Retired U.S. Marine Joey Jones told “America’s Newsroom” on Tuesday that he celebrated that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi “died a coward’s death,” reacting to an interview with the parents of murdered ISIS captive Kayla Mueller.
“I am ecstatic that he died a coward's death. I think the entire country should feel that way because evil like that should not exist in this world and it’s beyond humanity, so I give that person al-Baghdadi no human respect and I’m glad he’s dead,” Jones said.
Kayla Mueller’s parents spoke to Fox News after President Trump mentioned their daughter during his official announcement that the terrorist group's leader was dead.
Carl and Marsha Mueller told "The Story" they cried when the president announced al-Baghdadi blew himself up in Idlib, Syria, as U.S. forces closed in.
"The reaction to the president speaking Kayla's name was tears from both of us," Carl Mueller said.
HOW ISIS LEADER AL-BAGHDADI'S HEADLESS BODY WAS ID'D MINUTES AFTER DEATH
Mueller, 26, was a humanitarian worker from Prescott, Ariz., who was captured while leaving a hospital in Aleppo, Syria, during that nation's bloody civil war in 2013. She is believed to have been tortured and raped by al-Baghdadi himself until her death 18 months later.
On "The Story," MacCallum asked Marsha Mueller how it has been for her family since the news of al-Baghdadi's death broke.
“I hope that anyone else that would pick up that mantle gets the same fate in honor of Kayla, so that there isn’t another one like Kayla that has to go through that,” Jones said.
Kayla Mueller's parents said on Sunday that they hope the ISIS leader's death will reveal more answers about what happened to their daughter. Even though they confirmed her death through pictures sent by militants, their daughter's body was never recovered.
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Jones, a Marine veteran who lost his legs in an explosion while fighting in Afghanistan, delivered a message to those who argued that al-Baghdadi's death should not be celebrated.
"The worst thing I ever saw in war is what human beings did to other innocent human beings, especially children," he said. "That's what keeps me up at night. That's the worst thing that can possibly happen. An innocent human being gets murdered, mutilated and tortured for no other reason than evil. For any journalist or pundit who says we shouldn't' celebrate the death of al-Baghdadi, let me tell them, thank God you don't have in your heart what we have had to have in ours."
Fox News’ Charles Creitz contributed to this report.
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