In the recent raid into Syria, U.S. special forces brought along a military canine, who chased down Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a tunnel, where the whimpering Islamic State terrorist blew himself up. President Trump mentioned the dog when he announced the raid last Sunday, and the president plans to bring the “Conan,” now recovered from injuries, to the White House.

As Fox News reports, the Baghdadi operation was not Conan’s first tour of duty. The Belgian Malinois has worked with special operations for four years and taken part in some 50 missions. The MWDs, military working dogs, Gen. Mark Milley explained, are “critical members of our forces,” and Conan “performed a tremendous service.”

A Belgian Malinois also accompanied U.S. Navy SEALs on the 2011 raid that took out al Qaeda terrorist Usama bin Laden. That did not prompt a column like “Humans may use animals for war, but we mustn’t abuse them,” in the October 29 Sacramento Bee, which comes across as something from the ASPCA.

As author Markos Kounalakis explains, whether human lives are worth more than pets is “a debate worth having,” and “we are increasingly deploying eagles, dogs and dolphins against growing tech threats, big bombs and drone delivery systems.” Down lower Kounalakis acquires the target.

“The Trump administration accepts the killing of journalists as the strategic cost of doing business. Given this indifference to human suffering, perhaps U.S. lawmakers should condemn Jeddah’s animal cruelty to focus the American public’s mind on how the kingdom mistreats not only its domesticated animals but its humans, too.” The author also cites China’s “practice of torturing dogs before feasting on them at an annual festival.” By implication, Trump accepts that too.

In some papers Kounalakis was identified as someone who “grew up with farm dogs” and a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. Readers get no clue that Kounalakis is a Clinton crony who pulled front-line media duty in the Russia hoax. 

“Presidential debates between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton included a third participant: Vladimir Putin, standing in the background, stealthily inserting himself in the process.” Putin’s Russia “uses deniable cyber-hooliganism to actively prank the American political system. And it’s taking a toll.” The piece reads like a Clinton press release, but it’s headlined “Putin’s power playbook: Hack, steal, disrupt, mislead, confuse,” in the October 28, 2016 Sacramento Bee, days before the crucial election. Author Markos Kounalakis came billed as “a senior fellow at Central European University” but his credentials are far more extensive.

Markos is the husband of Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis, daughter of real-estate tycoon Angelo Tsakopoulos. According to Greek USA Reporter, Angelo is a “top political donor to the Clintons as well as the Democratic Party,” whose “donations to former President Bill Clinton were rewarded with a night in the prestigious Lincoln Bedroom.” In 2013 Tsakopoulos, “confirmed that Hillary Clinton will seek the Democratic nomination in the next Presidential election.”

Angelo’s daughter Eleni, a protégé of Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer, raised more than $1 million for Hillary Clinton in 2008, and that money found its reward. On January 7, 2010, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton swore in Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis as U.S. Ambassador to Hungary. That paid off in Eleni’s 2018 run for Lt. Governor of California. She would use the office as “a bully pulpit to stand up to the biggest bully in America – Donald Trump.”

As Eleni’s official site explains, “Dr. Markos Kounalakis is an award-winning, nationally-syndicated foreign affairs columnist, author, and scholar. Wars and revolutions are where Markos cut his teeth as a foreign correspondent.” His columns “not only offer strong prose and strong opinions, they offer an education” and in 2017, “President Barack Obama appointed Dr. Kounalakis to the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board in the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.”  

So no surprise that Markos’ columns never included anything less than worshipful of POTUS 44 and his chosen successor. Markos’ April 30, 2016 column came headlined “In choosing female leaders, U.S. trails many nations,” and the erudite author contended that a woman president “would be following the lead not only of the world’s most developed nations, but of many countries spanning a broad economic and political spectrum.” Markos also explained that the elevation of Nancy Pelosi to House Speaker changed the North American meaning of “a woman’s place is in the house.”

Markos followed with a disclosure that “My wife served as a U.S. ambassador under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and actively supports her,” and Markos also “actively supports” Hillary Clinton. On the other hand, after running his animal column on October 29, the Sacramento Bee did not identify Markos Kounalakis as an Obama appointee, a Clinton supporter, or the husband of California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis.

So as a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, home to Victor Davis Hanson, Bruce Thornton, and other conservatives, Markos Kounalakis is the ideal media mole to promote any candidate the Democrats serve up for 2020.

Meanwhile, nothing has emerged about Conan or any other MWD running away from the enemy. Contrast that with Bowe Bergdahl, the deserter POTUS 44, formerly known as Barry Soetoro, traded for five high-ranking Taliban terrorists. That was like swapping Private Slovik for the German high command. Things are different now, and as President Trump says, we’ll see what happens.