Special Edition: Syria and The Al-Baghdadi Raid
The Lawfare Podcast
The Lawfare Institute
4.7 • 6.4K Ratings
🗓️ 29 October 2019
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State, died in a raid conducted by U.S. Special Operation Forces. The president used highly unusual language to describe the raid, including that al-Baghdadi “died like a dog.” He also stated that the U.S. would be “leaving soldiers to secure the oil.” Scott R. Anderson and Dan Byman join Benjamin Wittes to discuss the raid, what it means for the future of the Islamic State, Trump’s speech and what it all means for the broader region.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The following podcast contains advertising. |
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| 0:22.0 | rational security, chatter, law fair no bull, and the aftermath. |
| 0:29.0 | I'm Benjamin Wittis and this is the LawFair podcast special edition, |
| 0:35.0 | October 28th, 2019. |
| 0:39.0 | Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed in a raid by US forces in Syria. |
| 0:46.0 | The president says he died like a dog whimpering and crying |
| 0:52.0 | and gave a remarkable statement, victory lap, football spiking on Sunday morning. |
| 1:04.0 | We put together a quick group to discuss the implications for ISIS and US policy in Syria. |
| 1:12.0 | The oddity of the president's chosen mode of announcement of the event |
| 1:19.0 | and what it all means for the ongoing debacle with the Kurds and the Turks in northern Syria. |
| 1:28.0 | With me in the jungle studio is Scott Anderson, LawFair senior editor, |
| 1:33.0 | and with me by remote magic of Skype and whatever is Dan Bimon, our foreign affairs editor. |
| 1:43.0 | So Dan, let me start with you. |
| 1:46.0 | Everybody's talking about this now, but in your judgment, how big a deal is it that Baghdadi is no longer among the living? |
| 1:57.0 | It's definitely a big deal. |
| 2:00.0 | Baghdadi was the leader of Islamic State. |
| 2:03.0 | There's no clear successor. |
| 2:06.0 | He was someone who was skilled, he was inspiring to many people. |
... |
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