"The Death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi" by Logan W.

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Ever since people have terrorized others there has always been someone to fight against it. Today, most of this fighting is done by The U.N. and the countries within it, mostly the United States, on terrorist organizations like ISIS and the Taliban. Ever since September 11, 2001 the United States has raged the “war on terror” and has been attacking these groups and killing important leaders within them, one example being Osama bin Laden.

This week, the leader of the  ISIS terrorist group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed in a raid on his compound. This raid was conducted by United States Special Forces. The ground forces met resistance from ISIS fighters, but the fighters were met with small arms fire and American air support. When Baghdadi saw that there was no escape from American forces, he crawled into a hole with his two children and killed them and himself with an explosive he had strapped to him. The compound was later “reduced to a parking lot with large potholes” so that it could not be used as a shrine for Baghdadi according to General Frank Mckenzie. Before the building was destroyed, the ground forces collected documents and electronics that the United States hopes to be able to use against ISIS.


So how does the death of one major terrorist leader affect the world? Killing the leader of a country or major organization greatly affects the morale and structure of that group and can eventually cause it to collapse. One example of this is Bendito Mussolini. Mussolini was the prime minister of Italy during World War II and supported the Nazis and fascism. When his people revolted and killed him, there was no reason to keep his regime alive; so, it, along with him, died. Even though ISIS says they have already replaced the leader with a new one, they will still never be as powerful as they once were. Baghdadi was also the founder of ISIS, so even though ISIS acts like they were unaffected by his death, “they were hit hard,” says President Trump. President Trump also said that the leader was said to be screaming and crying right before his death. This was used by the President to show that the terrorist group was weak and deter people from continuing to join it. With an organization on it’s downfall, less people will want to join, thus less terrorism and the eventual collapse of it.

Today our world is filled with terror on both religion and race and will continue unless we can stop it. Along with terrorizing people, world economies and migration patterns are also greatly affected. With the United States at the forefront of counter-terroism how long will it take for terrorism to be culled in all reagions of the world?


  1. Do you think that ISIS will eventually die out or will they become more powerful?
  2. Do you think Terrorism is becoming more or a threat to the world or less?
  3. Do you think Baghdadi’s death will affect other terrorist organizations?


Works Cited

Al Jazeera. “US Releases Footage, Provides More Detail on Al-Baghdadi Raid.” USA News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 31 Oct. 2019, www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/releases-footage-detail-al-baghdadi-raid-191031010956094.html.

Cohen, Zachary, et al. “Pentagon Releases First Images from Raid That Killed ISIS Leader.” CNN, Cable News Network, 30 Oct. 2019, www.cnn.com/2019/10/30/politics/pentagon-baghdadi-raid-video/index.html.

Swann, Glenn, et al. “Visual Guide to the Raid That Killed Isis Leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 31 Oct. 2019, www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/28/visual-guide-to-the-raid-that-killed-isis-leader-abu-bakr-al-baghdadi.

Comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 4, 2019 at 6:09 PM

    I don't think that ISIS will ever die off just because there will always be people that see themselves as devoted to this organization. I do think that if ISIS began to diminish quickly the people that are apart of this group may just switch to another organization because they have better support and control. As of lately the "war on terror" as really slowed down the impact of terrorism even though it is still a big issue elsewhere, there are not a lot of stories or attacks that are happening in our area. I feel like more of the attacks now are due to domestic terrorists rather than from groups like ISIS and the Taliban. I do not know exactly how Baghdadi's death will impact other organizations except maybe having more security for their leaders. I think his death was a good step in this "war on terror", but I am not sure how it will impact the rest of the world if there is any impact at all.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousNovember 4, 2019 at 9:25 PM

    While ISIS won't ever be fully eradicated, the majority of their fighting forces have already been taken out. ISIS hasn't been in news headlines since 2017 when president Trump eliminated most of their combatants over a very short span of time. However, the terrorist group and their leader still remained after that. Now that Al- Baghdadi has been eliminated, I do not foresee the group being very active anymore. While they will still exist, they now lack the necessary leadership and structure needed to carry out attacks and cause terror around the world. ISIS will definitely not become stronger because of this. In regards to terrorism as a whole, I feel like it is currently at a steady level. Terrorism isn't on the rise, but it hasn't gone down. We are still fighting the "war on terror." It is impossible to determine whether or not the death of Al- Baghdadi will affect other terrorist groups. Potentially it could have no affect on other groups. However, it could also inspire other groups to rise up now that ISIS has lost its main leader. Nevertheless, the war against terrorism will continue. However, the death of the main leader of ISIS is a big victory among it.

    ReplyDelete

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