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Washington, DC – According to a report in today’s USA Today, the U.S. military in Iraq has discovered that the supposed terrorist leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Omar al-Baghdadi, is a sham. Al-Baghdadi, whose name translates to “of Baghdad” never really existed, but was created by al-Qaeda in Iraq’s Egyptian born leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri to put an “Iraqi face” on the terrorist group.
In reality, the group is led and organized by foreign fighters. Al-Baghdadi was played by a local actor by the name of Abu Abdullah al-Naima. The information on al-Baghdadi was discovered during the interrogation of al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Khaled Abdul-Fattah Dawoud Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, who was captured in Mosul on July 4th.
“It tells you how much support al-Qaeda in Iraq really has among the local population when they have to go so far as to hire an Iraqi actor to play their leader,” Shuster said.
“Reports like this are encouraging,” Shuster added. “We must allow General Petraeus to continue his security plan and report back to Congress in September.”
The USA Today article quoted a Baghdad resident’s reaction to the news. The man, Ali al-Lami, said “the al-Baghdadi scam ‘would be a big insult to some Sunnis who still believe in al-Qaeda, because al-Qaeda deceived them.’"
Hopefully, events like this will erode support for al-Qaeda among Iraqis. For example, on June 20th, Lt. Colonel Joseph Davidson of the 2nd Infantry Division reported that the 1920’s Revolution Brigades, a Sunni insurgent group, has allied with American forces in Anbar Province to fight al-Qaeda.
“The constant violence, kidnappings, torture and bombings unleashed upon Iraqi civilians by foreign fighters has turned Iraq into their battleground and its people into pawns in their jihad,” Shuster concluded. “The people may be tiring of being caught in the middle. Hopefully this will motivate them to cooperate with us against the terrorists.”
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