Posted on 05/16/2015 12:55:40 PM PDT by Lorianne
When Abu Hamza, a former Syrian rebel, agreed to join the Islamic State, he did so assuming he would become a part of the group’s promised Islamist utopia, which has lured foreign jihadists from around the globe.
Instead, he found himself being supervised by an Iraqi emir and receiving orders from shadowy Iraqis who moved in and out of the battlefield in Syria. When Abu Hamza disagreed with fellow commanders at an Islamic State meeting last year, he said, he was placed under arrest on the orders of a masked Iraqi man who had sat silently through the proceedings, listening and taking notes.
Abu Hamza, who became the group’s ruler in a small community in Syria, never discovered the Iraqis’ real identities, which were cloaked by code names or simply not revealed. All of the men, however, were former Iraqi officers who had served under Saddam Hussein, including the masked man, who had once worked for an Iraqi intelligence agency and now belonged to the Islamic State’s own shadowy security service, he said.
His account, and those of others who have lived with or fought against the Islamic State over the past two years, underscore the pervasive role played by members of Iraq’s former Baathist army in an organization more typically associated with flamboyant foreign jihadists and the gruesome videos in which they star.
Even with the influx of thousands of foreign fighters, almost all of the leaders of the Islamic State are former Iraqi officers, including the members of its shadowy military and security committees, and the majority of its emirs and princes, according to Iraqis, Syrians and analysts who study the group.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The Iraqi army was disbanded around 2003. Twelve years later, these guys were only a year or so ago forming ISIS.
The W.P. is trying to rewrite history to fit the story that twerp 19 year old was foisting off on the public.
Fail
Fail
Who’s the 19yo twerp you refer to?
That young no-name that confronted Bush the other day claiming Bush was the reason for ISIS. This plays right into her story-line.
I’ve been wondering the same.
They had been lying low, plotting their revenge and return to power in Iraq for years until the time was ripe.
Where did the people of the disbanded Iraqi army go?
This story is dated April 4, 2015 ... well before the 19 year olds accusation (which was not original to her, this line has been going around for over a year)
Lorianne, I don’t think they spent 11 years doing nothing just waiting to set up ISIS.
Do you?
So have other Leftist theories trying to discredit Bush on the issue of Iraq.
Obama and McCain arm and fund the Syrians in the East, ISIS comes out of there, and all of a sudden we’re back to Bush’s fault?
LOL
I don’t think they sat around tending their desert gardens at home, no.
Is ISIS “The Ba’athist Party in Exile”?
They're wearing black "uniforms", and apparently hide their identity as former Iraqis. The few faces I've seen would make them 13 years old when the Iraqi Army was disbanded. Just sayin'.
Seems that way to me too.
I appreciate the comments.
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