U.S. releases Baghdadi raid video, warns of likely retribution attack

[webfact]

U.S. releases Baghdadi raid video, warns of likely retribution attack

By Phil Stewart

 

The compound of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is seen moments before an air strike in the Idlib region of Syria in a still image from video October 26, 2019. Video picture taken October 26, 2019. U.S. Department of Defense/Handout via REUTERS.

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Wednesday released its first images from last weekend's commando raid in Syria that led to the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and warned the militant group may attempt to stage a "retribution attack."

 

The declassified, grainy, black-and-white aerial videos from Saturday's raid showed U.S. special operations forces closing in on the compound and U.S. aircraft firing on militants nearby.

 

The most dramatic video showed a massive, black plume of smoke rising from the ground after U.S. military bombs leveled Baghdadi's compound.

"It looks pretty much like a parking lot, with large potholes," said Marine General Kenneth McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East.

 

McKenzie, briefing Pentagon reporters, said the idea of destroying the compound was at least in part "to ensure that it would not be a shrine or otherwise memorable in any way.

 

"It's just another piece of ground," he said.

 

Baghdadi https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-baghdadi/trump-says-u-s-may-release-parts-of-baghdadi-raid-video-idUSKBN1X71DY, an Iraqi jihadist who rose from obscurity to declare himself "caliph" of all Muslims as the leader of Islamic State, died by detonating a suicide vest as he fled into a dead-end tunnel as elite U.S. special forces closed in.

 

McKenzie said he brought two young children into the tunnel with him - not three, as had been the U.S. government estimate. Both children were believed to be under the age of 12 and both were killed, he said.

 

He portrayed Baghdadi as isolated at his Syrian compound, just four miles from the Turkish border, saying fighters from other militant groups nearby probably did not even know he was there. McKenzie suggested it was unlikely that Baghdadi used the Internet or had digital connections to the outside world.

 

"I think you'd find (he was using) probably a messenger system that allows you to put something on a floppy or on a bit of electronics and have someone physically move it somewhere," he said.

 

McKenzie said Islamic State would likely try to stage some kind of retaliatory attack.

 

"We suspect they will try some form of retribution attack. And we are postured and prepared for that," he said.

 

WHIMPERING AND CRYING?

McKenzie did not back up or knock down Trump's dramatic account of Baghdadi's final moments, which the president delivered during a televised address to the nation on Sunday. Trump said Baghdadi "died a coward — crying, whimpering, screaming." https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-death-isis-leader-abu-bakr-al-baghdadi

 

Asked about Trump's account, McKenzie said: "About Baghdadi's last moments, I can tell you this: He crawled into a hole with two small children and blew himself up as his people stayed on the ground."

 

"So you can deduce what kind of person he is based on that activity... I'm not able to confirm anything else about his last seconds. I just can't confirm that one way or another."

 

On Monday, Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also declined to confirm Trump's account, saying he presumed Trump got that information from his direct conversations with members of the elite unit that conducted the operation. Milley had not yet spoken with them, he said.

 

McKenzie suggested the U.S. military had secured a large amount of intelligence about Islamic State's activities during the raid.

 

"While the assault force was securing the remains, they also secured whatever documentation and electronics we could find, which was substantial," McKenzie said, declining to provide further details.

 

McKenzie said Turkey's incursion into Syria this month, and the U.S. pullback from the border, was not a factor in deciding the timing of the raid. Instead, McKenzie pointed to a host of other factors, including the amount of moonlight.

 

"We struck because the time is about right to do it then, given the totality of the intelligence and the other factors that would affect the raid force going into and coming out," McKenzie said.

 

(Reporting by Phil Stewart, additional reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-10-31

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[Colabamumbai]

I hope America is proud now. 

[BMW Overlander]

So where is the video?

[Tayaout]

10 minutes ago, BMW Overlander said:

So where is the video?

 

[roo860]

12 minutes ago, Tayaout said:

 

Excellent. 

[PETERTHEEATER]

Seems like most of the action has been redacted.....

[Tug]

Good glad the maggot is dead probably was the 2 kids whimpering not bagdaddy now shut up donald stop giving away information 

[ThaiFelix]

So once again there is no proof that they got him.

[beechguy]

5 minutes ago, ThaiFelix said:

So once again there is no proof that they got him.

If it was good enough for Barrack, should be good enough for Trump.

[Mac98]

2 hours ago, ThaiFelix said:

So once again there is no proof that they got him.

DNA is used to confirm kills, including drone strikes where possible.

[riclag]

13 hours ago, Colabamumbai said:

I hope America is proud now. 

Proud of executing somebody that led the head chopping,pushing gays of buildings and burning people alive, jv   radicals

Edited October 31, 2019 by riclag

[quadperfect]

6 hours ago, ThaiFelix said:

So once again there is no proof that they got him.

DNA

[Skeptic7]

That was COOL! ???????? 

 

Edited November 1, 2019 by Skeptic7

[WhatupThailand]

Hope this is true, Hard to tell now days.

 

Also notice it is very similar looking to a recent COD Game,

where you are in control of a C130 Gunship.

 

Why do all these BIG Names, go out with bodies dumped at sea,

Except Epstein, who is just rolled away, leaving all the same Questions.

 

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[EVENKEEL]

On 10/31/2019 at 3:51 AM, Tug said:

Good glad the maggot is dead probably was the 2 kids whimpering not bagdaddy now shut up donald stop giving away information 

Hard to say good job Trump? You'll get the hang of it in the next 5 yrs.

[Tug]

4 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

Hard to say good job Trump? You'll get the hang of it in the next 5 yrs.

Hard to realize that happened in spite of trump not because of??just think back to his first day in office standing in front of the wall of stars disparaging the very folks who do this kind of stuff or helinsky were he believes putin over the folks that keep us safe or what he just did to the Kurds and that’s just 3 examples many many more to choose from

[jastheace]

7 minutes ago, Tug said:

Hard to realize that happened in spite of trump not because of??just think back to his first day in office standing in front of the wall of stars disparaging the very folks who do this kind of stuff or helinsky were he believes putin over the folks that keep us safe or what he just did to the Kurds and that’s just 3 examples many many more to choose from

and who does the rest of the world fear most, and for what reasons ? not N Korea, not any country in the middle east, sorry to say, but I know. because no one stands up to them, they will get away with murder, and conflict... and war... sad