Mike Pence Praises President Trump’s ‘Decisiveness’ For Raid That Killed Islamic State Head
Though President Donald Trump has been mercilessly criticized by both parties for recent actions in which he pulled a number of U.S. troops out of northern Syria, leaving allied Kurdish forces vulnerable to attack, the president scored a huge win in the fight against terrorism after it was announced Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi — head of the Islamic State group — was killed in a U.S. military raid inside of Syria.
According to The Hill, Vice President Mike Pence was among the first to heap praise onto his boss and the U.S. military troops involved in the raid during an interview on CBS’ Face The Nation on Sunday, crediting the president’s decisiveness for the success.
“It’s a tribute to the courage of our armed forces, special forces that executed the raid on the compound last night, but it’s also a tribute to the decisiveness of President Donald Trump,” Pence said.
Pence gave one of the first inside looks at how the White House reacted to intelligence that indicated a strong chance that the terrorist mastermind was located inside of a compound in Syria’s Idlib province.
“It was Saturday morning that we received the actionable intelligence that allowed the decision that the president had made to move forward to happen, and it was incredible to be in the Situation Room and to see this unfold in real time,” Pence said.
The vice president went on to acknowledge that while al-Baghdadi’s death was a massive win for the safety and security of the United States and its allies, that the fight against the Islamic State group is far from over, saying, “we believe we’ll have a measurable impact on the effectiveness of that terrorist organization, but we’re not going to let up. We’re not going to stop the fight.”
It is a great day for America. Al-Baghdadi is dead because of the courage of our Armed Forces and the decisiveness of President @realDonaldTrump. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/jFSCK4chqL
— Vice President Mike Pence Archived (@VP45) October 27, 2019
Pence again praised the president and defended his pullout of American troops in northern Syria, adding that from the standpoint of a father of a U.S. Marine, he’s pleased that Trump is always concerned about whether or not U.S. forces are in harm’s way.
As mainstream media outlets and pundits from both sides of the political aisle digested the aftermath of the raid and what it means for the world, Russia was clearly unimpressed with the news and one of its officials even questioned if the raid even took place at all, as reported by The Inquisitr.
In addition, several Russian media outlets suggested the news of the raid was nothing more than propaganda in an attempt to bolster Trump’s re-election chances in 2020.