Joe Biden snubbed President Donald Trump when issuing a congratulatory statement on Sunday upon news that U.S. forces had killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
“I congratulate our special forces, our intelligence community, and all our brave military professionals on delivering justice to the terrorist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,” the former vice president said shortly after the White House announced it had successfully killed the ISIS leader during an overnight raid in Syria. “It is thanks to their courage and relentless determination to carry out their mission that ISIS has suffered a vital loss.”
Biden, in his short statement, followed the trend of other presidential candidates, such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and former Housing Secretary Julian Castro, by not once mentioning Trump. The snub came despite the fact that Trump gave the order to go after al-Baghdadi, who led ISIS since 2014 and was responsible for most of the group’s terrorist activities in the past few years.
The president confirmed on Sunday that al-Baghdadi was killed during a daring nighttime raid on a compound in northwestern Syria’s Idlib Provence. The raid, which was led by a group of U.S. special forces, killed a “large number” of ISIS forces, culminating in al-Baghdadi being cornered in a tunnel beneath the compound. Instead of being captured by the approaching U.S. forces, the ISIS leader detonated a suicide vest killing himself and three children.
“He died like a dog, he died like a coward,” Trump said when announcing the news. “The world is now a much safer place.”
No U.S. troops were wounded in the operation, according to the president, except for “a beautiful” and “talented dog” that was part of the canine unit brought along for the mission.
Biden, in his own statement on Sunday seemed to agree with the president, even if he refused to mention him by name, when he said the “world is better and safer without” al-Baghdadi. Biden’s reluctance to congratulate the president for successfully taking out the ISIS leader stands in stark contrast to a message Trump sent to then-President Barack Obama upon the death of Osama bin Laden in May 2011.