The Washington Post changed its headline for its obituary of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi after coming under fire for labeling him an “austere religious scholar.”
President Trump announced that al-Baghdadi killed himself during a military operation in Syria.
The Post initially published its article about his death under the headline, “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Islamic State’s 'terrorist-in-chief,' dies at 48.”
It was later changed to "Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, austere religious scholar at helm of Islamic State, dies at 48."
The article said that before he became a leader of ISIS, he was an "austere religious scholar with wire-frame glasses and no known aptitude for fighting and killing."
After coming under fire, the outlet changed its headline to, "Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, extremist leader of Islamic State, dies at 48."
Trump claims that Baghdadi raid bigger than Bin Laden:
Trump immediately posited the killing of al Baghdadi as a bigger deal than Obama’s mission to take out Osama bin Laden.
"This is the biggest there is. This is the worst ever," Trump said. "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."
Trump also falsely claimed that he “predicted” the threat bin Laden posed before 9/11.
"I wrote a book, a really very successful book, I said, there is somebody named Osama Bin Laden, you better kill him or take him out, something to that effect, he's big trouble," the president said. "And I'm saying to people, take out Osama bin Laden, that nobody ever heard of ... nobody listened to me ... let's put it this way, if they'd listened to me, a lot of things would've been different."
Trump notified Russia before Congress, Pelosi says:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi criticized Trump for informing the Russian military of the plan before notifying congressional leaders, as is custom.
“The House must be briefed on this raid, which the Russians but not top congressional leadership were notified of in advance, and on the administration’s overall strategy in the region,” Pelosi said in a statement. “Our military and allies deserve strong, smart and strategic leadership from Washington.”
Trump said he was “going to notify” congressional leaders “but we decided not to do that, because Washington leaks like I’ve never seen before.”
“Washington is a leaking machine,” he said. “And I told my people, we will not notify them until our great people are out — not just in, but out. I don’t want to have them greeted with firepower like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Pelosi served on the House Intelligence Committee for more than 20 years and has not been known to reveal sensitive information,” The Washington Post noted. “Last weekend, she led a high-level congressional delegation to Afghanistan and did not publicly disclose the trip until the group had returned.”
