“The US military operation that resulted in the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi [in Syria on Oct. 26] was dedicated to Kayla Mueller, a young Christian woman who was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by the Islamic State. Mueller, 26, was abducted by ISIS in August 2013 in Aleppo, Syria while serving on a humanitarian mission with Doctors Without Borders. US officials said Baghdadi tortured and repeatedly raped her at his compound before announcing in 2015 that she died in captivity. Her body has never been recovered. White House National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien told NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday that the operation against Baghdadi was named after Mueller. ‘The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff named the operation that took down al-Baghdadi after Kayla Mueller, after what she had suffered,’ O'Brien said, adding that Baghdadi was the ‘most vicious, cruel man.’ Her father, Carl Mueller, recounted his daughter's last days in an interview with The Arizona Republic shortly after President Donald Trump announced Baghdadi's death. ‘What this man did to Kayla — he kidnapped her,’ Mueller said. ‘She was held in many prisons. She was held in solitary confinement. She was tortured. She was intimidated. She was ultimately raped by al-Baghdadi himself. He either killed her or he was complicit in her murder,’ Mueller said. ‘I'll let people who read this article make up their own mind how a parent should feel.’ Mueller's fellow hostages, who were later freed, told ABC News in 2016 she never stopped caring for others and even defended her faith against the infamous British ISIS executioner named Mohammed Emwazias, also known as ‘Jihadi John.’ Mueller also spoke extensively about how she relied on her faith in a hand-written letter given to her parents while she was in captivity. Mueller’s cellmates who were eventually freed gave the letter to her family in the spring of 2014. Mueller wrote: ‘I remember mom always telling me that all in all in the end the only one you really have is God. I have come to a place in experience where, in every sense of the word, I have surrendered myself to our creator b/c literally there was no else.+ by God + by your prayers I have felt tenderly cradled in freefall...I have been shown in darkness, light + have learned that even in prison, one can be free. I am grateful.’” “Baghdadi Operation Named after Christian Woman,” CBNNews, Oct. 28, 2019 Comments are closed.
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