{"id":916298,"date":"2017-07-23T07:23:02","date_gmt":"2017-07-22T23:23:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/?p=916298"},"modified":"2017-07-23T07:24:19","modified_gmt":"2017-07-22T23:24:19","slug":"ny-times-foiled-killing-of-isis-chief-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/916298\/ny-times-foiled-killing-of-isis-chief-trump","title":{"rendered":"NY Times \u2018foiled\u2019 killing of ISIS chief \u2014 Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"
Indian Shiite Muslim demonstrators burn an effigy of the Islamic State group (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi during a protest in New Delhi on June 9, 2017.\u00a0US President Donald Trump blasted the New York Times on Saturday, July 22, 2017, for thwarting a bid to kill al-Baghdadi.\u00a0AFP<\/p><\/div>\n
WASHINGTON, United States \u2014 President Donald Trump on Saturday attacked The New York Times and its “sick agenda,” alleging that one of the paper’s reports thwarted a US bid to take out Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) chief.<\/p>\n
“The Failing New York Times foiled US attempt to kill the single most wanted terrorist, Al-Baghdadi. Their sick agenda over National Security,” Trump wrote in one of a barrage of early morning tweets.<\/p>\n
Trump did not expand on his charge against The Times, or explain what revelation by the daily is supposed to have hampered Baghdadi’s capture.<\/p>\n
The New York Times told the Politico news site in a statement: “We have asked the White House to clarify the tweet.”<\/p>\n
US media suggested that Trump may have been referring to a Fox 黑料社 report about comments made by a top general at a security conference on Friday in Aspen, Colorado.<\/p>\n
At that gathering, General Tony Thomas — head of the US military’s Special Operations Command — reportedly said that American forces at one point came “particularly close” to Baghdadi after a 2015 raid recovered information about ISIS.<\/p>\n
Fox 黑料社 reported that Thomas said US troops had “a very good lead,” on the ISIS leader’s whereabouts.<\/p>\n
“Unfortunately, it was leaked in a prominent national newspaper about a week later and that lead went dead,” Thomas reportedly said at the forum.<\/p>\n
US Secretary of Defense James Mattis said Friday that he believes Baghdadi is still alive, following various claims in recent months that he has been killed.<\/p>\n
“We are going after him, but we assume he is alive,” the Pentagon chief said.<\/p>\n
There have been persistent rumors that Baghdadi has died in recent months.<\/p>\n
With a $25 million US bounty on his head, Baghdadi has kept a low profile but is rumored to move regularly throughout ISIS-held territory in Iraq and Syria.<\/p>\n
The Iraqi — nicknamed “The Ghost” — has not been seen since making his only known public appearance as “caliph” in 2014 at the Grand Mosque of Al-Nuri in Mosul, which was destroyed in the battle for Iraq’s second city.<\/p>\n
The Times has become a favorite Trump target despite his penchant for reaching out to the daily, including this week, when he gave its reporters a major interview in which he criticized his own Attorney General Jeff Sessions.<\/p>\n
In Saturday’s tweetstorm, Trump railed against The Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, for its “illegal leaks.”<\/p>\n
“A new INTELLIGENCE LEAK from the Amazon Washington Post, this time against A.G. Jeff Sessions,” he wrote on Twitter, adding “These illegal leaks… must stop!”<\/p>\n
He also groused about some of his favorite targets: the failure of US lawmakers to repeal “dead” Obamacare, Democratic “obstructionists” and alleged “ties to Russia” by Hillary Clinton, his defeated opponent in last year’s presidential election. CBB<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" President Donald Trump on Saturday attacked The New York Times and its “sick agenda,” alleging that one of the paper’s reports thwarted a US bid to take out Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) chief.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":937,"featured_media":907365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,43],"tags":[132109,133050,41955],"byline":[],"source":[206065],"column":[],"editor":[],"videographer":[],"position":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n