Fact Check

Did Obama Tweet That Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Was 'A Great Man'?

A routine review of content labeled satire.

Published Oct. 28, 2019

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Claim:
Barack Obama tweeted that deceased IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was a 'great' and 'innocent' man.

On Oct. 28, 2019, the ObamaWatcher website published an article positing that former U.S. president Barack Obama had issued a tweet lauding the recently deceased leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who died during a U.S. military operation in Syria:

It’s been widely speculated that Barack Obama is the man behind the formation of ISIS at the end of the twentieth century and that he has funded them and supplied them with arms and intelligence ever since. He has pubicly stated that he sympathized with their cause and even hinted that he would provide them with American resources should they be in need during his 2008 State of the Union address. These statements are irrefutable facts, captured on video and broadcast to the entire nation.

So it came as no surprise today when Obama used his Twitter account to send out words of sadness about the death of Abu Yasr Al Bigdadi, who he called a “dear friend” ...

This item was not a factual recounting of real-life events. The article originated with a website that describes its output as being humorous or satirical in nature: "Obamawatcher.com is a subsidiary of the 'America’s Last Line of Defense' network of parody, satire, and tomfoolery."

For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor on Snopes.com.

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