October 28, 2019

"The dog, whose name and breed remain unknown, chased Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi into a tunnel and cornered him."

"With no place to go, the terrorist leader blew himself up along with three of his children, who he was using as human shields. The dog’s injuries highlighted the importance of military working dogs in special operations. Often, they will enter the danger zone with a camera on their backs before the humans do so. 'The dog is a war veteran and a valued member of the team,' a currently serving soldier assigned to Delta Force told the Washington Examiner.... Within the community, he says, 'The injury to the dog is an injury to one of us. These dogs are a special breed of courageous.'... The multipurpose canines, usually German shepherds or Belgian Malinois, are capable of a variety of tasks, including attacking the enemy and bomb-sniffing. They are often the first into the breach in a fight, giving them special significance among the special operations forces with which they operate.... Traditionally, the dogs hold the rank of a noncommissioned officer. They outrank their handlers as a way to prevent mistreatment, according to the U.S. Army...."

From "'Special breed of courageous': Delta Force operator hails valor of military dog wounded in Baghdadi raid" (Washington Examiner).

I was especially interested in "Often, they will enter the danger zone with a camera on their backs" because I'd just read — in The New York Times — "Watching the Raid Was Like a Movie, the President Said. Except There Was No Live Audio/Surveillance video provided a dramatic portrait of action outside the al-Baghdadi compound, but could not show what happened in an underground tunnel where the ISIS leader died. For that, Mr. Trump would have to hear from Delta Force, or their commanders." This seems designed to cast doubt on Trump's vivid description of Baghdadi's "screaming, crying and whimpering":
What the president saw, according to military and intelligence officials, was overhead surveillance footage on several video screens that, together, provided various angles from above, and in real time....

But those surveillance feeds could not show what was happening in an underground tunnel, much less detect if Mr. al-Baghdadi was whimpering or crying. For that, Mr. Trump would have had to have gotten a report from the commandos directly, or relayed up through their chain of command to the commander in chief.
9 paragraphs later, we get "It is not clear whether the dog that followed Mr. al-Baghdadi into the tunnel was wearing a body camera."

134 comments:

Michael K said...

Another transcript coming. Or video. The left sets themselves up for this.

traditionalguy said...

The drug sniffing attack dogs rule the world. They never hesitate to go into harms way to protect their masters. Make Masters Great Again.

The CIA mind controller nazis forgot re-programming the dogs.

MountainMan said...

The youngest son of a childhood friend served a couple of tours in Afghanistan as an Army NCO and handled one of these dogs. Not long after he completed his time in the Army and received his discharge there was a retirement ceremony for the dog and the ownership of the dog passed to him.

elkh1 said...

Of course the dog was wearing cameras. It's the only way for the military to know what happened in the tunnel and where to send the troops. They would have to respond differently if Baghdadi killed the dog or set a trap for them.

Ralph L said...

Of course, some will blame the crying on the poor al-Baghdadettes.

Tom T. said...

They're trying to dox the dog and get him on a brutality charge. "Hands up don't bite!"

Wince said...

As I said yesterday, a "Doggie Cam" was the only way to explain Trump's details Baghdadi's inglorious demise.

Necessary because it was needed to explain the deaths of the three children in the raid.

I suspect Trump expected to be called-out on those details by the MSM only to hold the "Doggie Cam"card.

Leland said...

Just because a camera exists or does not exist doesn't mean it is tied into a transmission network providing data back to the US. But this is the media, and their ignorance of the topics they cover is profound and significant, yet they think they know better than us.

As for Trump, I suspect he was embellishing and it was unnecessary. Still, I don't care. The austere religious scholar had others kidnap women and brought to him to use as sex slaves. Perverts like this typically do whimper when they come face to face with people capable of defending themselves. Sad that US newspapers chose to eulogize such people. Trump was right to defame the guy.

Openidname said...

From the Washington Examiner, of course. You're not going to see any of this in the WaPo or the NYT.

chuck said...

This seems designed to cast doubt on Trump's vivid description

You think? The NY Times is just bitter that they couldn't foil the operation once again with a leak.

cfkane1701 said...

Calling anything a dog does "courageous" or implying that any kind of agency is involved is inaccurate. Dogs are trained to do tasks, and they are trained first by showing them who the alpha is, the trainer. Dogs are pack animals; they follow the leader. They do what the alpha tells them solely because the alpha tells them.

Calling a military dog courageous or describing a dog used by police as a "K9 officer" displays a willful misunderstanding of what dogs are and what they are capable of. They're not little people in fur suits. They're animals, with less intelligence, who can be trained to do simple tasks that we don't want to risk humans doing. No more, no less.

henry said...

yeah, no benefit of the doubt to Trump. yawn.

Nichevo said...

Find a lover that looks at you the way the New York Times looks at any enemy of Donald Trump whatsoever.

Skippy Tisdale said...

BUT HE DIDN'T TELL NANCY BEFOREHAND!!!

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Chuck Hillary Clinton Todd is skeptical we really killed him.

R C Belaire said...

The MSM will pick on Trump's comments like a kid working on a scan.

Amadeus 48 said...

I smell idiots--oh, it's just the NYT. They need to keep plucking that chicken!

Trump could have made it all up. Maybe Al-Baghdadi choked on a piece of goat. Or maybe Trump got a description from the military. Or maybe the dog was miked, but it was the dog whimpering...or Al-Baghdadi...or both. Or maybe Trump is trolling the remaining ISIS fans (apparently including WaPoop and Bloomberg News) with this shaggy dog story. Or maybe he's telling the truth.

My point is, who cares? Al-Baghdadi is dead.

Sheesh.

Amadeus 48 said...

Also, this just in: Chuck is also an idiot. Chuck, give a rest. Oh, I forgot. You can't.

Amadeus 48 said...

Chuck Todd is also an idiot. Some things are starting to fall into place.

Drago said...

That dog is clearly Alt-Right.

---Every Leftist

Beasts of England said...

"Hands up don't bite!"

Well played!

Paul said...

Soon there will be robot dogs that do this. And packed with explosives if they see terrorist in the tunnels or houses they will just... kaboom. And 72 whatever will be awarded to the deceased terrorist.

Leslie Graves said...

One does wonder here if the NYT rushed to judgment in their statement that Trump couldn’t possibly have seen anything that happened in the tunnel. Maybe they are right, but it might have been advisable for them to hold off on that strong assertion.

rhhardin said...

Dogs thrive on responsibility. It you want to see why, read that Vicki Hearne "Adam's Task," the essays on Washoe and on How To Say Fetch.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

"This seems designed to cast doubt on Trump's vivid description...", or maybe they're calling our commandos liars.

readering said...

Yesterday's news. He's on to saying everyone knows Chicago worse than Afghanistan and he's done more for police than anyone. He's best at everything!

Roughcoat said...

cfkane 1701 @11:52 AM:

You're wrong.

readering said...

Find a lover that looks at you the way Trump looks at Trump.

Hagar said...

The MSM's reaction to Mr. Trump's publication of al Baghdadi's demise is rather different from that given Mr. Obama on a similar occasion.

(BTW, this set me to remembering that photo again and how Mr. Obama's body language was not all reassuring, certainly not in command and rather apprehensive that he might possibly be blamed for something, and never mind Hillary!'s reaction that looked like "This is not good! I should not have come here!" to me.)

samanthasmom said...

cfkane has never lived with a dog. They don't have to be trained to run into danger to save their human.

John Cunningham said...

@cfkane1701--you appear to be a dog-hating scum. And a cat-lover too I bet. Probably a commie as well.

Ann Althouse said...

"As I said yesterday, a "Doggie Cam" was the only way to explain Trump's details Baghdadi's inglorious demise."

It's not the only way. He could be making it up.

W.Cook said...

I the dog is inside a tunnel, it is doubtful RF signals would have been able to penetrate to give a live feed to anyone except those also in the tunnel.

Even if it had been out of the tunnel, it is doubtful you would saddle the dog with the batteries and communication equipment required to reliably transmit a live feed to overhead resources.

But I believe your point was about the structure of the story and how it was used to imply that Trump was being untruthful.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

My guess he was told some of it, he heard and some of it, he watched some of it, and then he pieced it together.

Of course that means he's a liar who colluded with Russia.

steve uhr said...

1701 — spoken like someone who doesn’t own a dog.

walter said...

If they sniff certain drugs, they can increase their courageousness.

Achilles said...

Our dogs had cameras.

In call outs we explicitly sent the dog in first.

I guarantee there was a camera on the dog and Trump’s account is first hand.

I saw lots of simpering and crying on the dog cam. His description is just how I would describe it.

Fuck the media. These people are on the other side. They always have been.

Bob Boyd said...

I wondered if the modern live feed had sound and how Trump could know the POS was whimpering and so forth.
I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Al-Baghdadi, in addition to being a child rapist and a mass murderer, was also a fucking mime. Who knows? Maybe the tunnel wasn't even a dead end and he was just doing his glass wall bit hoping to charm his pursuers.
Seriously though, I don't care. I'm glad Trump heaped scorn upon the guy and I hope the dog and the operators all pissed on what was left him.

tim in vermont said...

Unleash the dogs of war, Conquistador edition.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasco_Núñez_de_Balboa#/media/File:Balboamurder.jpg

Seeing Red said...

The splodeydope could have been crying and/or yelling as he was chased into the tunnel. The dog wasn’t the only eyes on the target.

Milwaukie guy said...

In the Pentagon briefing this morning about the raid, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs said Trump had spoken with the special operators.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

The left-wing press will stop at nothing to find a cracks in Trump's account. It will lead to secret impeachment hearings conducted by liar Schitt in the basement.

Sam L. said...

"...because I'd just read — in The New York Times — "Watching the Raid Was Like a Movie, the President Said. Except There Was No Live Audio/Surveillance video provided a dramatic portrait of action outside the al-Baghdadi compound, but could not show what happened in an underground tunnel where the ISIS leader died. For that, Mr. Trump would have to hear from Delta Force, or their commanders."

I do not trust anything in the NYT.

Hagar said...

To be fair, the famous Obama picture was taken when the helicopter crashed and it all looked like going to hell in a hand basket, but my point was about how it was played by the media.

Fernandinande said...

The austere religious scholar had others kidnap women and brought to him to use as sex slaves. Perverts like this typically do whimper when they come face to face with people capable of defending themselves.

It's actually the opposite; lack of fear used to be considered a characteristic of psychopaths, recently that's been somewhat modified to mean "lack of reaction to fear" (fear training), in either case "People who are psychopathic have a fearless personality".

Ralph L said...

Unleash the dogs of war, Conquistador edition.

You get a free dog with every can of Conquistador Coffee, but it's quite peaceful.

walter said...

Wouldn't need to be a live feed for Trump to have reviewed recorded footage..since the dog survived.
If he wanted to really insult/embellish, Trump could have said the guy completely pissed himself. Islam has a special sensitivity around urine.

Lewis Wetzel said...

" Blogger readering said...
Yesterday's news. He's on to saying everyone knows Chicago worse than Afghanistan and he's done more for police than anyone. He's best at everything!"

“I think that I’m a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I’ll tell you right now that I’m gonna think I’m a better political director than my political director.”
-Obama

Francisco D said...

The usual suspects want Trump to be impeached because he lied about Al-Baghdadi whimpering like a dog... maybe. Of course, Trump is not allowed to use propaganda in the War on Radical Islam because ....

Susan said...

Oh sure. Go after the dog's courage and competence.

THAT will bring multitudes to your side

Jim Gust said...

The NYTimes has no decency. None.

It's why I no longer even look at their front page.

tim in vermont said...

I think it’s fine that the jihadis realize that we are a war like people. If the Japanese had understood that, it might have save everybody a lot of trouble in the Pacific.

bleh said...

Frankly, I love what the New York Times has done to itself. There's always a veneer of respectability because they're very good at using dry language that seems highly analytical and detached. But any honest person could tell they carry water for one side and not the other. It's effectively a DNC Super PAC propounding opinions and talking points, but it's masquerading as straight news reporting. In other words, it's bullshit. For conservatives, that sort of phoniness can often be enraging.

But even a highly professional outfit like the New York Times can't help itself. They hate Trump so much they'll do anything to make him look bad. During the Trump years, the mask slips with disturbing frequency, and they've made numerous stupid mistakes -- revealing their bullshit.

There's really no point anymore in them even trying to affect or pretend to objectivity.

Owen said...

It would help if we had a diagram of the tunnel network. From the drone shot of the rubble that used to be the compound, the tunnels did not appear to be terribly long or deep. Assuming the dog wore any electronic communications/tracking gear (it sounds as if that’s a pretty safe assumption) could it not penetrate that depth and distance? Or maybe the Spec Ops team were close behind, near the branch down which Al-Baghdadi had fled. It seems likely they would have waited there to let the dog confirm his location or continue the chase: or shelter while the dog sniffed out boobytraps or faced the blast from a suicide bomb vest —which is exactly what happened. If so, the humans could have heard what went on in the tunnel.

Let me guess also that the Israelis have had a LOT of experience in detecting tunnels and might have shared techniques or equipment for listening to underground activity. Who’s to say that a whimper or a scream would go unheard?

My point is, based on limited information, Trump’s descriptions seems perfectly plausible. The burden of proof falls IMHO on the bitter clingers at the NYT to show it didn’t happen that way.

Clyde said...

A coward who would use children as human shields would certainly die crying and whimpering. Regardless of whether he did or not, he is dead and the world is a better place without him.

Nichevo said...

As for Trump, I suspect he was embellishing and it was unnecessary. Still, I don't care.


No, everything he said is true and verifiable. The media sets itself up for a punking every single time.

The thing is, even if he were lying, he should be allowed and aided to lie, because that's what we call propaganda. It is better for the sake of our winning the war, for current and potential ISIS soldiers to think that their leader showed yellow. This should not be contradicted. Unless of course you're on the other side.

BUMBLE BEE said...

Same outfit said Benghazi wasn't live streamed for hours either. Twelve hour firefight. Never did find out who told rescuers to stand down. Hope the Prez lets us in on that little secret!
Dogs with cameras? Watch NatGeo wild you'll see many animals with cameras.

pious agnostic said...

One thing you can depend on, the body cams (doggie cams) and communications used by these strike teams are like magic compared to anything the NYT or any of their civilian readers have ever experienced.

BUMBLE BEE said...

I had a black lab as a kid, and while traipsing through a pasture with him, came upon a bull.
Dog got in harms way with fur from tail to skull standing on end snapping all around that bull's face. Backed that bull down. Bull turned and walked away.
I'm not a cat person.

doctrev said...

As with every single endeavour post-2016, it's generally smarter to assume that China is collapsing economically, Baghdadi is dead, the Kurds have magically not been genocided, and the American economy is supercharged.

None of that is coincidence. It is in spite of the lugenpresse, and entirely due to the President and his team. There will be a reckoning, and the fifth column will be knocked out.

Greg the class traitor said...

What the president saw, according to military and intelligence officials, was overhead surveillance footage on several video screens that, together, provided various angles from above, and in real time....

Ann Althouse said...
"As I said yesterday, a "Doggie Cam" was the only way to explain Trump's details Baghdadi's inglorious demise."

It's not the only way. He could be making it up.

W.Cook said...
I the dog is inside a tunnel, it is doubtful RF signals would have been able to penetrate to give a live feed to anyone except those also in the tunnel.

Even if it had been out of the tunnel, it is doubtful you would saddle the dog with the batteries and communication equipment required to reliably transmit a live feed to overhead resources.


1:There's this magical and wonderful thing call a "repeater". What it does is it takes signals it gets, and "repeats" them. Sometimes they have more power than the initial transmitters. Sometimes they're just in a better location to pass the signals on.

So you can have a path that goes dog to team to helicopter to satellite to ... to ... to White House

This is not top secret. This is not esoteric technology.

2: Yep, Trump could have lied. It would have been pointless, but he's done stupid things before.

OTOH, we've spent three years with lies and BS coming from the press, particularly the NYT, and left wing "military and intelligence officials". So if your 1st thought is "gee, this must be one of the few Trump lies, rather than the routine, every day, media lies", you might want to adjust your priors.

See: the "Trump transcript" that Schiff read into the record, vs the actual transcript of the call.

3: Disk space is cheap and lite. Accountability and after action reports are important, esp. to military bureaucracy.

So the chance that any doggie cam videos aren't being recorded by someone is somewhere between slim, and none. Which means that even if Trump couldn't watch it in real time (see #1, above), he could still watch it.

I wish Ted Cruz had won the GOP nomination and the general election, because if he had, he would have had people who could put in to root out the left wing infiltrators the Obama Admin has left behind, sabotaging our government (see those "military and intelligence officials" being quoted by the NYT)

The inability to weed those people out is the biggest failure of the Trump Admin

mockturtle said...

He's on to saying everyone knows Chicago worse than Afghanistan and he's done more for police than anyone. He's best at everything!

They do, it is, and he has.

Jon Burack said...

It's absolutely essential to the very survival of the nation that every single positive story for Trump be undermined or denigrated in any way possible.

narciso said...

well he still had to get it pass the possum senate, which included fideloflake, McCain, and Corker, and McCaskill the chances are a little better with Sinema Blackburn, Hawley but Romney replaced Hatch so almost status quo ante,

narciso said...

Paging Max Boot, you can see someone's expression on video,

Ken B said...

9 paragraphs before you find out their speculation is baseless.

hombre said...

Perhaps a little theater to discourage prospective terrorists. So?!

Lefty wisdom is that any rigorous action against terrorist a-holes is a recruiting tool. Lefties are experts on partisan Democrat congressional terrorism. Actual terrorism, not so much. Witness Benghazi and payoffs to Iran.

bagoh20 said...

I don't care if the piece of shit whimpered or not. Saying he did was a smart play designed to weaken his following and discount his influence. Ask Adam Schiff about making things up that your enimies supposedly said. At least Trump knows who the real enemy is.

Freeman Hunt said...

He could easily have been watching a relayed signal. When it's Trump, everyone has to act like everything is totally impossible and whatever explanation makes Trump look bad must be the right one even if it makes no sense.

hombre said...

Greg wrote: “The inability to weed those people out is the biggest failure of the Trump Admin.”

It’s a simple matter to ferret out or neutralize the leakers. Just give reporters the Patrick Fitzgerald/Judith Miller treatment. Their is no federal shield law that I know of.

With regard to “intelligence community” sources the leakers compromise national security. Reporters should be jailed for contempt for not giving them up.

Quaestor said...

A woman who coached me in dressage 25 years ago had a husband (they're divorced now) whose sport of choice was Schutzhund training and competition. Schutzhund is mostly, but not entirely identical to the training regimen used by US special operations forces. When I knew him he owned or part-owned five competitive Belgian Malinois dogs and a well-respected brood bitch. Daniel, that was his name, described the Malinois as the "land torpedo". In competitive Schutzhund, verbal commands are given in German. I don't know whether US troops use German or English.

Among the commands are some words most of us have heard in war movies: Achtung! (Watch, Attention.) The handler points and the dog looks in the pointed direction. You can only do this with dogs. Even chimps, allegedly much smarter than dogs, can't figure out the pointing finger. Bleib! (Stay!) Platz! (Down!) No kidding, it's "plotz" Just like on Linda Richman's Coffee Talk. I'm so verklempt over the ISIS boss getting his by one of our war dogs. The funniest one is Pfui! It's pronounced just like our "phoo-ee" and means "Shame! Stop that!"

More recently, the owner of a gunshop I patronize owns a neutered Malinois dog which has had some Schutzhund experience. This dog is really friendly and offers to play fetch with nearly everyone who visits the store. But don't try any funny business, I'm sure, or the land torpedo will sink your friggin' battleship.

Achilles said...

W.Cook said...
I the dog is inside a tunnel, it is doubtful RF signals would have been able to penetrate to give a live feed to anyone except those also in the tunnel.

There are several feeds you can watch live from the toc which can be connected anywhere. The people in the field have a satellite connection which goes to the toc. Several voice channels. Aerial views.

The setup is elaborate in some ways but routine.

Trump and those generals had several monitors up and had many ways to see and hear what was happening live. Just like Obama watched the OBL raid.

The media sucked Obama’s dick for weeks and Obama basically said he killed Osama himself despite his personal interference which almost let Osama escape.

I am willing to bet that the army side asked trump not to inform the Democrat traitors. The army hates Obama, Democrats, and neocons.

whitney said...

Cali sober. That's pretty funny. I guess I did that for a while. I didn't really quit drinking I just didn't drink for a while and then realized that I was done drinking but I still smoked pot for probably a year maybe two after that. And then one day I ran out and just never bought any more. I do enjoy not losing my keys anymore

n.n said...

I think it’s fine that the jihadis realize that we are a war like people. If the Japanese had understood that

And a lot of blood and treasure. It would be a mistake to offer them aid and comfort, so that they will feel sanctioned to decapitate, rape, and abort more lives for their forward-looking causes.

Leland said...

A short search of the web: SOFIC 18 – Trident K9 Tactical Helmet

narayanan said...

Greg the class traitor said.
wish Ted Cruz had won the GOP nomination and the general election, because if he had, he would have had people who could put in to root out the left wing infiltrators the Obama Admin has left behind, sabotaging our government (see those "military and intelligence officials" being quoted by the NYT)
-------------------------
explain please - why not give list to Trump?
unless Ted Cruz in Resistance or Cuckland?

n.n said...

has never lived with a dog. They don't have to be trained to run into danger to save their human.

A dog is a man's best friend through observation. My cat, too. He has an excellent record of tracking and capturing mice. The dog barks. The cat meows. The terrorists... invaders and mice are kept at bay.

Achilles said...

Clyde said...
A coward who would use children as human shields would certainly die crying and whimpering. Regardless of whether he did or not, he is dead and the world is a better place without him.

Common practice for these shitweasels. They did it every time they had the chance. Just like Democrats use children as political props.

Funny how Democrats have so much in common with islamists.

The last time we used a one-banger(flash bang grenade), in Iraq a particularly nasty weasel circled his kids around the front door and ran out the back. One of the kids lost a leg.

SWAT teams are still using flash bangs in drug raids domestically and children have been injured.

Our government and our media have priorities.

Bruce Hayden said...

Yes. Trump could have lied here. But I this sort of situation, he is allowed to do so. Just like Obama pretending that OBL had his corpse respected. ISIL, al Quaeda, etc apparently obsessively watch CNN. They, no doubt, knew that Obama sucked up to Muslims around the world in penance for killing OBL, while Trump made an international laughing stock about Baghdadi, as he was cornered like a rat by te dog, at the end of a tunnel, ten killing himself, instead along with three of his children. Thus ended the Caliphate, this supposed descendant of Mohammed dying as a coward, cornered by a dog, taking these remaining descendants, his children, with him. That is his prerogative as President, because, in the end, it involves foreign relations. For 1300 years, all that much of Islam respects is power, and the willingness to use it ruthlessly. For the Muslims watching this the most closely, and those considering martyrdom in the name of the Prophet, this is still the case. And now they have evidence that this descendant of Mohammed was hunted down as ruthlessly as the Mongols did of the last Caliphate of Baghdad some 800 years ago. So sure, Trump may have embellished the truth a bit here, but if he did so, it was fully justified.

narciso said...

true, but that only happens if you are an immoral sob, like fitz, meanwhile there is a second arab spring, happening in Iraq, and Lebanon, against their Iranian handlers,

narayanan said...

I have always found it funny and foolish in movies and shows when a whole team goes in through single entry point

Even though someone is in tunnel listening to him from above is possible unless tunnel is deep

details details

Leland said...

It's actually the opposite;

I have no idea what the link is supposed to provide, because NatGeo locks down the website without subscription, and the headline reads: "How Fear Makes you do Good or Evil". Fear is what Trump was describing and is a common emotion to have when a person flees down a tunnel away from people coming after them.

From Lexico: Whimper - Make a series of low, feeble sounds expressive of fear, pain, or unhappiness.

How is that actually the opposite? Or are you claiming al Baghdadi was just a psychopath that intended to lure his attackers into the cave to kill them with the suicide vest? If so, where does your information come from?

Birkel said...

I liked when one of the news channels (MSNBC?) referred to the building as a farm house.

I was watching video that showed rebar and said to myself "What kind of farmhouse is built with rebar?

The MSM was trying to make him into a peaceful farm dweller or retired or something just as stupid, it seemed to me.

mockturtle said...

I'll be interested to know the breed. I knew a Belgian Malinois once--a beautiful dog and smart as she was beautiful. They are pretty rare compared to German Shepherds.

Bay Area Guy said...

"The dog, whose name and breed remain unknown, chased Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi into a tunnel and cornered him."

Nonsense. The dog's name is Abu Barker al-Baghdadi .

The Breed? The infamous Huntaway!

JaimeRoberto said...

Trump could falsely claim in the middle of 5th Avenue, that al-Baghdadi died whimpering like a dog, and his supporters would still be with him. And that's ok by me, because it's useful to belittle al-Baghdadi.

Rory said...

"They're not little people in fur suits."

It's not that dogs have some intellectual courage akin to human. It's that human courage is primitive, animalistic.

Ann Althouse said...

Whoever watched Baghdadi screaming and crying in fear also watched 3 children in terror.

narciso said...

very much so,


https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2019/10/28/course-cnn-brings-clapper-bash-trump-baghdadi-raid-details-made-him

then though, al queda had expanded to north Africa, to west Africa, Syria, (nusra front) and the other hydra head, Islamic state, but they had embargoed the documents recovered from the raid,

narciso said...

were they really:

https://www.steynonline.com/9819/baghdadi-bagged

Ken B said...

Do we know the children were in terror? Were the Goebbels children afraid to drink what their parents gave them? Were the kids at Jonestown terrified?
But you raise a good point re releasing the video. Might be best not to release video if it shows the kids.

Jon Ericson said...

Whoever watched Baghdadi screaming and crying in fear also watched 3 children in terror.

Please tell us which or what point you are trying to make.

rcocean said...

You can be sure his kids died crying and whimpering. A disgusting man - to have his kids die with him.

But aren't Liberals thinking: "isn't the death penalty wrong? Shouldn't we have put in him prison for the rest of his life" "Did we really have to kill him"?

n.n said...

also watched 3 children in terror

bin Laden, and now al-Baghdadi. Gaddafi, too, and with suspect justification.

Mr. O. Possum said...

Trump's use of dog imagery was no accident and probably came to him from the Pentagon's PsyOps people.

Dogs are viewed as unclean animals in the Muslim world because that's what Muhammad and the Quran said. (Cats not so much.)

Comparing Baghdadi to a dog and that he was killed by a dog and was a coward when he died will all play well in the Middle East. It's a tool to tamp down recruiting by ISIS.

We'll find out in 20 years how the fiend actually died...at about the same time we learn bin Laden is alive and in our custody somewhere.

Earnest Prole said...

Now that’s a good dog.

n.n said...

Our government and our media have priorities.

It is odd that they (e.g. WaPo) would exploit an appeal to emotion, for what can only be understood as a means to color Trump and clear al-Baghdadi. This traces back to Iraq War 1.0, 1.5, and which progressed with the abandonment of Iraqis, a vacuum in its wake, infiltration and a deal with Iran, and the progress of Middle East... global war 1.0.

Bob Boyd said...

@ Birkel

From what I've seen, most houses over there are constructed with brick walls supporting a concrete roof. They don't build with wood much.
Nevertheless, I have no doubt you're right about the media's portrayal.

Francisco D said...

Whoever watched Baghdadi screaming and crying in fear also watched 3 children in terror.

Yes they did and I am sure it was difficult for them. What point are you trying to make?

I wonder what you would have done in that situation, Althouse.

Bob Boyd said...

In Iraq the locals were very much afraid of strange dogs. It was understandable in this respect, they don't widely vaccinate for rabies in many of these shithole countries. A dog bite was potentially fatal, like a snake bite.

Owen said...

"Whoever watched Baghdadi screaming and crying in fear also watched 3 children in terror." - Ann Althouse

Yes. And that must be tough to take.

Is your point, war is hell? Or is your point, we should play by Al-Baghdadi's rules? Which are to use human shields to turn our compunctions against us, a sick elegant move that is IMHO analogous to OBL's turning our technology --aircraft, skyscraper, instantiations of our Western prowess-- into weapons, the ultimate ju-jitsu, the perfect irony?

I think without much basis that Arabs, perhaps especially the religiously fervent, are very impressed by the manipulation of symbols, by the leverage of meme or the pure style of an unexpected twist or fork. OBL planned his big act with that in mind: he had the time and resource to strike in any way he wanted, wherever and however he chose. Yet he chose that one. Why? For its symbolic resonance.

We are at war. All wars are fought in the mind as much as in the "world." Which is why I think Bruce Hayden's comment at 3:26 is helpful. Trump's crass and controversial word-picture is indelibly set in all of our minds (and, Hallelujah, the more the MSM complain of it, the deeper it sets). And what it sets there are memes that the Islamists will not soon forget.

Bilwick said...

I'm enjoying the parodies of WaPo's original "austere religious leader" headline.

Owen said...

"Whoever watched Baghdadi screaming and crying in fear also watched 3 children in terror." - Ann Althouse

Yes. And that must be tough to take.

Is your point, war is hell? Or is your point, we should play by Al-Baghdadi's rules? Which are to use human shields to turn our compunctions against us, a sick elegant move that is IMHO analogous to OBL's turning our technology --aircraft, skyscraper, instantiations of our Western prowess-- into weapons, the ultimate ju-jitsu, the perfect irony?

I think without much basis that Arabs, perhaps especially the religiously fervent, are very impressed by the manipulation of symbols, by the leverage of meme or the pure style of an unexpected twist or fork. OBL planned his big act with that in mind: he had the time and resource to strike in any way he wanted, wherever and however he chose. Yet he chose that one. Why? For its symbolic resonance.

We are at war. All wars are fought in the mind as much as in the "world." Which is why I think Bruce Hayden's comment at 3:26 is helpful. Trump's crass and controversial word-picture is indelibly set in all of our minds (and, Hallelujah, the more the MSM complain of it, the deeper it sets). And what it sets there are memes that the Islamists will not soon forget.

bagoh20 said...

" Dogs are pack animals; they follow the leader. They do what the alpha tells them solely because the alpha tells them."

So where do new Alphas come from?

Dogs are no more stuck to their nature and genetics than we are. They have emotions, fears, feelings of loyalty and love, and they have politics. Dogs are nominally pack animals, like humans are nominally social. Some dogs are not pack animals at all and are loners. In fact, it's likely that the first wolves that started becoming human friendly were those with a tendency to be loners, independent, and less attached to their pack.

Owen said...

Sorry for the duplicated post. Can Prof. A delete?

bagoh20 said...

That dog looks incredibly intense. I would not want him chasing me. I've seen that look in women before, but I used to be a pretty fast runner. Today, they just run me down and have their way with me. It's really disgusting.

Fernandinande said...

Whoever watched Baghdadi screaming and crying in fear also watched 3 children in terror.

I'll betcha an internet dime that nobody watched Baghdadi screaming and crying.

David-2 said...

To those wondering how RF signals get out of the tunnel from a dog's camera - the US military has very capable digital radio/transceivers that form ad-hoc networks and thus a digital message (e.g., a video stream) can be sent from one radio node to another down the tunnel, out to other soldiers or drone aircraft, and up to satellites.

Don't imagine any communication limitations like you see in WWII movies (or even Vietnam movies). This is the 21st century: We fly remotely piloted drones over enemy territory for 12-18 hours at time, they're sending high-def full resolution color video back to the US via satellites; USAF combat air controllers are on the ground in combat areas doing air traffic control right there where it is needed and directing aircraft operations and missile and bomb strikes; in short: soldiers these days are connected when in combat.

Fernandinande said...

Me: "It's actually the opposite;"

I have no idea what the link is supposed to provide, because NatGeo locks down the website without subscription, and the headline reads: "How Fear Makes you do Good or Evil".

I can read the NatGeo site w/o a subscription, but like I said, psychopaths, or your description, "perverts" with psychopathic behavior, tend to be fearless and/or don't recognize danger, which is the opposite of what you said.

Or are you claiming al Baghdadi was just a psychopath that intended to lure his attackers into the cave to kill them with the suicide vest?

I didn't even mention him in the comment you're referring to, so of course I made no such claim. I'm just judging him to be a psychopath based on his behavior; most terrorist Islamists probably are psychopaths, especially the leaders, and they also have major religious delusions about what happens to them when they die.

So I doubt if the guy was whimpering etc before blowing himself up: "[Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff] said on Monday that he does not know where President Trump got his information that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State leader, died “screaming, crying and whimpering.”"

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

"Askim"

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...


"I bet @nytimes @washingtonpost news desks are already looking into tweets he sent as a puppy"

per @JohnWHuber

bbkingfish said...

I'm sure any ISIL-inclined muslim would assume that Trump just made up the whole story about al Baghdadi's manner of death. What reason would they have to believe anything he said?

They probably didn't even notice the dog imagery, either, because that's the way Trump talks all the time. He called some of his fellow republicans "human scum" just the other day. And he said his friends Omarosa and Scaramucci were "fired like dogs," too.(It's as dangerous to be Trump's friend as it is his enemy.) And there have been so many "rats" in the Trump administration that I lost count a long time ago.

Trump constantly insults people with schoolyard epithets. His supporters love that about him. They raise their kids to behave the same way.

Nichevo said...

Ferdinand, Milley made it quite clear that he did not have full information. Why do you hate freedom?

Nichevo said...

bbkingfish said...
I'm sure any ISIL-inclined muslim would assume that Trump just made up the whole story about al Baghdadi's manner of death. What reason would they have to believe anything he said?

What is your endgame here? To get videos released then say that PDT violated OPSEC?

Oso Negro said...

"Blogger Ann Althouse said...
Whoever watched Baghdadi screaming and crying in fear also watched 3 children in terror.

10/28/19, 4:13 PM"

And they would have all grown up to be worthless shits. Are they more dead this way than if they had been killed in a drone strike?

mockturtle said...

So it WAS a Belgian Maninois. Named Conan. Beautiful!

mockturtle said...

Malinois, not....whatever I wrote.

Big Mike said...

No, bbkingfish, what Trump has taught us, his supporters, is that we don't have to sit here and take cheap shots from turd-eating assholes such as you without throwing back some of the mud you are trying to hurl.

Ken B said...

If there were kids around that might explain why he lived long enough to use his vest to kill the children. The soldiers would have not taken a shot until they had a clear shot.

Milwaukie guy said...

Again, Trump talked to the special operators. I'm sure dramatic details come from them.

I'm more intrigued about how one source said the compound was struck six times by jets after the spec ops left. This morning's Pentagon briefing said different munitions were used. Was it a make the rubble bounce contest?

Michael K said...

"Whoever watched Baghdadi screaming and crying in fear also watched 3 children in terror." - Ann Althouse

No video of Kayla screaming in terror as al Baghdadi raped and killed her.

gilbar said...

The say that the dog was only "slightly injured" and is Back on Duty
yea!

Serious Question: WHERE'S ITS PURPLE HEART??

Narayanan said...

Eye in the Sky

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2057392/

David-2 said...
To those wondering how RF signals get out of the tunnel from a dog's camera - the US military has very capable digital radio/transceivers that form ad-hoc networks and thus a digital message (e.g., a video stream) can be sent from one radio node to another down the tunnel, out to other soldiers or drone aircraft, and up to satellites.

Don't imagine any communication limitations like you see in WWII movies (or even Vietnam movies). This is the 21st century: We fly remotely piloted drones over enemy territory for 12-18 hours at time, they're sending high-def full resolution color video back to the US via satellites; USAF combat air controllers are on the ground in combat areas doing air traffic control right there where it is needed and directing aircraft operations and missile and bomb strikes; in short: soldiers these days are connected when in combat.

Bruce Hayden said...

“Whoever watched Baghdadi screaming and crying in fear also watched 3 children in terror.”

Not our fault. Baghdadi decided to bring his three kids along on his attempted escape, and then it was he who decided to kill them when he was cornered and detonated his suicide belt. He could have sent the kids to safety or he could have surrendered instead he chose to kill his kids instead.

This misdirection is similar to what we have seen o our Southern border, where illegals quickly found that they could participate in Catch And Release y having kids along. Courts are said that ICE couldn’t hold ids ad then decided that separating parents rom their kids was also not acceptable. Thus Catch And Release if Ted are caught with kids. And thus the rent-a-kid market was born with many of these kids repeatedly crossing te border with their new “families”

Skyler said...

"Traditionally, the dogs hold the rank of a noncommissioned officer. They outrank their handlers as a way to prevent mistreatment, according to the U.S. Army...."


That's just stupid nonsense. No dog ever outranks a person in any real sense, and no person is ever deterred from mistreating a dog because of some silly rank the dog has. Dogs are given ceremonial ranks, and they start at private and get promoted from time to time whenever a commander thinks it's not too silly. They even get a stripe taken away if they misbehave, again only if the commander doesn't think it's too silly.

Dog handlers are carefully selected and trained, and no dog of that caliber is ever going to be handled by someone that mistreats it.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

like life sometimes, Conan is a bitch--

...but dont call her that in Massachusetts

Drago said...

bbkingfish: "I'm sure any ISIL-inclined muslim would assume that Trump just made up the whole story about al Baghdadi's manner of death. What reason would they have to believe anything he said?"

Unsurprisingly, another lefty goes Full "Enemy of my enemy is my friend" Mode here and simply assumes islamic supremacists who have been raised in a completely different culture with utterly different values is the same as your typical upper west side lefty dem, simply because they share the same end goals.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that bbkingfish is not the best authority on the islamic terrorist mindset.

iowan2 said...

CNN reveals a deep dive into social media, confirms this hero, has sniffed dozens of butts in the past, and my still indulge.
(stolen from insty)

Nichevo said...

Michael K said...
"Whoever watched Baghdadi screaming and crying in fear also watched 3 children in terror." - Ann Althouse

No video of Kayla screaming in terror as al Baghdadi raped and killed her.

10/28/19, 8:50 PM


I disagree, there's every chance that al-Bowelmovement indeed videoed his rape and torture sessions with poor Kayla. Can't say whether I hope Delta found that among the post-raid take or not.

Nichevo said...

I'm more intrigued about how one source said the compound was struck six times by jets after the spec ops left. This morning's Pentagon briefing said different munitions were used. Was it a make the rubble bounce contest?
10/28/19, 8:46 PM

Note that Obama did NOT bomb either the RQ-170 stealth drone that went down in Iran, or the stealth helicopter that crashed in Pakistan during the OBL raid. That's so that our enemies could collect the downed aircraft and gain valuable intelligence to be shared with other enemies of America.

President Trump, however, unlike his predecessor, is neither stupid, evil, nor in league with our enemies, and ordered these strikes performed for perhaps two reasons. One, possibly to destroy any useful intelligence left behind by our raiders, and two, to obliterate the site so that it should not become a destination for jihadi pilgrimage or subject for filmed hagiography. If any aspiring shahids should stop by and check out the scene, they can get an idea of who is the weak horse and who is the strong horse.

Sammy Finkelman said...

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/27/us/politics/trump-dog-al-baghdadi-raid.html

In his speech, Mr. Trump alternated between his reverence for the dogs used in the raid and using the word “dog” as a slur he has reserved to describe a host of adversaries in subhuman terms.

Sammy Finkelman said...

Who's there to get the useful intelligence? Baghdadi was located in an area the Syrian government was not going to occuoy anytime soon, the Islamist forces ;eft are not very technologically sophisticated, and the only other party is Turkey and friendly forces.

Any remnant of ISIS cold not deduce what was taken by looking at what was left. It might be to prevent some things, like names, from being made internationally public so that someone would know their connection was known. But this also means people don't know enough to connect the dots.

The compound was destroyed as a matter of routine.

The best reason would be so that it couldn't be used again. You can't stop the sie from being used for pilgramages by destroying the building.

Michael K said...

I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that bbkingfish is not the best authority on the islamic terrorist mindset.

I'm not so sure. He certainly sympathizes with them.

bbkingfish said...

Drago and Michael K just make things up when they can't refute a point. Just like their Don.