Washington Post calls ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi 'austere religious scholar', changes obituary headline after fierce backlash
It was only last week that the Donald Trump administration decided to cancel subscriptions of two major American broadsheets—the New York Times and the Washington Post—since Trump thinks they publish “fake news”.
On Sunday, October 27, the Post came with an act that did enough to provoke Trump fan base by describing slain Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as an “austere religious scholar” in the headline of his obituary.
Trump announced the death of al-Baghdadi saying the terror group leader detonated his explosive vest when he was cornered by American forces in a thrilling mission in Syria’s Barisha village on Saturday, October, 26 night.
The Post’s National Security reporter Joby Warrick then penned the obituary in which the terrorist’s rise to prominence from a “religious scholar with wireframe glasses” was detailed. The headline read: “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, austere religious scholar at helm of Islamic State, dies at 48.
The Post initially came up with a headline that called al-Baghdadi as “Islamic State’s terrorist-in-chief” but then changed it to “austere religious scholar at the helm of the Islamic State”, Fox News reported.
After a massive furor that followed in which the country’s liberal voices were attacked allegedly for not saying much over the soft headline, the obituary headline was changed to “extremist leader”.
Washington Post Vice President of Communications Kristine Coratti Kelly later conceded that the headline of the al-Baghdadi obituary should not have read the way it did and they changed it quickly.
Trump’s team at the White House had varied negative response to the headline. While White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said that she had “no words” regarding the headline, one of her predecessors Sean Spicer said in a tweet: “Stop, read this & think about it: last night a ruthless, brutal terrorist who threatened our country & is responsible for the death of American citizens was killed in a successful operation by US military & @washingtonpost described #Albagdadi as an “austere religious scholar”.”
The social media also mocked the Post over its headline with some even bringing in the names of other historical personalities known for their notoriety of killing people in large numbers. While one called ruthless Mongol king Genghis Khan an “accomplished horseman and indefatigable traveler", another described Adolf Hitler, as a “passionate community planner and dynamic public speaker”.
Al-Baghdadi has been a notorious name, especially for targeting women, aid workers, journalists, gays, etc. The mission to eliminate him was also named after Kayla Mueller, a human rights worker who was kidnapped and tortured and raped in Syria before getting killed, reportedly in a coalition airstrike. Al-Baghdadi himself was accused of marrying Mueller forcibly and raping her repeatedly. Besides, the IS extremists also beheaded journalists and aid workers, many of whom were Americans.