(This post may contain disputed claims. We make no assertions as to the validity of the information presented by our Opinion Columnist. We are an opinion blog, not a traditional news outlet, and this post should be treated as such. Enjoy.)A senior member of ISIS aided the killing of an American aid worker in 2014. It was yet another horrible act of evil by this terror network. But after many long years by U.S. coalition forces, James “Mad Dog” Mattis sent this killer a much-deserved, early Christmas gift.
For years, ISIS has posed a major threat around the world. After gaining footholds in Iraq and Syria, the terror network mounted attacks in Europe, Asia, and Africa. They even inspired several attacks in the United States, by radicalized Muslims who sought to impress the group.
It seemed like, for a time, that ISIS was unstoppable. The previous administration seemed to have no strategy for combating this growing terror network. In fact, Obama’s tactics only seemed to make things worse.
All of that changed when Donald Trump took office. Early on, his leaders in the Pentagon took the fight to ISIS. The terror network quickly lost ground in Iraq and Syria. The “Islamic State” is all but stateless. They continue to pose a threat in parts of the Middle East, but they are rapidly losing influence.
Once, these terrorists would seek out victims to torture and kill. It wasn’t uncommon to see ISIS members capture Americans and brutally kill them, filming the scene and spreading it online.
One of those terrible moments involved the death of American aid worker Peter Kassig. Abu al-Umarayn, a senior ISIS member helped perpetrate the murder. Since the event in 2014, the terrorist has been able to get off scot-free. But not anymore.
The U.S.-led coalition has targeted a senior member of the Islamic State group involved in the 2014 killing of American aid worker Peter Kassig, a military spokesman said Monday.
Col. Sean Ryan, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition fighting IS, told The Associated Press that coalition forces conducted precision strikes against Abu al-Umarayn and several other IS members. He said the strikes, which took place on Sunday, occurred in a desert area in southeastern Syria…
Ryan, the military spokesman, said Abu al-Umarayn had given indications of “posing an imminent threat” to coalition forces and that he was involved in Kassig’s beheading. He also said Abu al-Umarayn was linked to and directly involved in the killings of several other prisoners of IS.
Kassig was captured Oct. 1, 2013, while delivering aid in Syria through a relief organization he founded. He converted to Islam during captivity and changed his first name to Abdul-Rahman…
In mid-November 2014, IS released a video showing that Kassig, 26, was beheaded. The White House confirmed Kassig’s death two days later. [Source: Associated Press]
The brutal act of killing Kassig had gone unpunished for four long years. His family has mourned his death, with no closure. This strike has brought a sense of justice to a horrific act of evil.
But the battle is far from over. While there are still ISIS agents in the world, we must continue to fight.
Radical, Islamic terror will not simply disappear. It must be wiped out at all costs. Countless lives around the world suffer and are lost to this brand of evil. While the U.S. has made gains against ISIS in recent years, we cannot stop until every last leader is defeated.
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