Death Of An Islamic Scholar
“Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi” was not his real name. His true name was Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri. He was born to an impoverished father who “eeked out a living” selling sheep. He was described as a loner. He mustered primary school grades in the low 50’s. Yet he would go on to rule one third of Iraq and half of neighboring Syria. The territory under his control was the size of Great Britain. The key to his ascent was, as the New York Times put it, that he was “known for his brutality.” Brutality, yes. And megalomania.
Ibrahim Ali’s chosen appellation “Abu Bakr”, was a clue to his grand aspirations. The original Abu Bakr, Abdallah ibn Abi Quhafah, was nothing less that the first Islamic caliph, direct successor to the Prophet Mohammad, expanding Islam’s reach to the entire Arabian Peninsula. It’s clear, therefore, that contemporary Abu Bakr was no mere acolyte: he set his sights on being the supreme leader of all of Islam (the Umma).
So, as a young zealot, he first went about padding his resumé. In 1991 he enrolled in the Sharia College of Baghdad University. He received a BS and then took a PhD in Islamic Scripture at Saddam University. He initially joined al-Queda, but soon chaffed under the “timid” leadership of Osama bin Ladden, and eventually founded ISIS.
Under his leadership ISIS swept like wildfire through Iraq and Syria due to feckless leadership in Baghdad and an struggling dictatorship in Syria. That’s when the brutality, murder and mayhem really soared. According to the New York Times, thousands were murdered and countless young non Muslim women and girls were raped. (See the NYT: ISIS Enshrines a Theology of Rape; Rukmini Callimachi, Aug 13, 2015). Horror was everywhere. To quote the New York Times further (Oct 27, 2019; Rukmini Callimachi and Falih Hassan): “A Jordanian pilot was burned alive in a scene filmed by overhead drones. Men accused of being spies were drowned in cages, as underwater cameras captured their last tortured gasp. Others were crushed under the treads of a T-55 tank, or strung up by their feet inside a slaughterhouse and butchered like animals.” Although such descriptions are hard to believe, there is ample photographic documentation.
The above picture came from the British press (dailymail.co.uk). It was taken on July 27, 2014 in Raqaa, the de facto capitol of the “Caliphtate.” Those are NOT masks behind the central figure. They are severed human heads stuck like finials on the spikes of the fence. There are MANY more such photographs, including a movie of a number of ISIS members enjoying a game of soccer with a severed human head as the soccer ball.
In the face of such atrocities, what did the United Nations do?… Nothing. What did neighboring Islamic nations do?… Nothing. What did feckless coward Obama do?… Nothing. Under his watch the ISIS caliphate grew to the size of Great Britain. In fact, Obama declared that the fight against ISIS would take GENERATIONS.
He went on to explain that ISIS would be defeated only by “ideas”, you see.
Well, ideas might take “generations” but bullets work quicker. Enter President Trump. In less than three years time, our brave military under the command of President Trump shrunk the 93,628 square miles of the Caliphate to ZERO. No doubt there still are individuals sympathetic to the ISIS cause, but they are mere remnants of the ISIS groundswell, and, with the killing of Abu Bakr, the “dream” of an ISIS caliphate has been relegated to the dust of history.
So, in response to this momentous achievement, how does the Democratic leadership respond? Sadly (but predictably) they were all critical of the President. Adam Schiff, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer ALL whined that Democrats were “not briefed ahead of time.” But, ladies and gentlemen, with the outrageous history of deep state leaks that Mr. Trump has seen first hand, can we really blame him for making certain that the mission to kill Abu Bakr wasn’t compromised by “loose lips.”
And, not only were Democrats remiss in their reaction to the event, the press was (predictably) guilty as well. Many, many articles in the main stream media can be cited for outrageous slanted, partisan and misleading reporting, I’ll leave the reader, however, with just one article that encapsulates their wrongheaded response. The headline below is a screen capture of the original Washington Post (who’s motto is, ironically, “Democracy Dies In Darkness”) headline for the story. It has subsequently been changed by the newspaper due to an absolute FUROR raised by many concerned readers, but it was published as WaPo’s actual headline. Before looking at it, I would ask readers to consider for a minute the brief description of the terror presided over by Abu Bakr that I’ve provided above. And further, I’d like readers to consider also the photograph of severed human heads on a fence in Raqaa. Then, read if you will, the Washington Post’s headline of the execution of this monster:
A “religious scholar”????!!!!…. A “scholar”???!!!!…. Lord in heaven, help us.