Pentagon officials today are trumpeting the death of Abd al-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli, the ISIS Finance Minister, who they are presenting as the group’s “No. 2 leader,” in a long tradition of presenting people who are not Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as the likely second-in-command for the caliphate.
Despite Defense Secretary Ash Carter presenting the killing as a “successful targeting,” officials reported to CNN that the initial plan was to take him alive, believing he could provide a lot of valuable insight into how ISIS funds itself.
Multiple helicopters full of special forces were sent to take Qaduli alive, but a US official says “something happened,” and then they decided to just launch an airstrike against the car instead, killing Qaduli. Officials declined to say what that something was.
This is the second time Qaduli has been reported killed in the past year, after Iraq “confirmed” him slain in a previous US airstrike in Tal Afar. This time troops were certainly closer to him, so the chances of mistaken identity are presumably less.
Pentagon officials say that the death of Qaduli will harm ISIS’ operational ability, though similar predictions that the elimination of other ISIS members would dramatically weaken the group haven’t borne out, with the group readily replacing lost commanders.
The USG Pentagon is filled with a bunch of sick murdering bastards.
I don’t know how you tolerate living in such a vile country. There are many other opportunities available. Places like Myanmar, Yemen, the Sudan, Ukraine. Surely those places would be more amenable to your values. You’d be sure to live a long life there as those places not only tolerate dissension, they encourage it. They’ll even provide you with free housing. Though, your stay in free housing will shortly come to an abrupt, public end. But at least you won’t have to look for follow-on housing. Those wonderful governments would have taken care of you… 😉
Ah,stay in Israel you crud.You bastards started this whole disaster by being scumbags instead of humans.
Whackamole continues.
The places you list make sense.
They are undergoing US sponsored “regime change” and having democracy spread all over them so, yes, good places to move to – but not quite yet.
If you’re in a hurry, why not try some our pending TPP partners – Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei? They must be be willing to peacefully forsake communism, humans rights abuses and Sharia law – otherwise why did Obama recently lay out the red carpet for their leaders ago in Sunnylands, CA?
Pentagon officials, State Dept, etc don’t tell the truth on anything so why should we believe them. They bomb civilians with an immediate statement that all killed were militants only to find out later they were civilians. Remember, Congress passed a law two years ago to allow the govt to disseminate propaganda to the American people. Interesting how just after the bombing of Brussels this major strike occurs.
Yeah,a political hit,to reassure the public,that we are winning!No Trulaine!
I’m waiting for the American people to see how actually feckless and idiotic the leadership of both parties are in creating this disaster of a world wo morals and order.
And all for Zion.
They probably refused to do this strike earlier in fear of civilian casualties.
But the Brussels attacks has led them to loosen up their rules of engagement.
The USG is getting quite adept at sewing dragon’s teeth in large swaths of the globe and then acting surprised and disgusted when the warriors spring up and seem to be mad at Americans and our allies
In fact, it appears to be addictive – or perhaps required – among members of the establishment and many of those striving to enter the establishment bubble.