The world is better off without terror leader al-Baghdadi

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was one of the world’s most dangerous men.

So it’s worth celebrating, and thanking, the U.S. Special Forces who took him out in a daring raid near Bashira in northwest Syria over the weekend. This vicious zealot who had so many people killed or tortured with impunity was cornered in a tunnel by American commandos conducting a mission authorized by President Donald Trump to capture or kill. Al-Baghdadi eschewed the opportunity to surrender, instead setting off a suicide vest he was wearing, killing himself and three of his children he was using as human shields. A coward to the end, his remains were identified by biometrics testing and intelligence confirmation.

Not since the takedown of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden in May 2011 under then-President Barack Obama has the West struck this kind of blow against terror.

“He was sick and depraved man, and now he’s gone,” Trump said Sunday. While the president can be given to hyperbole, that’s not the case here.

Al-Baghdadi led an organization that according to a CNN tally had “conducted or inspired over 70 terrorist attacks in 20 countries” — not including Syria and Iraq — since June 2014 when ISIS proclaimed itself to be the Islamic State. He also inspired disaffected Muslim youth around the world with his calls to jihad and establishment of the caliphate. Newsweek lists six lethal ISIS-inspired attacks in the U.S., including the deadly 2016 Pulse Nightclub Shooting in Orlando in which 49 people were killed, and a mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., in 2015 that claimed 15 lives.

Like bin Laden, this was no run-of-the mill terrorist. The selfproclaimed leader of the Islamic State, his acolytes conquered a large swath of Iraq and Syria. For over two years, he ruled over some 12 million people, employing brutal, publicized killings, rapes of captive women and enslavement of non-Sunni minorities to enforce his theocratic brand of radical Islam.

Even before his caliphate was largely dismantled by military action — thanks to our Kurdish allies and Trump’s decision to give the military the freedom it needed to operate — AlBaghdadi was among the world’s most wanted men, hunted by the CIA, and the intelligence services of Iraq and several of its neighbors. He eluded pursuit in part by stringent security procedures, seldom appearing in public and communicating even with his own followers only through intermediaries.

So it is a testament to our intelligence capabilities and the capabilities of the American special forces that his reign of terror was finally brought to an end. There were no American casualties, although, on a sad note, the Washington Examiner reported one military working dog suffered severe injuries in the line of duty.

Trump, who notified the Russians in advance to avoid an unintended conflict, should have notified congressional Democrats once the raid was in progress. Predictably, both sides tried to make political hay.

But the president and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did agree on one thing. While the death of Al-Baghdadi is a crippling blow, it doesn’t mean the end of ISIS.

As the president said, the U.S. “will continue to pursue the remaining ISIS terrorists.” Driven by a twisted religious ideology, ISIS gives no quarter. It should receive none.

For now, congratulations to U.S. intelligence services and the Special Forces members who had boots on the ground.