Why ISIS Leader Bombed Own Hideout During U.S. Special Forces Raid

The United States Special Forces successfully completed a counterterrorism mission in order to protect the American people. ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi was located in Syria and killed when U.S. Special Forces were moving in. The ISIS leader was cornered in a building, and he decided to blow himself up rather than face justice from U.S. Forces. No Americans were killed in the process, but 13 civilians were killed by the terrorist’s actions.Show more

Even under the leadership of the Biden Administration, which to date has seemed dicey at best, our capable military was still able to take out the number one ISIS leader who replaced the former ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

President Biden announced the killing of the ISIS leader:

"As our troops approached to capture the terrorist, in a final act of desperate cowardice, he, with no regard to the lives of his own family or others in the building, he chose to blow himself up. . . . Last night’s operation took a major terrorist threat off the battlefield and has sent a strong message to terrorists around the world: We will come after you and find you."

We wish every operation under the Biden Administration could be handled in the same manner as this military operation. But unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case. More information released through an Axios report has revealed notes from a national security staff meeting held on August 14th pertaining to the botched Afghanistan withdrawal.

During this meeting, the leaders were extensively planning how to evacuate Americans and others safely, to the point where it was determined they needed more time to discuss, at which point they agreed to resume the meeting on the following day – August 15th. Except before they could get to that meeting, the Taliban took over and Kabul fell on August 15th. This raises several questions.

It is clear the Biden Administration did not have a plan and national security leaders were still planning evacuation strategies when the country fell to the hands of the Taliban. We filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Biden State Department, Department of National Intelligence, Department of Defense, and U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) to get answers. They did not respond to our FOIA. So, we filed a lawsuit, and their response is due in court in a couple of days.

ACLJ Director of Government Affairs Thann Bennett explained the questions we need answered:

"In a nutshell, I actually think if you boil all the questions that we have demanded answers to . . . clearly there was intelligence that showed a takeover of Kabul was going to happen, so did they either A) not know or B) did they ignore it?"

"I can’t believe they were only 24 hours away and they didn’t know? No, I think they chose to ignore it. . . . Let’s say you’re the Commander in Chief and you have done the deliberative process and you have decided you’re going to withdraw . . . if you don’t have the things nailed down that these leaked notes show were not nailed down, you have to adjust. You can’t leave yet. You can still leave later, but you have to in an orderly fashion. And if you don’t, what happens? It costs lives. And in this case, it cost American lives and it costs the lives of allies on the ground."

Congressman Mike Gallagher gave his reaction to this leaked report and explained how this affects our position around the world:

"We now know they had one meeting preparing for the withdrawal. That is completely unsatisfactory. They were asleep at the wheel. Our Secretary of State was on vacation in the Hamptons. This is embarrassing. And the buck ultimately stops with Biden. The President is still unrepentant about his actions in Afghanistan. A few weeks ago, he said I don’t apologize for anything in Afghanistan. And that’s really what worries me. . . . [M]istakes are made and you have to learn from those mistakes, but this Administration seems intent on pushing full steam with this approach, and I think it is fair to say the weakness in Afghanistan, the collapse of our position, is undermining our posture in other areas in the world right now, like in Ukraine, and I am in fear of the long term with China."

We want to thank all of the brave men and women who have served and are currently serving our country. We are determined to find out exactly what happened through our litigation. We will continue to monitor this situation and provide you with updates as they come.

Today’s full Sekulow broadcast is complete with even more analysis of the top ISIS leader being taken out by U.S. Special Forces and a new leaked report about the botched Afghanistan withdrawal.