Clinton: Hunting down IS leader should be US’s ‘top priority’
Hillary Clinton called Thursday for the United States to track down and kill Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as it did Osama bin Laden, insisting her Republican rival Donald Trump has no plan to defeat the jihadists.
“We should make it a top priority to hunt down the leader of ISIS,” the democratic White House hopeful told reporters on a tarmac in White Plains, New York.
“Getting al-Baghdadi will require efforts at the top levels, but it will send a resounding message that nobody directs or inspires attacks against the United States and gets away with it.”
Clinton and Trump have clashed repeatedly over foreign policy, but their battle rose to a new level Wednesday night when the two were separately grilled over their national security credentials.
Clinton, holding an impromptu press conference on a New York tarmac before flying to a campaign event, castigated the brash billionaire for failing to formulate a strategy to defeat IS extremists.
“One thing you didn’t hear from Donald Trump last night is any plan to take on ISIS, one of the biggest threats facing our country,” Clinton said, using an acronym for the group.
When asked at the forum about how he would stop the spread of global terrorism, “Trump’s answer was simply, ‘take the oil,'” Clinton added.
“He says his plan is still a secret, but the truth is he simply doesn’t have one. And that’s not only dangerous, it should be disqualifying.”
Instead of laying out a Middle East strategy, Trump “bizarrely” praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and suggested the strongman is a stronger leader that US President Barack Obama, she said.
“Now, that is not just unpatriotic and insulting to the people of our country as well as to our commander in chief, it is scary,” Clinton said.
The New York real estate mogul’s campaign swiftly shot back, with Trump spokesman Jason Miller calling Clinton’s attacks “unhinged and dishonest.”
“These are the desperate attacks of a flailing campaign sinking in the polls, and characteristics of someone woefully unfit for the presidency of the United States,” Miller added in a statement.
— AFP