Update: We have a photo of the hero!
We have declassified a picture of the wonderful dog (name not declassified) that did such a GREAT JOB in capturing and killing the Leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi! pic.twitter.com/PDMx9nZWvw
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 28, 2019
Original story: During Saturday night’s military raid that resulted in the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, a military working dog was injured.
While no human U.S. military members were injured, the dog received severe injuries after al-Baghdadi blew himself up to avoid capture. The dog, whose name and breed have not been disclosed, chased al-Baghdadi, cornering him in a tunnel in his compound. The terrorist leader was wearing a belt lined with explosives. He detonated the belt, killing himself and at least three of his own children, to avoid being captured by U.S. authorities.
My former employer The Washington Examiner reported that it was the heroic actions of the military dog that led to al-Baghdadi’s death.
“The dog is a war veteran and a valued member of the team,” a soldier assigned to Delta Force told the outlet. “The injury to the dog is an injury to one of us. These dogs are a special breed of courageous.”
As the outlet reported, military dogs such as German shepherds or Belgian Malinois are used at all levels of operations. The breeds are “capable of a variety of tasks, including attacking the enemy and bomb-sniffing,” the Examiner reported. During the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, a Belgian Malinois named Cairo assisted Navy SEALs in storming the al Qaeda leader’s compound.
President Donald Trump said Sunday that several military dogs were involved in chasing al-Baghdadi.
“He reached the end of the tunnel, as our dogs chased him down,” Trump said. “He ignited his vest, killing himself and the three children.”
The president added that one dog was injured.
“Our ‘K-9,’ as they call it,” Mr. Trump said, “I call it a dog. A beautiful dog — a talented dog — was injured and brought back.”
On radio host Hugh Hewitt’s Monday program, Deputy National Security Adviser Victoria Coates announced that the injured military dog will recover.
Trump, on Sunday, praised the military working dog, but also referred to al-Baghdadi as a dog — a slur.
“He died like a dog. He died like a coward. The world is now a much safer place,” Trump said when he confirmed al-Baghdadi’s death Sunday morning.
“He died like a coward,” Trump added. “The thug who tried so hard to intimidate others spent his last moments in utter fear, in total panic and dread, terrified of the American forces bearing down on him.”
Al-Baghdadi oversaw ISIS, which has been responsible for more than 140 terrorist attacks in nearly 30 countries, resulting in more than 2,000 deaths. One of the attacks inspired by al-Baghdadi was the Orlando nightclub shooting in 2016. The shooter called 911 just after he began his attack, and pledged allegiance to al-Baghdadi. Forty-nine people were killed during that attack and another 53 were injured.
The terrorist leader’s death was treated differently by members of the media than bin Laden’s death was treated under President Barack Obama, a Democrat. The Washington Post, for example, struggled to adequately label the terrorist leader in its obituary for him, calling him at one point an “austere religious scholar.”