Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi actually met with a number of ‘players’ back in May 2013, and Senator John McCain. The theme of this meeting? It was to meet with all anti-Assad rebels (to include Daesh members), and discuss a no-fly zone and how to arm the rebels. The White House reaction when this came up in spokesperson brief at the WH...the President was fully aware that McCain was there and conducting foreign affairs in the name of the US.
Several pictures exist with McCain and Al-Baghdadi.
The odd twist to the Al-Baghdadi story is that the US actually held this guy in an Iraqi prison (Camp Bucca), from 2005 to 2009. Then, at some invitation of the Iraqi government. Why? No one from the government has ever said why.
What was this area around Camp Bucca prior to the US operating its prison camp? Well....it was a training center for jihad-members. Al-Baghdadi was defined prior to the US arrival in Iraq, as a cleric....nothing more and nothing less. Rumors exist that he held status, but none of these rumors ever show substance.
So you go back to 2009, and this release. Within a one-year period...Al-Baghdadi has emerged as the leader of a minor-league group entitled the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI)...aka al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). Who is the head guy?
Well....the older guy has passed on and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi now serves as the boss.
His status? He’s the Caleb of the group...the religious figurehead. Who in the Iraqi government back in the spring of 2009 got the idea to release him? Unknown, and it’s odd that the government made it a priority to release him, and then in short-time, he becomes a major threat.
Go forward 17 months, the same US government that released Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi...now offers $10-million for his capture. No one from the Administration ever connects the dots and asks about who signed off on releasing him. The picture that came out with the $10-million offer? That’s another odd thing that comes up...it’s a totally different guy than the original picture of al-Baghdadi when he was first released from the US-run prison camp. A screw-up? Maybe.
So why is McCain figuring into this group meeting of anti-Assad players (to include Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi)? McCain is a figure within a particular institute called the International Republican Institute (IRI). It’s a foundation that was started in the Reagan era, and proclaimed that they could be shadowy figures to promote democracy, freedom, and revolution to dictatorships.
Looking back into the summer of 2014, al-Baghdadi does an amazing thing...he sells ISIS into the idea of a worldwide caliph, which he will himself manage (more or less, the religious director of warfare). This is a year after the McCain meeting where they were discussing how to arm all of the anti-Assad folks.
What happened in the Middle East after this caliph announcement was made? Everyone went hostile because the general rule is that you can’t create caliphs out of thin air....there has to be a group by group or nation by nation agreement on this, and al-Baghdadi had bypassed everyone on this (to include a vast number of Sunni Muslims).
A month passes after this announcement, then the caliph have their first on-line magazine to sell the whole conception across the globe. Dabiq is the name of the publication.
I wouldn’t use the word ‘top five’ with al-Baghdadi. He’s a self-starter type of thug. He knows how to reach out to McCain’s IRA group...how to get funding from Islamic war supporters....recruitment....and how to publicize the theme/message. He could step out tomorrow and reorganize an entire army in just a year. The ‘five’ thing means nothing...if you can hold him, you are effectively preventing another war-front.
Why did Iraq request his release from the US camp in 2009? His group has one particular tendency that you tend to notice being repeated...they kidnap family members and establish control over a situation. I suspect someone in the Iraqi government had to request the release to gain the release of al-Baghdadi. In the case of today? There’s some element of al-Baghdadi’s team who are busy evaluating who to kidnap to gain the release from US control. Maybe it’ll be in the Middle East, Europe, or maybe even the US...but they’ve repeated so often that they probably are absolutely sure in getting al-Baghdadi’s release.
Thank Q for the most in depth report I have seen on that particular mess ever.
I hear he who shall not be named is get oh so much better, good, let him spend his last days in prison.
I’m stunned by the depth of your knowledge of the situation and analysis. Now if someone in authority could only think as clearly as you do!