Condemning the United States for killing ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, U.K. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has doubled down on his comfort-terrorists policy.
Corbyn’s policy here is long-standing. The man seeking to lead Britain following the Dec. 12 elections has shown sustained affection for terrorist organizations. Corbyn is a former employee of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which hosted a show on its Press TV propaganda network. He has made pilgrimages to the gravesites of the Palestinian terrorists responsible for massacring Israeli athletes in Munich.
Corbyn also described the death of Osama bin Laden as a “tragedy.”
Speaking to Britain’s LBC radio on Wednesday, Corbyn was asked about his reaction to Baghdadi’s death. Corbyn responded, “If we believe as we do in international law and justice and the power of the International Court of Justice, then we should do everything we can to bring people where they deserve to be on trial to be put on trial.” Corbyn added, “If we want to live in a world of peace and justice, we should practice it as well.”
Corbyn’s clear implication: The Delta Force A-Squadron operators who raided Baghdadi’s compound failed in their moral responsibility to capture him.
There are just a couple of problems here.
First, Baghdadi blew himself up while being chased by Delta operators and a Delta Force dog. In turn, for Delta to have fulfilled Corbyn’s wishes, they would have had to prevent Baghdadi from hitting his detonator. But how? There is no way of doing so in conditions of close-quarter combat, as was the case with Baghdadi. After all, if less-lethal tactics (such as using a Taser) fail to incapacitate a suicide bomber, those attempting to detain the bomber will be in the blast zone and likely killed. This is why security forces are trained to shoot to kill suicide bombers once their bombs have been identified.
Corbyn’s second problem is his deference to international judicial institutions that are unbound from sovereign democratic accountability and provably ineffective. So even if Delta had secured Baghdadi and placed him into custody, the International Criminal Court would have been the worst possible place to try him. That court is both anti-American and defined by extraordinarily generous treatment of defendants. Had Baghdadi faced trial at The Hague, his many victims would have suffered the ignominy of a lethargic legal process in which the death penalty was ruled out, and Baghdadi treated to almost hotel-like comforts.
That outcome would be a moral disgrace and an affront to justice, which I guess is why Corbyn so favors it. Still, at least Corbyn was confronted for his immorality while out campaigning on Wednesday.
