As the White House is desperately using the raid that ended with the death of Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi to boost Biden’s approval ratings, it seems appropriate to point out that back in 2019, Biden claimed President Donald Trump deserved no credit at all for the raid that resulted in the death of al-Qurashi’s predecessor, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
“I’m glad President Trump ordered the mission. But as more details of the raid emerge, it’s clear that this victory was not due to Donald Trump’s leadership. It happened despite his ineptitude as commander-in-chief,” Biden claimed in October 2019.
Details have emerged since the al-Qurashi raid Biden ordered that raise doubts about the number of civilian casualties and what caused them. The raid is currently being reviewed by the Pentagon.
As for Trump’s al-Baghdadi raid, Biden did concede that “the successful operation to take Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi off the battlefield was a win for American national security. And it’s an important reminder of the skill and commitment of our military, intelligence, and national security professionals. They are beyond compare.”
Biden also claimed that Trump has also “made it less likely we will be able to successfully replicate a mission like this in the future. The operation leveraged a limited presence of U.S. counterterrorism capabilities in the region, which he keeps trying to dismantle.”
Biden’s attitude in 2019 starkly contrasts Biden’s efforts to use the raid that resulted in al-Qurashi’s death to “boost his foreign policy stature,” despite the controversies that have followed the initial reports.
It’s funny how that works.
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