Trump tweets fake photo of dog involved in ISIS raid receiving medal of honour
31 October 2019, 00:11
Donald Trump tweeted the fake photo replacing the face of a retired army medic who actually received the award with the dog's head.
The image was allegedly produced by conservative website The Wire and tweeted out by the president with the caption "American hero!"
It portrays the president awarding a medal to the military dog involved in a raid that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
AMERICAN HERO! pic.twitter.com/XCCa2sGfsZ
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 30, 2019
The image is an altered version of a photograph depicting President Trump awarding retired army medic James McCloughan the medal of honour in 2017 for saving the lives of 10 people during the Vietnam war.
It has been reported Mr McCloughan laughed when he was shown the two images side by side and said military dogs “are very courageous."
The medal of honor is the most prestigious military decoration awarded to US service members for extraordinary acts of valor.
We have declassified a picture of the wonderful dog (name not declassified) 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
The tweet comes after President Trump posted a picture of a Belgian Malinois which the President claims was part of the mission to kill the ISIS leader in Syria.
On Monday evening, he tweeted: “We have declassified a picture of the wonderful dog (name not declassified) that did such a GREAT JOB in capturing and killing the Leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi!”
The President’s strange tweet about the military dog prompted laughs from Twitter users, who said it was “a good thing he didn’t reveal the [dog’s] name, otherwise someone might have been able to recognise it.”
Contrary to the President’s claims, it is believed the ISIS chief was killed in an explosion, reportedly setting off a suicide vest he was wearing, however this is yet to be confirmed.
Al Baghdadi led IS for the last five years, presiding over its ascendancy as it cultivated a reputation for beheadings and attracted hundreds of thousands of followers to a sprawling and self-styled caliphate in Iraq and Syria.
He remained among the few IS commanders still at large despite multiple claims in recent years about his death and even as his so-called caliphate dramatically shrank, with many supporters who joined the cause either imprisoned or jailed.
His exhortations were instrumental in inspiring terrorist attacks in the heart of Europe and in the United States.
The US military commonly uses the Belgian Malinois to guide and protect troops, search out enemy forces and look for explosives.
