Donald Trump to meet dog involved in raid on ISIS leader at the White House after sharing photoshopped medal photo

The military working dog who sustained minor injuries during the raid on the compound of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
Department of Defense/Handout via REUTERS
Tim Baker31 October 2019

Donald Trump is set to host a dog involved in a raid that led to the death of ISIS' leader after he shared a photoshopped image of himself awarding it a medal.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died after US forces "executed a dangerous and daring" night-time raid in north-western Syria.

The dog took part in the mission and the US President shared an edited image of himself with it last night alongside the caption "AMERICAN HERO!".

He later responded, thanking the creators of the "recreation" and saying the "live version" of the animal will visit him.

The President said the dog "will be leaving the Middle East for the White House sometime next week!"

The Belgian Malinois could not be named due to the secretive nature of its work, though President Trump appeared to let this slip as he called it "Conan".

It has since returned to the front line following the mission on Saturday.

The edited picture combined a photo of the dog and an image of the President giving a Medal of Honour to Vietnam veteran James McCloughan in 2017.

Donald Trump said he will host the dog at the White House
Andrew Harnik/AP

It came after President Trump‘s earlier tweet that he had “declassified” a photo of the dog led to memes of the animal being shared.

Mr McCloughan, 73, told the New York Times that he saw the image as Mr Trump recognising the dog’s heroism.

General Frank McKenzie, head of the US Central Command, has confirmed the dog was injured in the killing of al-Baghdadi but was back in action by Wednesday.

The general added that the dog had been with special operations for four years and taken part in around 50 missions.

He added working dogs like this one are "critical members of our forces".

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