Trump tweets morphed photo of himself with the dog that chased ISIS leader

United States President Donald Trump, on October 30, tweeted a morphed image of himself awarding the medal of honour to the army dog who was part of the raid that killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Declassifying the military dog’s name, he shared a doctored image of Army medic James McCloughan receiving the prestigious medal of honour in 2017, for saving the lives of 10 people during the Vietnam War.

AMERICAN HERO! pic.twitter.com/XCCa2sGfsZ

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 30, 2019

During the 2017 ceremony where the prestigious military decoration was awarded for the medic’s extraordinary acts of valour, Trump had said: “we are in awe of your action and bravery”.

In the image shared on social media, McCloughan’s head is replaced with that of Conan, the dog. The US President possibly tweeted the image to acknowledge that he echoes the same thoughts with regard to the services provided by the sniffer dog.

Dubbed the “American Hero” by President Trump himself, Conan is credited with chasing down ISIS leader Baghdadi in his Syrian safe house before he blew himself up.

If one looks closely, they would see that the distinctive star of the Medal of Honor is replaced with an embossed paw in this case.

Initially, the Pentagon had refused to reveal the dog’s name, but he became quite a sensation on social media after the President shared his photograph from his official Twitter handle.

Notably, it was conservative site Daily Wire that had first tweeted the image of the award ceremony with McCloughan’s face removed.

In fact, the watermark is visible in Trump’s tweet too, but the name of the photo source (Associated Press) is cropped out in this.

Meanwhile, McCloughan has told the media that he wasn’t offended to see this photo and regards this is an attempt to appreciate the canine’s contributions in combat. He added: “This recognizes the dog is part of that team of brave people.”

At the time of the Vietnam War, McCloughan was only 23-year-old. His unit came under heavy fire in Tam Ky, when a shrapnel hit him as well. However, he continued to rescue the injured soldiers despite his wounds.

Years later, he became the first US Army medic to receive the Medal of Honour from President Trump.