Media, Democrats bash President Trump over al-Baghdadi raid
Trump's critics refuses to credit the president for the mission that killed ISIS leader al-Baghdadi; reaction on 'The Five.'
A National Public Radio panelist on Sunday accused President Trump of “spiking the football” when recounting the daring Special Operations forces mission that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
NPR correspondent Tamara Keith made the comments on a panel hosted by Lulu Garcia-Navarro for special coverage of President Trump's announcement of the terror kingpin's death, in which Trump painted Baghdadi as a "coward," who died "whimpering." Although outlets such as the Washington Post have gone to bizarre lengths to mute Baghdadi's bloodthirsty image, with that paper calling him an "austere religious scholar," Keith seemed to object more to Trump's characterization of his final moments. The Islamic State leader detonated an explosive vest as U.S. Special Operations Forces stormed his compound in the Idrib Province.
“I don't think we can overstate how graphic he was in describing this, talking in very specific detail about Baghdadi going into a tunnel with three children, saying that he died a coward whimpering and screaming - just truly remarkable to hear the president of the United States in some way sort of spiking the football in a very just graphic way,” Keith said.
“Trump is personalizing this in a pretty remarkable way. You know, with past operations, presidents if - let's say President Obama announcing the bin Laden raid. It was a very somber announcement," Keith said. "He did not go into details about how the raid was carried out."
The NPR panel, which also included correspondents Greg Myre and Daniel Estrin, went on to discuss Trump's mentioning oil, thanking Russia and alluding to Russia “in the same breath as Turkey.”
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Estrin called the raid a “very symbolic victory,” but noted that ISIS can function without Baghdadi because recruiters are always attracting new members on social media.
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Myre noted that killing Baghdadi was "absolutely" a significant victory for President Trump and the U.S. military and said the terror chief “led a movement that we had never seen before,” as “ISIS had tens of thousands of members, fighters coming in from all over the world” who supported the terror leader.
“They administered cities. They collected taxes. They had this incredible online recruit presence in terms of spreading propaganda, recruiting followers,” Myre said. “You know, in 2014 is when he really sort of exploded on the scene and led this group that had done something we'd never seen before.”
Garcia-Navarro then asked if Baghdadi’s death meant the end of ISIS.
“It's not the end of ISIS," said Myre, but he added: “The group is now scattered. There are thought to be thousands of ISIS fighters scattered around eastern Syria, western Iraq. But they're not in a coherent sort of way where they can wage major ongoing fights as a group.”
Fox News’ Ronn Blitzer contributed to this report.