The jihadist behind the takeover of Mosul - and how America let him go

telegraph.co.uk ^ | 11 Jun 2014 | Colin Freeman

[Blackyce]

The fall of the Iraqi city of Mosul to the al-Qaeda offshoot ISIS has shown the power of its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi - a former US detainee

below is an excerpt

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is a nom de guerre, as is his other name, Abu Duaa, which translates roughly as “Father of the Summons”.

Some describe him as a farmer who was arrested by US forces during a mass sweep in 2005, who then became radicalised at Camp Bucca, where many al-Qaeda commanders were held. Others, though, believe he was a radical even during the largely secular era of Saddam Hussein, and became a prominent al-Qaeda player very shortly after the US invasion.

“This guy was a Salafi (a follower of a fundamentalist brand of Islam), and Saddam’s regime would have kept a close eye on him,” said Dr Michael Knights, an Iraq expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

“He was also in Camp Bucca for several years, which suggests he was already considered a serious threat when he went in there.” That theory seems backed by US intelligence reports from 2005, which describe him as al-Qaeda’s point man in Qaim, a fly-blown town in Iraq’s western desert.

“Abu Duaa was connected to the intimidation, torture and murder of local civilians in Qaim”, says a Pentagon document. “He would kidnap individuals or entire families, accuse them, pronounce sentence and then publicly execute them.”

Why such a ferocious individual was deemed fit for release in 2009 is not known. One possible explanation is that he was one of thousands of suspected insurgents granted amnesty as the US began its draw down in Iraq.

[skeeter]

Surely this will have legs as Iraq falls apart?

Surely you jest.

In order for this to have legs our state run news media would need to suddenly have a crisis of conscience, and/or suddenly develop integrity.

Until that happens, all of these scandals will end up where all reports of democrat corruption and failure go to die.

[anymouse]

Could it be that ISIS gained their $$ and weapons from smuggling from Libya through Turkey into Syria? When Syria got too hot, they headed for Iraq. By knocking off the Iraqi bank for >$450M plus whatever weapons they grabbed along the way, they are in better shape to take on Syria.

Big question is did we facilitate this? And did Benghazi attack cover up happen because of what would have had to come to light in a real investigation?

[Grampa Dave]

You have posted the best question of many today on this newest failure of Herr OboZo, the WonDoer.

[The Toll]

There is an entire nation called Egypt that could tell you all the answers you need about who is running the U.S.