Former Vice President Joe Biden questioned whether or not President Trump should be taking credit for the successful raid against ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. U.S. special forces raided his compound, before the monster ran into a tunnel and blew up himself and his three children. According to Biden, the mission was successful "despite" Trump and his "ineptitude."
Former Bush Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told Biden why he had no right to offer any opinion on the matter. Quoting Marc Thiessen in the Washington Post, Fleischer reminded the presidential candidate that it was despite his efforts that the military under President Obama captured Osama Bin Laden in 2011.
Watch: “Joe Biden is the wrongest person on earth to be talking about al-Baghdadi’s raid. He’s the man who opposed the raid against Osama Bin Laden. Biden’s foreign policy judgment has been poor for three decades.” — @AriFleischer on criticism of Trump. pic.twitter.com/Whl9C9eszU
— TV News HQ (@TVNewsHQ) October 30, 2019
Biden, however, is "weak on these issues."
In his WaPo piece, Thiessen recalls how Biden was one of only two "no" votes, the other being then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates, to advise President Obama not to give the green light for Operation Neptune Spear. He was reportedly worried about Obama's re-election.
So, Thiessen wonders, where does he get off criticizing Trump?
Yet, rather than praise Trump for ordering the killing of Baghdadi, Biden blasted the president, declaring the raid succeeded “despite his ineptitude as commander in chief.” The man who opposed the bin Laden operation criticizes the man who approved the Baghdadi operation? That’s rich. And it was the Obama-Biden administration’s withdrawal from Iraq in 2011 that allowed the Islamic State to rise from the ashes of defeat and build a caliphate the size of Britain. Talk about ineptitude. (Washington Post)
Trump has every right to claim credit for the al-Baghdadi operation, Fleischer concluded.
"The president deserves the credit he gets as commander in chief for authorizing the raid," Fleischer said. "The military carried it out."
More details have emerged about the successful raid, including how Conan the hero dog helped corner the terror leader. On Wednesday the Pentagon released some astounding surveillance footage of the operation.