BOISE, Idaho — The world's most wanted terrorist since Osama bin Laden is dead after a U.S. military raid in Syria.
On Sunday, Idaho Sen. Jim Risch, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and is also a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, spoke with KTVB about what happened.
“I wasn't surprised to get the news, but I was happy to get the news,” Risch said.
The senator was briefed about the mission Saturday night, and then got a wake up call about the news from the president Sunday morning, confirming the death of ISIS founder and leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. President Donald Trump addressed the nation live from the white house, revealing al-Baghdadi died when Delta Force commandos raided a compound in northwestern Syria.
“This guy is somebody who was a high priority target, he's equal to Osama Bin Ladin, he was the highest valued target that there was out there right now,” Risch said.
In his live address, President Trump said al-Baghdadi cowered in a cave, taking three of his young children with him before detonating a suicide vest, killing himself and the three children.
The U.S. gathered DNA from al-Baghdadi's remains at the site afterwards and they were able to test it and confirm that in fact it was him, according to NBC News.
“It's a huge win and I think what it does is it underscores what the president has said and that is, we are not in any way backing down on the fight on terrorism, these troops are going to get moved around from time to time, there's no question about that but they can move very quickly to a place where we can strike and do strike,” Risch said.
While this mission happened thousands of miles away, Sen. Risch says it makes all Idahoans and Americans safer.
“Idaho is part of America and America is in a struggle with these terrorists who want to do us harm," Risch said. "We have a great intelligence community that keeps us safe, we've had a good run of things since 9/11. They would do a 9/11 here every day if they could."