Operation to kill Al-Baghdadi came as Pentagon sends troops to Syria to protect oil fields from ISIS control
Former Director of Communications Jonathan Wachtel weighs in on what foreign policy challenges still remain in the Middle East.
House GOP Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., engaged in a new Twitter war Sunday with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., over U.S. military policy overseas amid the death of Islamic State terror leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Paul had tweeted Saturday night: “If you want to stop the endless wars, you actually have to leave. The U.S. guarding oil in Syria will only prolong the war & bring Kurds into conflict with [Syrian President Bashar al-Assad]. Mr. President: don't listen to [Senators] Lindsey Graham and Chuck Schumer and others who’ve been wrong for so long.”
That same evening, a large-scale U.S. Special Operations forces raid unleashed on a compound in northern Syria’s Idlib Province, where the terrorist leader was thought to be hiding.
Cheney tweeted Sunday evening in response to Paul’s tweet: “Last night, while @randpaul was advocating withdrawal of our troops, those troops were engaged in a daring raid to kill the ISIS leader. His policy would have left the terrorist al-Baghdadi alive to behead more Americans. We should be proud of our troops and never surrender.”
Paul, a noninterventionist who has fiercely criticized the role of Cheney's father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, in going to war in Iraq, did not immediately respond.
Last month, Cheney and Paul engaged in a Twitter war after former National Security Adviser John Bolton's resignation resurfaced tensions between perceived isolationists and war hawks in the Republican Party.
House GOP Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., engaged in a new Twitter war with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., amid the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. (Getty, File)
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In an address to the nation on Sunday, President Trump said planning for the raid on al-Baghdadi’s compound began two weeks ago when the U.S. gained unspecified intelligence on al-Baghdadi's whereabouts.
The raid on al-Baghdadi’s compound was a relatively large assault by U.S. forces with a reported eight military helicopters landing in the Barisha area north of Idlib city — near the Turkish border.
Fox News' Ben Florance contributed to this report.
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