The things Trump didn't have to say about the operation against Baghdadi

On Sunday US President Donald Trump announced the death of the head of ISIS, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, at a rather unusual press conference, which was much commented and criticized. Trump gave a lot of details about the military operation that led to the death of Baghdadi, some of which also surprised members of his own government, because they were considered sensitive or covered by secrets. Trump also recounted the last moments of the ISIS leader's life, claiming that Baghdadi died "sobbing, screaming, crying", information that is unclear where he got it.

Several US newspapers, including NBC News and the New York Times, lined up the things that Trump said and shouldn't say, and things that may have been very exaggerated or even invented.

During the press conference, Trump said that before the operation the United States had communicated to Russia that they would enter the airspace of northwest Syria, controlled by the Syrian Bashar al-Assad regime and the Russians. According to Trump, the Americans would have told the Russians: "You will be very happy," suggesting that they were about to carry out a military operation that would also benefit the Moscow government. A US government official told NBC News that such a sentence does not result from conversations between the two parties.

One of the most contested passages of the press conference was however that in which Trump said and repeated that Baghdadi had died "sobbing, screaming, crying", "like a dog", "like a coward". General Mark Milley, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a body that brings together the chiefs of staff of all branches of the US military, said Monday that he had no similar information, which he had already anticipated the day before the Secretary of Defense , Mark Esper. The White House did not specify who told Trump about the last moments of life in Baghdadi, also because the images transmitted in the Situation Room, from where Trump followed the operation, did not show what was happening in the underground tunnels and had no sound . Milley said that perhaps Trump had spoken directly with members of the Delta Force, the special unit charged with carrying out the operation against Baghdadi, but for now there is no confirmation of this hypothesis.

During his press conference, Milley added that the US military would not have released any photos of the dog injured in the operation and that he was quoted the day before Trump with very emphatic tones: "We will not spread the dog's name for now . The dog is still operational, he has returned to his duty. For this reason we will not distribute any photos, or the names of the dogs involved or anything else ". Two hours later, however, Trump tweeted the photo of the dog: "We have declassified an image of the fantastic dog (the name was not declassified) that did a great job in capturing and killing the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. "

That did such a GREAT JOB in capturing and killing the Leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi! pic.twitter.com/PDMx9nZWvw

– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 28, 2019

Trump also gave several details about the operation: details that may have weakened US intelligence's ability to gather information and prepare such complex incursions into enemy territory.

Some officials heard from NBC News they said, for example, that the fact that Trump revealed that the US military had retrieved documents that spoke of ISIS's future plans could have reduced the US's ability to use that information to its advantage. A similar speech was made about the announcement of the arrest of two ISIS militiamen who were in the building in which Baghdadi died: having unveiled it could complicate US efforts to hide from ISIS who was alive and who was not , and could make it more difficult to obtain information during interrogation.

The details disseminated by Trump have been different, especially of a tactical nature, such as the story about the use of technology to identify all the underground tunnels that the building in which Baghdadi was hidden. According to several officials quoted by American newspapers, the military would have preferred to avoid the spread of this type of information.

Trump had already shown some predisposition in the past to tell many more things than he should have and a substantial inability to manage confidential and secret data. For example, he publicly commented on the deployment of a nuclear submarine in Asia and revealed the presence of some US nuclear weapons in Turkey. He had also been accused of sharing confidential information with Russia, a country that is an opponent of the United States in various crises going on in the world. A government official who wanted to remain anonymous told NBC News, referring to Trump: «It has no filters. If you know something, and think that saying that thing is right or make it look smarter or stronger, it will simply tell you. "