Al Qaeda in Iraq Duped Into Following Foreigners, Captured Operative Says

American Forces Press Service ^ | Fred W. Baker III

[SandRat]

WASHINGTON, July 18, 2007 – A captured al Qaeda in Iraq leader has admitted the network’s followers have been duped into following the direction of foreign leaders, not Iraqis, a military spokesman in Baghdad said today.

Coalition forces captured Khalid Abdul Fatah Daud Mahmud al-Mashadani, thought to the most senior Iraqi in the al Qaeda in Iraq network, in Mosul on July 4, Army Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner, a spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq, said.

Bergner said Mashadani is in coalition forces custody and providing “significant insights” into the al Qaeda in Iraq network.

Mashadani, who rose through the al Qaeda network ranks directing media and communications operations, helped create a virtual organization, called the Islamic State of Iraq, on the Web in 2006, Bergner said.

It turns out, Bergner said, that the organization is simply a front for foreign influence into al Qaeda in Iraq. Mashadani partnered with Abu Ayub al-Masri, the Egyptian-born head of al Qaeda in Iraq. The two went as far as creating a fictitious leader, Umar al Baghdadi, as a symbolic political head the ISI, whose role is played by an actor. This allowed the two to work in conjunction with foreign leaders to funnel direction to al Qaeda in Iraq, while its followers believed they were following the directions of Iraqi leaders.

“The rank-and-file Iraqis in (al Qaeda in Iraq) believed they were following the Iraqi al Baghdadi, but all the while they have actually been following the orders of the Egyptian Abu Ayub al Masri,” Bergner said. “Mashadani has said in his own words that the Islamic State of Iraq should be free of foreign influence, but that is not the case.”

In fact, Bergner said, Masri relies solely on the direction of foreign leaders and doesn’t trust or seek the advice of Iraqis in the network.

“The disclosures of Mashadani show how (al Qaeda in Iraq) leaders misrepresent themselves and purposely deceive the Iraqi people and their own members,” Bergner said. “ISI leaders cloak themselves in Iraqi nationalism, but in fact their purpose is to subjugate the Iraqi people under a foreign-led terrorist organization that wants to impose a Taliban-like ideology on Iraqis.”

The capture is only one of the recent successes in the region as coalition and Iraqi forces increase the pressure on extremists throughout the country, Bergner said. In the past two weeks, coalition and Iraqi security forces have killed or captured nearly 50 key terrorists in the country, he said.

Forces have killed or captured 21 “special group” terrorists who are funded, trained, armed and directed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Forces, Bergner said. Twenty-six al Qaeda terrorists have been killed or captured, he said.

Despite recent successes, Bergner conceded, it will likely get tougher before it gets easier for troops in Iraq, and there’s still much work to do in eradicating the insurgents.

“The enemy is likely to try to re-capture the focus by conducting more spectacular attacks that kill innocent civilians. This is going to further test the courage and the commitment of the Iraqi people to resist sectarian strife and remain unified against the terrorists,” Bergner said.

The general praised the Iraqi security forces for their response to recent attacks in Kirkuk and Amerli.

Three bombings killed more than 80 people July 16 in Kirkuk, in northern Iraq. More than 100 were killed in a bombing in Amerli last week.

“Our commanders report that the performance of Iraqi forces, particularly following the tragedies in Amerli and Kirkuk, has been very impressive. They have restored order and maintained calm and, in the case of Kirkuk, they pre-empted other bombings and detained some of those believed to have been involved in the attacks,” Bergner said.

Related Sites:
Multinational Force Iraq
Briefing Slides
Transcript

[SandRat]

FR WAR NEWS!

WAR News at Home and Abroad You'll Hear Nowhere Else!

All the News the MSM refuses to use!

Or if they do report it, without the anti-War Agenda Spin!

[gov_bean_ counter]

This would be funny even if I hadn’t had my second glass of wine.:)

[RDTF]

hmmmm betcha he gave this guy away too!

Raytheon-made shell kills al-Qaeda leader, U.S. says
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1867874/posts

[shield]

HA HA...this is why the rat congress are so scared. They know what we’ve got they know we’re winning and turning this situation totally around...they know if this happens they can KISS 2008 ELECTIONS....GOODBYE!!!

[mylife]

Well, Well. The Iraqis are waking up.

[knarf]

Maybe not just yet ... there will have to be a re-education of some ‘true believers’ ... but yeah ... they’re gonna find out ... and when they do, I predict some ME heads will (literally) roll.

[knarf]

P.S.

Maybe that's why Sadr is back ... he knows he's f***** when they find out, so he's doing some CYA ... hoping to stay alive.

I think I hear the popcorn is done.

[Leo Carpathian]

No wonder RATs could not sleep and tried to push another surrender resolution thrrough the konga-gresssss.

[shield]

EXACTLY....I posted an article the other day “Bush Surprises Senate Aides With Unexpected Interruption of White House Meeting” and was so excited saying he’s keeping the course in Iraq...I thought that he’d gotten some really great news from Iraq. This is part of it!!!

[Billthedrill]

The Iraqis are waking up.

Your keyboard to God's ears. What has been lacking up to now is a reliable means of disseminating this information that does not depend on the mosques. Iraq now has that.

Vietnam was always successfully (and not altogether accurately) portrayed as a nationalist resistance to foreign invasion. That has certainly been attempted in Iraq in the form of the "we're all Muslims fighting the infidel" theme, but two things have happened to weaken that theme - first, the foreigners who kill the Iraqis in bloody terrorist atrocities aren't American and everyone knows it by now, and second, that the Americans will work with the locals and al Qaeda won't except to threaten, dominate, and kill.

It's been a very long and painful road to place the Iraqis into a position where they can take their own country back. The Iranians have come to the party too late, IMHO, and when it finally gets to it young Mr. Sadr may have some serious explaining to do to counter the obvious fact that he's an Iranian puppet. Part of that is his current stridency in public and cooperation in private with the government in terms of his partisans' ending their boycott. Maliki is letting him get away with it, for now. But it's an elective government and Maliki isn't there forever.

He's feeling it. They're all feeling it. The people that are now fighting al Qaeda vote. Under the surface this thing is getting very interesting indeed.

[mylife]

I have to agree with you.
As far as Sadr is concerned, I always felt that he had to be brought into the process. He was and he showed his colors.
Isnt he hiding in Iran with his religious advisor Ayatollah Kazem al-Haeri Now?

[nw_arizona_granny]

Bump.

[Irish Eyes]

Another bump for some good news.

[TXnMA]

..."young Mr. Sadr "...

"Young", my @$$!!!

Sadr is already several years too old, IMO...