-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: July 18, 2007 12:41:38 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: No "Al Qaeda in Iraq," Military PR Man Announces; They're
All FOREIGN Terrorists
Senior Al Qaeda figure in Iraq a myth: U.S. military
By Dean Yates Wed Jul 18, 10:35 AM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070718/ts_nm/iraq_qaeda_dc_2
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A senior operative for al Qaeda in Iraq who was
caught this month has told his U.S. military interrogators a
prominent al Qaeda-led group is just a front and its leader
fictitious, a military spokesman said on Wednesday.
Brigadier-General Kevin Bergner told a news conference that Abu
Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of the self-styled Islamic State of Iraq,
which was purportedly set up last year, did not exist.
The Islamic State of Iraq was established to try to put an Iraqi
face on what is a foreign-driven network, Bergner said. The name
Baghdadi means the person hails from the Iraqi capital.
Bergner said the information came from an operative called Khalid
al-Mashadani who was caught on July 4 and who he said was an
intermediary to Osama bin Laden.
He said Mashadani was believed to be the most senior Iraqi in the
Sunni Islamist al Qaeda in Iraq network.
"In his words, the Islamic State of Iraq is a front organization
that masks the foreign influence and leadership within al Qaeda in
Iraq in an attempt to put an Iraqi face on the leadership of al
Qaeda in Iraq," Bergner said.
U.S. military officials in recent weeks have been pressed to
explain the link between al Qaeda in Iraq and bin Laden's global
network given the military's heightened focus on al Qaeda in Iraq
as the biggest threat to the country.
The military blames al Qaeda in Iraq for most of the major bombings
in Iraq, saying the group is trying to spark all-out civil war
between majority Shi'tes and minority Sunni Arabs.
Bergner said Mashadani served as an intermediary between the al
Qaeda in Iraq leader, Egyptian Abu Ayyab al-Masri and bin Laden and
also the Egyptian cleric Ayman al-Zawahri, who is the global
network's No. 2 commander.
The Islamic State of Iraq was set up in October, comprising a group
of Sunni militant affiliates and tribal leaders led by Baghdadi. In
April, it named a 10-man "cabinet."
The Islamic State of Iraq has claimed many high-profile acts of
violence.
But Bergner said Mashadani and Masri had co-founded a "virtual
organization in cyberspace called the Islamic State of Iraq in 2006
as a new Iraqi pseudonym for AQI."
"To further this myth, Masri created a fictional head of the
Islamic State of Iraq known as Abu Omar al-Baghdadi," he said.
"To make al-Baghdadi appear credible, al-Masri swore allegiance to
al-Baghdadi and pledged to obey him, which is essentially pledging
allegiance to himself since he knew Baghdadi was fictitious and a
creation of his own," he said.
"The rank and file Iraqis in AQI believe they are following the
Iraqi al-Baghdadi. But all the while they have been following the
orders of the Egyptian Abu Ayyab al-Masri."
Voice recordings purporting to be from Baghdadi have appeared on
the Internet, although Bergner said he had been played by an actor.
He did not refer to any video clips.
Bergner said Mashadani was al Qaeda's "media emir" for Iraq.
He said the operative was "providing significant insights into the
nature and circumstances of al Qaeda in Iraq."
The U.S. military has always said al Qaeda in Iraq was run by
foreigners.
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