The death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was celebrated by Democrats and the anti-Trump media when President Donald Trump in October 2019 ordered an arrest of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Top leaders in the Democratic Party still criticize Trump for not informing top Democrats about the strike.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi issued the following statement: “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. Our military and allies deserve strong, smart and strategic leadership from Washington.”
Trump informed two Republican leaders about the strike but admitted that he had completely ignored Democrats including Pelosi. As to informing Pelosi, Trump said: “No, I didn’t. That was not what I did. It was important to me that this information was kept private. It is not my intention to see men and women lose. I don’t want to have people lost.” He also said: “(I was) going to notify (congressional leaders) last night, but we decided not to do that, because Washington leaks like I’ve never seen before. Washington is a leaky machine. They are a leaking machine. I assured them that they would not inform them until their great men and women have left — not just inside, but outside. I don’t want to have them greeted with firepower like you wouldn’t believe.”
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff, D-Calif., called Trump’s lack of notice “a mistake.” Schiff said, “In terms of notifying the Gang of Eight, that wasn’t done,” referring to the leaders of both parties in the House, the Senate and their Intelligence Committees.
Susan Rice, former National Security Advisor, said that Trump broke protocol when he didn’t inform his predecessor about the extermination of ISIS leader. Rice said: “There is a tradition of common courtesy of presidents informing their predecessors of things of significance like this. Since the White House seemingly didn’t feel it necessary to inform the leadership of the intelligence committees on a bipartisan basis, I’m quite confident that they didn’t do the normal protocol with respect to predecessors either.”
It was that time.
Last week, Joe Biden directed a strike which killed Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, the successor to al-Baghdadi.
Pre-strike did Biden notify the top congressional leaders? Did he give an advanced warning to former President Donald Trump? Trump’s critic Democrats did not comment on whether they had been notified. However, it seems that Biden, much like Trump kept House intelligence officers in the dark. The Washington Post wrote: “A House Intelligence committee official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said Thursday that the committee was not notified before the Syria mission ‘and will ask for additional information from the administration on that decision.’” What about Pelosi? The Post said: “Gen. Drew Hammill, Pelosi’s spokesman, stated that Mark A. Milley was chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff and called Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday morning in order to inform her of Syria mission. It is unclear whether Milley’s call to Pelosi came before or After the strike.” Whether Pelosi received notification before or after the strike, given her criticism of Trump, seems awfully relevant. The difference is not being made by Dems or the media.
Do you worry, Biden and Trump alike, about leaks coming from congressional intel chiefs? including Democrats like Pelosi and Schiff? Did Biden, like Trump, fail to follow what Rice called “the tradition of common courtesy” by notifying his predecessor, the man the Biden administration calls “the former president,” of the impending strike against the IS leader?
It is hard to know. It seems that neither the pro-Biden media nor Democratic intel leadership care enough to know or to even ask. It is amazing what a Democratic administration can do for you.
Larry Elder, a nationally syndicated radio host and author, is a best-selling author. His latest book, “The New Trump Standard,” is available in paperback from Amazon.com and for Nook, Kindle, iBooks and Google Play. To find out more about Larry Elder, or become an “Elderado,” visit www.LarryElder.com. Follow Larry Elder on Twitter. Visit www.creators.com to see cartoonists and writers from CreatorsSyndicate.
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