But it’s not their fault.
Via Daily Caller:
The New York Times blamed former Obama administration officials for releasing information that a U.S. general says allowed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi to slip away from American forces.
Gen. Tony Thomas, oversees Special Operations Command, told Fox News’ Catherine Herridge last week that his team was “particularly close” to al Baghdadi in May 2015 after killing a top ISIS official, Abu Sayyaf, and capturing his wife, who reportedly provided intelligence to U.S. forces. The Pentagon announced Sayyaf’s death and the capture of his wife in a press release the same day.
The NYT published a story on June 8, 2015 titled, “A Raid on ISIS Yields a Trove of Intelligence,” citing unnamed U.S. officials who shared “confidential intelligence assessments” with the NYT.
The NYT cited “five senior American officials” who “provided additional details about the materials recovered from the house of Abu Sayyaf, a nom de guerre for a Tunisian militant whom American authorities have since identified as Fathi ben Awn ben Jildi Murad al-Tunisi.” The officials, according to the NYT, spoke “only on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential intelligence assessments.”
Information obtained from the 2015 raid “was a very good lead,” Gen. Thomas said last week. “Unfortunately, it was leaked in a prominent national newspaper about a week later and that lead went dead.” Thomas did not name the NYT specifically, but Herridge noted that he appeared to be referencing the NYT story.