ISIS VOWS TO FIGHT ON: In social media posts, ISIS is vowing to continue its jihad despite the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the founder and leader of the Islamic State, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute, a terrorist monitoring group.
“Even if it is true, this is the main reason all of the jihad fighters set out for — martyrdom. The Messenger of Allah, may the blessing of Allah be upon him — died,” said a prominent media operative in the pro-ISIS online community. “The jihad will not stop when a certain person dies, even if he was the caliph himself.”
“Al-Baghdadi although influential is but one person, the term Caliphate that ISIS promotes is not a temporary idea whereby if one person dies the whole term or ideology ends,” said another posting on a pro-ISIS Telegram channel. “Al-Baghdadi is not the first Jihadi leader to be killed if the news is verified, before him influential figures such as Bin Laden, Al-Zarqawi, Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi, Al-Muhajir, Al-Adnani, Al-Shishani were all killed, it didn’t stop anything neither it changed the situation in the ground.”
“What the impure Crusaders do not understand with regard to the Muslims’ creed, especially that of the jihad fighters, is that jihad in its entirety is not founded on men, but on creed,” said another post. “The Islamic State shall remain, it shall disturb the lives of the infidels and punish the apostates.
‘HE DIED LIKE A DOG’: In announcing the raid into northwestern Syria by U.S. Delta Force commandos and Army Rangers, President Trump portrayed al-Baghdadi’s last moments as a humiliating end, in which he took his own life as well as killing three of his children by detonating a powerful suicide vest as he was chased in a dead-end tunnel by a U.S. military working dog.
“He died like a dog, he died like a coward. He was whimpering, screaming and crying,” Trump said. “And frankly, I think it’s something that should be brought out, so that his followers and all of these young kids that want to leave various countries, including the United States, they should see how he died.”
The Washington Examiner’s Russ Read has details on what Trump called “a dangerous and daring nighttime raid” accomplished in “grand style” here.
IT TAKES HUMIT: Trump said al-Baghdadi’s location in a building in Syria’s Idlib province was ascertained about a month ago, based in part on intelligence provided by America’s Kurdish partners. “They gave us some information that turned out to be helpful,” Trump said.
A key piece of intel came from a disaffected ISIS militant who became an informant for the Kurds, the Washington Post reported, quoting an unnamed U.S. official. Syrian and Iraqi Kurds “provided more intelligence for the raid than any single country,” reported the New York Times, saying that U.S. officials praised the Kurds for continuing to provide information to the CIA even after Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Kurdish-controlled territory in northern Syria in advance of Turkey’s offensive.
“We can never do this stuff alone,” said Texas Rep. Mac Thornberry, ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, on CNN. “We have to have allies and friends, whether it’s information or whether it’s help in flying over an area, we cannot protect the American people all by ourselves.”
Asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper if the U.S. could have pulled off such a complex operation without having troops on the ground in Syria, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he couldn’t speculate. “I’d have to consult with our commanders about that.”
DEMOCRATS URGE CAUTION: While lauding the death of al-Baghdadi as “a significant blow to ISIS,” top Democrats on the House and Senate Armed Services Committees cautioned that the fight against ISIS is not over.
“We must not mistake al-Baghdadi’s death for the defeat of ISIS,” said Sen. Jack Reed, ranking member on the Senate side. “The resurgence of ISIS remains a major threat, particularly in light of the President’s unstable non-policy in Syria. Subcontracting out our Middle East policy to Russia and Iran is no substitute for American leadership.”
“While the death of al-Baghdadi is consequential, we must not mistake the demise of one ISIS leader for complete and finite victory,” said Rep. Adam Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. “Many ISIS fighters remain in tenuous circumstances in the prisons of Northeastern Syria. ISIS fighters in those prisons and around the world will not rest because of his death.”
“The Administration and Department officials must have open and continuous dialogue with congressional officials so we can fully understand the next steps and the long-term strategy for the region,” Smith said.
BIGGER THAN BIN LADEN: Trump said by eliminating al-Baghdadi, the world was free of the “worst ever” terrorist. “He was a sick and depraved man. And now he’s gone.”
And he argued that because of al-Baghdadi’s “genocidal murder,” and ambition to establish a terrorist state, he was worse than the man behind the Sept. 11 attacks that killed 3,000 Americans on U.S. soil.
“Osama bin Laden was very big, but Osama bin Laden became big with the World Trade Center,” Trump said. “This is a man who built a whole, as he would like to call it, a country, a caliphate, and was trying to do it again.”
Good Monday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Susan Katz Keating (@SKatzKeating). Email here with tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. Sign up or read current and back issues at DailyonDefense.com. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter: @dailyondefense.
Subscribe today to the Washington Examiner magazine and get Washington Briefing: politics and policy stories that will keep you up to date with what’s going on in Washington. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Just $1.00 an issue!
‘A CATASTROPHICALLY BAD IDEA’: Retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, is calling Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria a “catastrophically bad idea” that is both harming U.S. national security and boosting Russia’s influence in the Middle East.
“I want to get out of the endless wars, too. The problem is, the other side, even if we wanted to surrender, will not take our surrender. They hate us because of who we are, the way we live our lives, the way we worship our God,” Kelly said over the weekend during a panel discussion at the Sea Island Summit, a political conference hosted by the Washington Examiner.
“What was working in Syria was that for very little investment, the Kurds were doing all the fighting, the vast majority of the dying, and we were providing intelligence and fire support assistance. And we were winning,” Kelly added.
ESPER SAYS US WILL ‘STAY ON TOP’ OF ISIS FIGHT: In interviews on CNN and ABC, Esper said the president’s directive to keep hundreds of troops in eastern Syria to protect the oil fields in Deir ez-Zor will enable the U.S. to keep working with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces.
“Our job is to stay on top of that and to make sure that we continue to take out their leadership and their organizations,” Esper said on ABC. “Again, we went into Syria working with our SDF partners to defeat ISIS — that’s where we are today, that’s where we will remain.”
“We want to ensure the enduring defeat,” Esper said on CNN. “That means we have to continually monitor the situation, make sure as we see groups pop up or coalesce, or establish a training camp, that we go in and take them out.”
Friday at NATO headquarters Esper confirmed that U.S. reinforcements being sent to the Syrian oil fields include “some mechanized forces,” but provided no details on number or type of armor.
“The specific measures we are taking with regard to the protection of oil fields is to deny ISIS access to those resources,” he said. “If ISIS has access to the resources, and therefore the means to procure arms or to buy fighters or whatever else they do, then it means it makes it more difficult to defeat ISIS. So this is all nested underneath the Defeat ISIS campaign.”
KELLY ALSO WARNED AGAINST YES-MEN: At the same event, Kelly said he regretted his decision to resign, and revealed that he pointedly advised Trump against replacing him with a sycophant.
“I said, whatever you do — and we were still in the process of trying to find someone to take my place — I said whatever you do, don’t hire a ‘yes man,’ someone who won’t tell you the truth — don’t do that. Because if you do, I believe you will be impeached,” Kelly recalled.
“That was almost 11 months ago, and I have an awful lot of, to say the least, second thoughts about leaving,” Kelly said. “It pains me to see what’s going on because I believe if I was still there or someone like me was there, he would not be kind of, all over the place.”
HE NEVER SAID THAT: “John Kelly never said that, he never said anything like that,” Trump said in a statement in response to Kelly’s assertion. “If he would have said that I would have thrown him out of the office. He just wants to come back into the action like everybody else does.”
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham also weighed in Saturday night. “I worked with John Kelly, and he was totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great President,” she said in a statement.
NO HARM, NO FOUL: The Air Force has released its review of its approval of aircrews staying at Trump’s golf resort in Scotland, and the use of the nearby commercial airport.
The review confirmed “the necessity of ensuring civil airports remain available alternatives to augment military airfields,” and found that the existing guidance on aircrew lodging was “sufficient.”
“Regarding the use of Prestwick Airport and associated lodging facilities by aircrews transiting that location, the data collected during this review convincingly confirmed that patterns across the 2015-2019 timeframe conform to use on the basis of operational military necessity,” the review states. “No evidence was found to suggest use of airfields or specific lodging locations was inconsistent with the imperatives to maintain throughout and velocity of the air mobility system in support of national military objectives.”
‘A MEDIEVAL VANITY PROJECT’ Democratic Sens. Bob Menendez, Mark Warner, and Jack Reed have fired off a letter to Trump decrying his border wall as “a medieval vanity project,” and objecting to the diversion of $700 million designated by Congress for the European Defense Initiative to fund the project, which he promised would be paid for by Mexico.
“In light of the Kremlin’s ongoing assault on our democracy and its malign actions in Ukraine, Syria, and Venezuela, U.S. national security requires our close cooperation with our NATO allies and maintaining a robust presence in Europe,” wrote the senators. “These cuts signal to the Kremlin that you do not view its interference in Europe as a serious concern and potentially serve as a green light for Moscow to expand their malign activities.”
TRUMP NO LONGER HAS FINGER ON THE BUTTON: Trump apparently has a new iPhone, and doesn’t like the new design which eliminates the home button. In a tweet aimed at Apple CEO Tim Cook, Trump complained about the change.
“To Tim: The Button on the IPhone was FAR better than the Swipe!” he tweeted Friday.
The Rundown
Washington Examiner: Dead end: Inside the two-hour Delta Force raid that killed ISIS leader Baghdadi
Washington Examiner: ‘Special breed of courageous’: Delta Force operator hails valor of military dog wounded in Baghdadi raid
Washington Examiner: ‘Something that people should know’: Mission to kill Baghdadi named after ISIS victim Kayla Mueller
Washington Examiner: ‘Leaking machine’: Trump kept House Intelligence Committee in the dark about Baghdadi raid
AP: Russia Calls U.S. Move To Protect Syrian Oil ‘Banditry’
Defense One: Microsoft Wins Massive JEDI Cloud Contract
Defense News: Congress Mulls Spring Continuing Resolution To Avoid Government Shutdown
Wall Street Journal: Open Skies Treaty Faces U.S. Scrutiny
New York Times: In Afghanistan’s War and Peace, WhatsApp Delivers the Message
AP: North Korea Says It’s Running Out Of Patience With U.S.
Seapower Magazine: Modly Doubts Future Budgets Will Allow For 355-Ship Fleet
Defense and Aerospace Report: SECNAV: Huntington Ingalls Leadership Misled Navy on Ford Elevator Issues
Washington Examiner: ‘Sent off to a labor camp’: Family says Russia won’t trade detained ex-Marine for Maria Butina
Colorado Springs Gazette: The Air Force’s highest-paid employee is its football coach. He won’t say anything about his players using cocaine
Calendar
MONDAY I OCTOBER 28
8:30 a.m. 801 Mt. Vernon Place N.W. — Association of Old Crows annual international symposium and convention, with keynote address by Deputy Defense Undersecretary for Acquisition and Sustainment Alan Shaffer. https://www.crows.org/mpage/2019Schedule
9:15 a.m. 300 Army Navy Dr., Arl. — Brig. Gen. Stephen Michael, deputy general deputy commanding general of the Combined Arms Center, delivers remarks at the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement Hypersonic Weapons Summit. https://www.idga.org/events-hypersonicweapons
2:15 p.m 300 Army Navy Dr., Arl. — Norwegian Rear Adm. Ale Morten Sandquist, defense and naval attache at the Norwegian Embassy, delivers remarks at the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement Arctic Patrol Conference. https://www.idga.org/events-arctic-patrol
2:30 p.m. 1030 15th St. N.W. — Atlantic Council discussion on a new report, “Prospects of the Russian Protest Movement and Russian Youth in the Moscow Protests.” with co-author Olga Khostunova; co-author Ksenia Kirillova; former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst, director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center; and Maria Snegovaya, post-doctoral fellow at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event/report
TUESDAY I OCTOBER 29
8:50 a.m. 300 Army Navy Dr., Arl. — Navy Secretary Richard Spencer delivers keynote address at the Institute for Defense and Government Advancement Arctic Patrol Conference. https://www.idga.org/events-arctic-patrol
9 a.m. 300 Army Navy Dr., Arl. — The Institute for Defense and Government Advancement Hypersonic Weapons Summit, with Brig. Gen. Andrew Gebara, director of strategic plans, programs and requirements at Global Strike Command, delivering remarks on “Building Hypersonic Weapons into American War Doctrine to Outline Strategy for Years to Come.” https://www.idga.org/events-hypersonicweapons
9:30 a.m. G-50 Dirksen — Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the nominations of Dana S. Deasy to be CIO of the Defense Department; and Robert John Sander to be general counsel of the Department of the Navy. https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings
10 a.m. 2118 Rayburn. — House Armed Services Committee Future of Defense Task Force Hearing: “Theories of Victory,” with Michele Flournoy, co-founder and managing partner WestExec Advisors; and Jim Talent co-chair Reagan Institute Task Force.
10 a.m. 957 E St. N.W. — George Washington University School of International Affairs forum on “Cross-Strait Relations under Stress: Chinese Pressure and Implications for Taiwan.” http://elliott.gwu.edu
1:30 p.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. N.W. — Brookings Institution, Vrije Universiteit Brussels and the Asan Institute conference on “Trans-Atlantic and Trans-Pacific Dialogue: Alliances at Crossroads.” https://www.brookings.edu/events
2 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. N.W. — Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion “Managing the Risk of Tech Transfer to China,” with Michael Brown, Director of the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit. https://www.csis.org/events
3 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. N.W. — Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion on “The Air Force of the Future,” with Jeremiah Gertler, senior specialist in military aviation at the Congressional Research Service; Heather Penny, senior resident fellow at the Air Force Association’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies; Mark Gunzinger, director of future aerospace concepts and capabilities assessments at the Mitchell Institute; Valerie Insinna, reporter for Defense News; and Todd Harrison, director of defense budget analysis at CSIS. https://www.csis.org/events/air-force-future
WEDNESDAY | OCTOBER 30
TBA White House — Trump awards the Medal of Honor to Mst. Sgt. Matthew Williams for conspicuous gallantry while serving in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan on April 6, 2008.
8:45 a.m. 300 Army Navy Dr., Arl. — The Institute for Defense and Government Advancement Hypersonic Weapons Summit, with Eric Marineau, program officer for hypersonic aerodynamics, heat transfer and materials in the Office of Naval Research. https://www.idga.org/event
9 a.m. 214 Massachusetts Ave. N.E. — The Heritage Foundation discussion on a new report, “The 2020 Index of U.S. Military Strength,” with Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa; and Dakota Wood, senior fellow for defense programs at Heritage. http://www.heritage.org
10:30 a.m. — 1211 Connecticut Ave. N.W. Stimson Center discussion on nuclear security, with Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation Christopher Ford. https://www.stimson.org/content/conversation
2 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. N.W. — Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion on “The Implications of Deep Fakes,” with Jeanette Manfra, assistant director for cybersecurity in the Homeland Security Department’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; Matt Turek, program manager of Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s Information Innovation Office; Steve Grobman, senior vice president and chief technology officer at McAffee LLC; James Lewis, director of the CSIS Technology Policy Program. https://www.csis.org/events/implications-deep-fakes
THURSDAY | OCTOBER 31
8:15 a.m. 1775 Massachusetts Ave. N.W. — Brookings Institution discussion on U.S. defense and foreign policy with Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Michael O’Hanlon, senior fellow at Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/events
2 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. N.W. — Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion on “Syria in the Gray Zone,” with Dana Stroul, co-chair of the Syria Study Group; Michael Singh, co-chair of the Syria Study Group; Ibrahim al-Assil, nonresident scholar at the Middle East Institute; Coner Cagaptay, director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Turkish Research Program; former Lt. Gen. Charles Cleveland, senior fellow in the West Point Combating Terrorism Center; and Jon Alterman, director of the CSIS Middle East Program. https://www.csis.org/events/syria-gray-zone
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I said whatever you do, don’t hire a ‘yes man,’ someone who won’t tell you the truth — don’t do that. Because if you do, I believe you will be impeached.”
Former White House chief of staff John Kelly, recalling his advice to Trump at the Sea Island Summit, a political conference hosted by the Washington Examiner.
