Camp Bucca in Iraq, where the leaders of ISIS first met. The Guardian/AFP
The Guardian has a detailed report, based on interviews with an active member of ISIS and an Iraqi General, details the history of the Islamic State and its leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi. The Jihadist, with the nom de guerre of Abu Ahmed, disillusioned with the war but too afraid to leave ISIS, detailed the history of ISIS. Ahmed describes how Camp Bucca, a prison in Iraq, concentrated several extremists in a small area. Abu Bakr first made waves in the camp by acting as a calming influence and an expert at conflict resolution. The leader of ISIS was released due to this. While there, he and other Jihadists fostered relationships that would soon form the core of ISIS. Jihadis wrote contact info in the waistbands of their underwear and as they were released or escaped they joined up with ISIS's precursor group, Al-Qaeda in Iraq. With the death of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, Abu Bakr became the courier for his replacement, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. When Abu Omar died Abu Bakr took over, along with his inner circle of Camp Bucca alumni.
My Comment:
An excellent report from the Guardian. It is a bit long but well worth the read. My education was in criminal justice and one of the things we learned in college is how prisons are "finishing schools" for criminals. Petty criminals go in and by they time the get out they learn how to better commit crimes, in some cases even learning about new crimes they didn't have the knowledge to commit before. Obviously, when you put a bunch of potential terrorists together in with actual terrorists then instead of crime, terrorism is the new skill the prisoners are going to learn. Of course, I don't think there was much that could have been done to prevent this short of not letting any of the prisoners escape or be released. Hindsight is 20/20 but once again the United States has had a role in creating its own enemies.
As for the other revelations it is fascinating to hear from someone inside of ISIS that is disillusioned with the cause and the violence. Whoever this Abu Ahmed is, he doesn't sound happy that he is stuck with ISIS. There is no chance that ISIS will let him leave and they may very well kill him if they figure out he was talking to the press. And even if he does escape I doubt he would escape western attention. The best case scenario for him is probably the inside of a prison cell.
Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi is an interesting case as well. The fact that he was able to manipulate the guards at Camp Bacca shows that he is manipulative and smart, two qualities that are dangerous in a leader. The fact that he was let out of U.S. custody is mind boggling, but again, hindsight. Of course sooner or later his fate will be the same as Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi and Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi. It might not be the U.S. that kills him but it definitely won't be old age that kills him.
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