This is an OZY Special Briefing, an extension of the Presidential Daily Brief. The Special Briefing tells you what you need to know about an important issue, individual or story that is making news. Each one serves up an interesting selection of facts, opinions, images and videos in order to catch you up and vault you ahead. WHAT TO KNOW What happened? Yesterday, President Donald Trump announced that U.S. forces raided the hiding place of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in northwest Syria, culminating in Baghdadi’s death via suicide vest at the age of 48. Without sparing the details, Trump — who described Baghdadi as “whimpering and crying and screaming” in his final moments — called the terrorist’s death “the biggest there is.” Why does it matter? While there’s consensus in the intelligence community that Baghdadi’s death is a good thing, it’s unclear whether this will put an end to ISIS — or even significantly weaken it. Trump’s recent decision to pull U.S. troops out of northern Syria was expected to strengthen the militants. Moreover, ISIS and earlier terror groups have lost leaders before and adapted. Baghdadi himself replaced Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, for example, as head of what was then known as the Islamic State of Iraq (and later evolved into ISIS). Some analysts suggest that the death of Baghdadi yesterday could simply speed up the evolution of the terror group’s next phase. |