Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani praised President Trump for the killing of ISIS leader Abu al-Baghdadi last month, saying it was more important than the killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2011. Ghani said Baghdadi was an organizer and not a talker (like bin Laden).
Baghdadi killed himself and several of his children by detonating a suicide vest in a dead end tunnel where he fled and was trapped by U.S. forces and a military canine during a secret raid in Syria. Bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces in a 2011 raid on a compound in Pakistan.
“President Trump, people talked alot about bin Laden. But what you did to eliminate al-Baghdadi, who was an organizer and not a talker, is much greater accomplishment. Congratulations!”
Ghani’s comments back up Trump’s much criticized (by the usual Trump-haters) October 27 remarks on the killing of Baghdadi that it was bigger than bin Laden.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. We know the successors. And we’ve already got them in our sights. And we’ll tell you that right now, but we know the successors. Hamza bin Laden was a big thing, but this is the biggest there is. This is the worst ever.
Osama bin Laden was very big, but Osama bin Laden became big with the World Trade Center. This is a man who built a whole, as he would like to call it, “a country,” a caliphate, and was trying to do it again.
And I had not heard too much about his health. I’ve heard stories about he may not have been in good health. But he died a — he died in a ruthless, vicious manner. That, I can tell you.
https://youtu.be/zAijJBRnpIU
A typical example of the reaction to Trump’s accurate remark came from noted foreign policy and terrorism expert, Trevor Noah of Comedy Central who noted he can’t carry more than four ounces of skin lotion on airplanes anymore because of bin Laden and now walks around “all ashy”. (Language warning.)
“What are you doing?!” exclaimed Noah. “You don’t have to pretend this guy is a bigger get than bin Laden. First of all, it’s childish. Secondly, he’s not. Bin Laden changed the entire world forever. It’s 18 years after 9/11 and I still can’t take four ounces of lotion on an airplane. I go on vacation, and my skin is dry as XXXX. That’s how bad of a terrorist bin Laden was! We all ashy in these streets because of bin Laden!”
CBS Late Show host Stephen Colbert spoke for the Resistance in criticizing Trump over his characterization that killing Baghdadi was bigger than bin Laden (via The Wrap).
“You know how I know that killing bin Laden was a big deal?” a skeptical Colbert said. “Because Barack Obama never had to say that killing bin Laden was a big deal.”
“So is this,” Colbert clarified, then joked that the al-Baghdadi operation was bigger in at least one way: Trump’s 50-minute press conference was vastly longer than Obama’s 11-minute speech announcing bin Laden’s death.
Finally, Colbert took issue with Trump repeatedly stating that al-Baghdadi “died like a dog.”
“Ah, yes. I remember when I was a child and my dog, Mr. Fluffles got sick,” Colbert said. “We did the humane thing: We gave him a suicide vest and chased him down a tunnel.”
As usual, President Trump got the last laugh, courtesy of the leader of a government fighting both ISIS and al Qaeda on its soil.
“President Trump, people talked a lot about bin Laden. But what you did to eliminate al-Baghdadi, who was an organizer and not a talker, is much greater accomplishment. Congratulations!”
