadi himself, a caliph without a caliphate. The Islamic State is still very much a presence around the world, but doesn’t control any significant expanse of territory, as it did when Barack Obama was President.
In fact, al-Baghdadi’s death is unlikely to affect ISIS as an international jihad terror group very much at all. Al-Baghdadi was hardly ever seen in the last few years, which was a function of his having a large bounty on his head, but it also may have been chosen as a strategy for other reasons: the Islamic State leadership may have decided that his power was enhanced by his being more mythical than real — an omnipresent but gnomic presence a la Big Brother in Orwell’s 1984.
Also, because the Islamic State is an ideologically driven movement, it hardly matters whether he is dead or alive: obviously the Islamic State has soldiered on without his having become a familiar media figure, and has maintained its claim to be the caliphate even without control of territory. It almost certainly will continue to do so.
There is much more. Read the rest here.
Frank Anderson says
Considering the treacherous incompetence and collaboration rampant among NATO leadership. more countries are likely to support Turkey than the US in a showdown over Islamic conquest goals. NATO is well on the way to tilting fully in favor of muslim conquest and against the formerly “liberal” ideas of liberty and respect for individual rights. Read the daily stories and see if I am full of hot air. There is no reason I can see that Turkey did NOT support ISIS every step of the way. Whether by purchasing stolen oil or providing a conduit for fighters to join the slaughter, Turkey did nothing to stop ISIS.
Dude says
It’s always been that the one who kills the Caliph becomes the new Caliph, complete with booty and babe slaves. Therefore Trump is our new Caliph – try to impeach that!
Flavius Claudius Iulianus says
“https://www.rt.com/newsline/472061-salvini-league-local-vote/”
https://www.rt.com/newsline/472061-salvini-league-local-vote/
Flavius Claudius Iulianus says
“Salvini’s euroskeptic League party triumphs in local vote”
GreekEmpress says
Yay!!!!!!
Infidel says
I’d like to see Salvini and Kurz return to power in Rome & Vienna ASAP
Flavius Claudius Iulianus says
“Libya’s coastguard intercepts dozens of Europe-bound migrants”
https://www.rt.com/newsline/472058-libya-coastguard-intercepts-migrants/
Infidel says
Are these Gen Haftar’s troops, or that of the UN recognized regime in Tripoli that was actually enabling these migrants?
Flavius Claudius Iulianus says
“Military Dog Hurt in al-Baghdadi Raid Returns to Duty”
https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2019/10/28/military-dog-hurt-in-al-baghdadi-raid-returns-to-duty/
gravenimage says
I’m so glad to hear that the dog is fine–I had been worried about him! Thank you, Flavius.
J D S p says
Dogs and Muslims don’t mix well. Proof positive with a dead Caliph
Now as far as Turkey is concerned….They most likely knew where al bigdaddy was all the time and most likely helped him stay alive all along…after all Turkish leaders want yo bring back the Ottoman relic…..further, most all Muslims goal is to rule the world..after all, their writings, teachings and preachings all indicate such. Turkey has no business being a part of NATO unless they devote them selves to NATO and not to world rule.
I believe It’s too late now but the west should have stopped, at all cost, any effort by Muslims to make any advancement in their world conquest fiascos but the west has not held themselves together as one body against the muslim menace. WHY??? Lack of leadership and trust in God with the latter being most important….
If one studies history one will find when we were close to God we won….There’s or off of that in Biblical history as well as world history..
FYI says
Will somebody in the US Special Forces PLEASE give that doggie …a bone{which i’m sure he’d prefer to a medal}?
Outstanding, k-9 Soldier!
{We know al lah and his muslims hate dogs}
Extra Doggie biscuits comin’ your way…
gravenimage says
🙂
Carolyne says
I think it is poetic Justice that a dog, who is hated by Muslims, took part in Baghdadi’s demise.
peter says
That is what is called Avatar in Hinduism! It has a meaning
Flavius Claudius Iulianus says
“Former CEO of Scania Warns Sweden is Heading For Civil War”
https://www.newswars.com/former-ceo-of-scania-warns-sweden-is-heading-for-civil-war/
gravenimage says
The ISIS Caliph Is Dead – But Who Was Protecting Him?
…………….
Damn good question, Certainly, the ISIS-supporting Turks seem the most likely.
Turkey does *not* belong in NATO.
Infidel says
Yeah, that’s the only credible explanation. ABaB wouldn’t have sought the shelter of the Alawites, nor the Kurds, nor any of the non Sunni-Arab combatants in the area. The only reason he’d be there would be the ability to flee to and hide in Turkey.
I’ve always disbelieved any claims that Turkey was opposed to ISIS. As it is, when somebody in the West converted to Islam and signed up for the Jihad, where did they first head? Probably to Istanbul, then head to Gaziantep, and from there to Raqqa. There was no way they could get there from Iraq or Jordan or even Lebanon: Iraq was under a pro-Iran regime hostile to ISIS, Jordan was hostile as well, and in Western Syria, the civil war was going on. Only way they could get to Raqqa was via Turkey.
And it’s impossible to believe that Erdogan, who had such an iron grip on the country, had no idea what was going on. If anything, he had everything to gain by the rising power of ISIS (just like Pakistan did w/ the Taliban)
So ABaB was killed just in time, or else, he’d have successfully fled to Turkey, and then it would have been impossible for the US to get hold of him, given all the other things they were trying to get Turkey to do, vis a vis the Kurds and existing ISIS prisoners.
Also, I doubt that Turkey actually gave the US any support in all this, and that President Trump simply mentioned them to allow them some deniability in all of this, in return for them not making things any uglier in Kobani or elsewhere
somehistory says
Beside the facts that 1,,,isis said that they were putting their members in among the “refugees’ that would be streaming into the various nations and 2 er do gan said he would open the gates and let the ‘refugees’ flood the nations.
he was helping them get to the different countries all along.
peter says
it is deja vu Osama found and killed in Pakistan !.
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says
What was ABaB’s favorite music group? And what was his last thought as he exploded?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ku-TZt3H7jw
Malici says
TNT by AC/DC
FYI says
Guess who wasn’t protecting him?
al lah
Obviously his pagan Arab god al lah wan’t protecting him just as al lah didn’t save muhammed from dying after being poisoned by a leg of lamb,expertly cooked by that Jewish woman who had been captured and enslaved by him.
nabi ZK (pbum) - Founder of now defunkt Online School of Nabihood "Be a Nabi in 10 easy lessons or half your money back" says
Unless you are a shiamohametan. Then you believe that he was killed in a conspiracy by Aisha and Hafsa, mohamet’s “wives”, and their fathers, Abu Bakr and Omar, to usurp power and become “Caliphs #1 and #2”. Naturally there is some controversy over the matter with the shiamohametans crying foul. They also had other grievances concerning the murder some of their founders to, include even decapitating a little baby lest he try to claim his legacy as an adult and as a direct descendant of the original warlord and head chopper himself, mohamet. Some bad blood there. Anyhow, not my monkey, not my circus.
Steve Daly says
Name of the Judeo/Christian god: YHWH, Yahweh, or Jehova
Name of the Muslim god: Allah
Not the same god.
gravenimage says
Arab speaking Christians do call God “Allah”–but this is obviously not the same deity as the vicious “Allah” of Islam.
Infidel says
And there were those Malaysian Christians who got into trouble w/ their government for using the term ‘Allah’ to describe God. A tacit Muslim admission that allah and the Judeo-Christian God are not the same
Terry Gain says
It now appears that America’s Kurdish allies (whom President Trump in the low point of his otherwise very successful Presidency temporarily abandoned) were responsible for locating Baghdadi. I am not getting tired of winning.
Infidel says
I doubt that, given that Idlib is not one of the Kurdish areas. More likely, he was located by the US Special forces, who also co-ordinated w/ the Syrians and the Russians
gravenimage says
It is true that Idlib is not a traditional part of Kurdistan, but the Kurds have been specifically trying to gain territory with access to the Mediterranean:
“Turkey’s Idlib move aimed at Kurds’ Mediterranean ambitions”
https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/sport/61d8ffec-1a62-4e9d-8d44-1351b6c7c8d6
And from what Time Magazine says, the Kurds were involved not in the initial leads, but were involved in tracking some of those leads down:
https://time.com/5711905/al-baghdadi-capture-isis-intelligence/
“I don’t think we could have done this without the help we got from the Syrian and Iraqi Kurds, which continued after we began the troop pullout,” one of the officials said, quickly adding that Iraq military and intelligence officers “kicked the whole thing off.”…
somehistory says
“Baghdadi given burial at sea, afforded religious rites ”
Reuters reports
Naildriver says
That’s what I saw too. How sickening and patronizing.
Infidel says
Didn’t that tunnel collapse on him? If yes, why take that trouble?
gravenimage says
Yep:
“Islamic State group chief Baghdadi buried at sea by US military”
https://www.france24.com/en/20191029-islamic-state-group-chief-baghdadi-buried-at-sea-by-us-military
The only good thing about this is that it doesn’t give Muslims a sick shrine to visit.
owensgate says
This slime of a pigdog is dead, but the news media is reporting it was buried at sea, “with a muslim ceremony”. WHY? Why was this slime piece of pigdog given a “ceremony”? WHO authorized it? Why wasn’t the offal just tossed into the sea to feed the fish (the carcass suitably saturated with arsenic to kill the fish after, because NO flesh should prosper from demonic food). The image of U.S. soldiers participating in a ceremony while some heathen imam, holding Korans with white gloves and chanting some invocation of a paradisic afterlife for the unfortunate departed is ludicrous, as well as an obscenity.
gravenimage says
This is pretty grotesque–same as with bin Laden.
Besides, this will cut no ice with Muslims. Those who would be impressed with his getting a Muslim burial are still enraged that we killed a Jihadist in the first place.
Dapto says
He was Being protected by Schiff and the Democratic Nazi party and Mitt romney
gravenimage says
I’m no particular fan of Mitt Romney, but do you have any proof that he was *protecting* Al Baghdadi?
ElderlyZionist says
Al-Baghdadi’s successor is the Yeni Caliph Erdogan. Watch.
somehistory says
There couldn’t have been much to “bury” at sea or anywhere else.
The Kurds said they got his DNA for testing by snatching a pair of his underwear…eeeww…so it could be tested right away when he was killed.
It really doesn’t matter where he was ‘buried,’ because he sealed his fate long ago. No “rites” will help him.
Infidel says
Why would the Kurds need his DNA? The US would have had it from the time that he was a POW in Iraq
gravenimage says
To check them against each other to be sure it was him, I would assume.
Terry Gain says
I think it does matter. He wasn’t entitled to a respectful burial.
informedguy says
Even if IS leader is no more in this world, someone with the same jihad idea of Islam to conquer the remaining non-Islamic world will appear again as long as there is such ideology is not intellectually analyzed and scrutinized for genuine debate and reformed. The death of Osama Bin Laden or Al-Baghadi will not bring a complete end to terrorism or any terrorist who actually are based in a very hateful ideology called Islam which enjoins its devout and staunch followers to hate and conquer those so-called enemies of Allah and Islam known practically as non-Muslims.
Kirsch says
This time it’s no hoax, This Dog did get killed on the day The President said, no cover ups no hoax.
Unlike the farcical raid that lead to Osama’s supposed death. Very convenient to save Obama’s flagging ratings and quell the fire from the increasing Birth Certificate problem. Also funny how the 31 special forces from the navy seal team 6 died in a slow Chinook together, instead of being put in teams of 6 on faster helicopters. Many of them complained heavily before being loaded into that Helo to go into live fire zone.
Many knew they were done for after they had seen what they had seen, and passed their wills on to their families.
Also funny how every achived link on this site has been removed. Read for yourselves.
https://newspunch.com/evidence-shows-osama-bin-laden-actually-died-in-2001/
PS, I’m an adherent of Numerology, and it indicates clearly that Bin Laden died in a number 7 year of a number 7 pinnacle, aged 44 ie, 2001. Hard to explain this one, but as the Arabs say, “it is written”
gravenimage says
So you don’t believe the Navy Seals, but you do believe in numerology? Okaaaaaay…
Louis Blanc says
If you believe Trump’s nonsense then you will believe anything, Who was protecting this guy? Where was ISIS fighters protecting him? When he knows he is comprised he unbelivable straps a suicide belt to himself and disappears down an escape tunnel with his family who he is protecting and when dogs corner him he does what? Instead of shooting the dogs with his AK47 he presses the button on his suicide belt. So in a confined space in a tunnel where oxygen is limited the flash from the explosives consumes all the oxygen in the tunnel destroying everything in its path. Dogs and American soldiers. This terrorist is in Guantanamo Prison not in Davy Jones Locker!! And if you cut off the head of the Hydra, 3 more appear. As a propaganda exercise totally useless. Trump was trying to outdo Obama and in doing so made the world a more dangerous place with possible reprisals!!
Glynnda White says
Turkey probably was involved and aiding, but with the backing of leftist forces in the US….I will always believe this…I believe the Obama administration and bureaucratic holdovers were directly supporting him and many others and probably using US Citizen tax dollars….
David Rasch says
…and no reaction from the moslemite people in government. To sum it up; POTUS didn’t tell select congressmembers typically involved in this type business because they LEAK! Sound familiar? Can we all say Schittt, penosky,cortez and so on. These beasts so hate our President they can’t have the decency to compliment his work. Their minions in the news world do the hatchet work.
the lesser of terry's says
Yes, islam is the cause that has made the Middle East “a cesspool of of terrorism and lack of human rights”: transporting all that makes them such into the rest of the world. That is most certainly an established 1400 year plus fact. But the ideology of islam has had willing allies in the West for over a thousand plus years; cabals of rulers, criminal cartels, financial partnerships, and perhaps other nefarious conspiracy type relationships; there are always groups of persons set upon ruling the world, supreme in their own eyes and worthy of such. Still, it has not been possible for that actuality to exist until our modern times, that all began to be altered. From the Wilson administration up to the Reagan administration, while not seen as an enemy, islam was seen as needing to be measurably contained; just used as a pawn politically, and as an asset financially- but never marked and studied as an ‘enemy of the state.’ It was the Carter administration that destroyed completely any measures that might have developed to ascertain islam as a dedicated enemy whose might of arms and will of ideology was more deadly and dangerous than heretofore acknowledged. From the Clinton to Obama administrations islam became a victim, a friend, and ally; so yes, the Bush administrations, both of them, are knowingly guilty of accelerating the ‘march of islam’s ideology for personal financial profits, and for political, social, economical, and cultural gains- namely controlling and ruling the world for the elites whom view themselves as worthy and appointed lords, rules, and masters: they know best what is best for all the rest….
jewdog says
I doubt Trump will push an investigation into his pal, Erdogan, and certainly won’t kick Turkey out of NATO. Turkey is a far greater threat than ISIS, and is clever enough to wage its terrorist war by proxy on the down low.
Angemon says
Indeed. And, whatever the reason, Turkey is a liability – they are either incompetent or complicit.
Keys says
Maybe the devious Caliph wanna-be, Erdogan, was protecting Caliph al-Baghdadi until he could trade the prize off to his benefit.
Get rid of a competitor and get 20 miles in one stroke; and have Trump talk nice about you.
No proof. Just a thought trying to connect dots.