Announcing today that U.S. Special Forces raided-and-killed the new leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] in Syria Al-Qurayshi or Hajii Abdullah, 79-year-old President Joe Biden proudly claimed a victory in the war on terror. “Last night, operating on my order, the United State military forces successfully remove a major terrorist threat to the world, the global leader of ISIS,” Biden said in remarks for the White House Roosevelt Room. Biden’s predecessor made a similar announcement Oct. 27, 2019 when former President Donald Trump announced the death of ISIS founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. When the slippery al-Baghdadi was killed it was a big deal since he wreaked havoc for so many years in the Mideast and all over the world. Today’s announcement carries very little weight because with al-Quaryshi gone, ISIS will appoint a successor in short order.
ISIS is a shell of the terror group it once was having very little global reach since the death of al-Bachdadi Oct. 27, 2019. While ISIS still poses a threat in the Mideast, it no longer has the same operational capacity or global reach when it was in its heyday when al-Baghdadi declared June 29, 2014 himself the leader of a global caliphate of all Muslims. Such bravado didn’t sit well with U.S. authorities, still trying to avenge the Sept. 11 jetliners suicide attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans. Al-Baghdadi was directly involved in the rape, torture and enslavement Aug. 13, 2014 at Mt. Sinjar of Yazidis, an ancient tribe with religious roots before Zoroastrianism. “Since then, ISIS has directed terrorist operations targeting Americans, our allies and our partners, and countless civilians in the Middle East, Africa and in South Asia,” Biden said, celebrating al-Qurayshi’s death.
Al-Qurayshi’s clout was confined mainly to Syria where the reclusive ISIS leader tried to hide out until U.S. Special Forces knocked at his door. When the dust settled, al-Quarayshi detonated a suicide vest killing himself and his family. “In a final act of desperate cowardice, with no regard to the lives of his family or other in the building, he chose to blow himelf up . . .taking several member of his family with him—just as his predecessor did,” Biden said. Trying to redirect the news cycle to a pyrrhic victory, Biden faces daunting challenges in Ukraine, with Russia and China joining forces to neutralize Biden’s Ukraine policy. Getting al-Qurayshi doesn’t have the same impact as getting al-Baghdadi but at least shows that Biden continues the Pentagon’s unending hunt for global terrorists. Biden’s has bigger fish to fry dealing with a standoff with the Russian Federation in Ukraine.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said whatever casualties at the scene of al-Quarashi’s death, including the deaths of four women and six children, they were related to detonation of a suicide bomb. “We’re always mindful of the potential for civilian harm,” Kirby said, after the U.S. predator drone strike on al-Baghdadi caused the deaths dozens of civilians. Whatever the collateral damage, Kirby said the Pentagon’s raids attempt to minimize civilian casualties while completing dangerous missions. In the mission to get al-Quaryshi, the U.S. was forced to destroy a disabled helicopter, much like the secret 2011 mission to get Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terror organization is a shell of its once menacing self, when Bin Laden’s programmed assassins flew jetliners into the World Trade Center and Pentagon. After Bin-Laden’s death May 2, 2011, al-Qaeda hasn’t had the global reach.
Bin Laden’s successor, 70-year-old Ayman al-Zawahri was too busy hiding from U.S. Special Forces, to organize global terror operations. ISIS too never recovered from al-Baghdadi’s death, leaving underlings like al-Quaryshi to keep the shriveled caliphate going. Al-Baghdad and other ISIS followers were promised Yazidi sex slaves in exchange for swearing loyalty to the bloodthirsty gang that hid behind Islam to run amok in Iraq and Syria in the wake of the Iraq and Syria Wars. Iraq and Syria Wars, both U.S. policies under former President George W. Busn and former President Barack Obama, left Iraq and Syria in such chaos they essentially ceded Iraq and Syria to terrorists. When former President Donald Trump came around, he wanted no part of more endless Mideast wars, redoubling U.S. efforts to end al-Baghdadi’s reign of terror. U.S. polices led the rise of al-Qaeda and ISIS.
Biden’s attempt to divert attention away from Ukraine to a success on the Syrian battlefield can’t hide the fact that the U.S. is closer to war with Russia than any time during the Cold War. “Last night’s operation took a major terrorist leader off the battlefield,” Biden said. “And it sent a strong message to terrorists around the world: We will come after you and find you,” Biden said, ignoring the real challenge to U.S. national security involving a growing confrontation with the Russian Federation. Biden celebrates a pyrrhic victory with al-Quaryshi’s death, knowing his replacement will happen quickly. Biden needs to focus all his energy to preventing a war with the Russian Federation in Ukraine. There’s imply no excuse for Ukraine escalating into a potential confrontation between the U.S. and Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin has asked for some minor concessions to resolve the crisis.
