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‘It’s Not Special Effects’: White House Plans To Release Footage Of Deadly Air Strike On ISIS Targets


President Donald Trump’s return to the White House signaled an abrupt change in both domestic and foreign U.S. policy.

While budget cuts, border security, and other issues on American soil got much of the attention during the first week of his second term, an air strike on one top ISIS target last week put a spotlight on Trump’s mission to get tough on terrorism.

Now, White House National Security Council Senior Director for Counterterrorism Dr. Sebastian Gorda says the American people should soon be able to view footage of the strike for themselves.

As Breitbart reported:

“We are working diligently right now—the White House Situation Room, so WHSR, the Counterterrorism Directorate of the National Security Council, and the Defense Department—are working right now as we speak to scrub the actual footage of the munitions detonating and destroying the cave complex,” Gorka told Breitbart News in a phone interview on Saturday after the operation. “We’re working right now to scrub that and make it available in an unclassified form so it can be briefed from the press briefing room so National Security Adviser Waltz and the president can share that.”

“To see it in real time, look, let me say this—it’s as if you’re in a movie but it’s so much more important because it isn’t a movie. It’s not special effects,” he explained. “It’s real, and American lives are being saved 11 days into the Trump administration.”

There are multiple reasons why the White House intends to release the footage publicly at a press briefing next week, Gorka said, including showing those who voted for Trump in November that their president and his administration are committed to acting quickly to keep them safe.

“We are working right now on converting the footage of the operation, of the neutralization, into a format that allows us to share it with America and the world,” Gorka said. “I will leave that to DOD and the White House Situation Room and the whole team responsible for that. We want the 77 million Americans [who voted for Trump] and everyone else who cares about defeating global jihadism to see what is possible in less than two weeks of a new Trump administration.”

The air strike in Somalia has attracted significant social media attention since the president announced the mission:

A purported clip of the detonation was being shared widely online as of Sunday morning, though it was unclear if it was part of the footage expected to be made public in the coming days:

Trump and others in his administration expressed the importance of the mission after it was conducted, as Sky News reported:

“These killers, who we found hiding in caves, threatened the United States and our Allies.

“The strikes destroyed the caves they live in, and killed many terrorists without, in any way, harming civilians.”

Mr Trump did not name any of the people targeted in the strikes, say whether the target was among those killed, or give further details about the location.

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said the strikes by the US Africa Command were directed by Mr Trump and coordinated with Somalia’s government.

An initial Pentagon assessment indicated “multiple” operatives were killed and no civilians were harmed.

Mr Hegseth said the strikes degrade ISIS’s ability “to plot and conduct terrorist attacks” threatening the US, its
partners and innocent civilians.

Here’s some additional coverage of the operation:



 

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