Arresting the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi would have been the right thing to do

Arresting the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi would have been the right thing to do

UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn says the United States should have arrested ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and brought him to trial before an international court. Corbyn did say that he didn’t know if that would have been possible. The question was asked by British radio station LBC which noted that back in 2011 Corbyn had described the death of Osama bin Laden as a “tragedy”.

Asked if he felt the same way about al-Baghdadi’s death, Corbyn basically said he did. “If we preach international law and international legal process through the international court of justice in the Hague, then we should carry it out,” he said. Corbyn continued, “And if it’s possible to arrest somebody and put them on trial then that is what should have been done and that is what I said about the death in 2011 and it will continue to be my principle.”

When pressed, Corbyn admitted, “Him being removed from the scene is a very good thing.” But he added, “If it would have been possible to arrest him—I don’t know the details of the circumstances at the time I’ve only seen various statements put out by the US about it—surely that would have been the right thing to do. If we want to live in a world of peace and justice, we should practice it as well.”

Either Corbyn is calling into question the circumstances of al-Baghdadi’s death or he simply doesn’t know what he’s talking about. When soldiers closed in, al-Baghdadi gathered three of his young children in a cave and set off a suicide vest. He literally died by his own hand. How does Corbyn propose soldiers were to arrest him? Again, he hand-waves this away by claiming he doesn’t know what happened but he should know. His whole discourse about what would should have been done is nonsense.

Corbyn’s knee-jerk reaction is to find fault with America rather than the murderous cult leader who had British citizens killed. He did it in 2011 and he’s doing it again now. As one former Labour MP said of Corbyn, “Every time he automatically and instinctively sides against the West, against NATO and against America.”

Boris Johnson was asked about Corbyn’s comments and called them “naive to the point of being dangerous.”

Source: Hot Air