Meet the New Boogeyman: Zarqawi's Replacement

Great thanks to Brian, Guy James' guest for the name. A quick Google brought up this great BBC article:



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to get this one guy--Abdullah al-Baghdadi? If it's as much as what we've spent to get bin Laden, it's not worth it.

Whose motivation is to steal our jobs, seduce our GIs, and open an illegal sweatshop producing replacement flags.

Might as well condense the new bogeyman to avoid confusion among the gullible.

Are these maybe the fellows who gave Z. up?

it really supports information from a previous thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1381460

Well they did say this was planned for a while...

:rofl:

:rofl:

Does he wear an eyepatch? How many lives does he have?

a euphrate? Don't you mesopotania with him, unless you have a lot of bodybags.

Must have come out of the focus group that boogiemen need easy-to-pronounce names.

They're kidding, right? That's like being named Bob from New Jersey. It's completely made up. Twenty to one there is no such person. Some former Ba'athists got pissed off at Zarqawi and gave him up to U.S. intel. Courtesy of the same people who gave us the fat-guy-fumbling-with-machine-gun video.

http://www.tkb.org/KeyLeader.jsp?memID=6330

al-Baghdadi, Abdullah Rashid

Aliases: No known aliases

Group: Mujahideen Shura Council
Role: Emir

Biography: Abdullah Rashid al-Baghdadi (almost certainly an alias) is reportedly the "Emir" of the Mujahideen Shura Council. The Council is an umbrella organization of mostly independent jihadist groups. It remains to be seen whether or not al-Baghdadi's power will increase as a result of the June 2006 death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

http://siteinstitute.org/bin/articles.cgi?ID=publications160406&Category=publications&Subcategory=0

<snip>
"Another member of a jihadist forum addressed the seeming disappearance of Sheikh Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Emir of al-Qaeda in Iraq, stressing that the Muslims should not follow Western pundits and analysts who equate jihad in Iraq with one man in Zarqawi. He congratulates the founding of the Mujahideen Shura Council and its Emir, Sheikh Abdullah Rashid al-Baghdadi, and states: “The jihad did not stop and what it proves is that jihad is continuous until now with the Grace of Allah”.

http://washingtontimes.com/world/20060403-100712-2680r.htm

Zarqawi replaced as al Qaeda chief
By David R. Sands
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
April 4, 2006

Jordanian-born al Qaeda militant Abu Musab Zarqawi has been replaced as head of the terrorist organization in Iraq in a bid to put an Iraqi figure at the head of the group's struggle, said a leading Islamist.
But terrorism specialists were divided on whether the move represented a demotion for the figure most closely identified with a wave of suicide bombings and beheadings or a move by Zarqawi to focus his efforts on a larger regional war.

<snip>
In mid-January, Internet communiques from al Qaeda in Iraq abruptly ceased when it was announced that six Sunni insurgent groups in Iraq had come together to form a "Mujahideen Shura Council."
Western terrorism specialists expected Zarqawi to head the new council. But the group announced Jan. 20 that the previously unknown Abdullah Rashid al-Baghdadi was the council's new leader. Baghdadi is thought to be an Iraqi, but Iraqi government officials said they think the name is a pseudonym.

some guy--real or imagined--as the leader of some new jihadist movement in Iraq. Abdullah al Baghdadi translates to "Abdullah from Baghdad." Abdullah is an extremely common Arab/Muslim name. No doubt numerous others with similarly Iraqi-populist-sounding names will be proferred as the new leaders of the Iraqi jihad, as well. But the real guys are smart enough to stay behind the scenes, is all I'm saying.

and I can't believe how much stuff there is out there on this transfer of power - I don't remember anything on it on DU (or anywhere else). I am just dumbfounded and have to share.

Excellent research into this subject. I suppose it would be a good thing if Zarq's departure meant that the various insurgent factions would fall out among themselves--except they'd probably kill a hell of a lot of innocents in the process.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0427/p06s02-woiq.html

Speculation that Zarqawi's role in the insurgency was weakening has grown since Jan. 15, when a statement posted on insurgent websites announced the formation of the Majilis Shura al-Mujahdin, or the Mujahidin Shura Council (MSC), as an umbrella for Sunni insurgent groups who share Al Qaeda's ideology and goal of turning Iraq into a state governed by Sunni religious law.

Subsequent statements named an Iraqi militant with the nom de guerre of Abdullah Rashid al-Baghdadi as the group's leader, which some took to mean that Zarqawi had lost stature.

I promise. :thumbsup:

will have reached a historic milestone. We will have turned a crucial corner. There's light at the end of the tunnel. We'll stand down as the Iraqi people---arghhh!!! Blegakkk!!!
Alien--
popping--
out--of--my--
chesssss-----splgoooooorrrrrtttttt!

Taking a "war alias" is rather common among the "old school" mujahadeen.

Afghani and Chechen mujahadeen are infamous for doing this.

:pals:

The mujahadeen were composed of men from all over the Arab world. They referred to themselves by their first name followed by the place they came from. For example al Libi came from Libya, al Yemeni from Yemen, al Zarqawi came from the Jordanian village of Zarqa (sp?). This naming convention spread throughout the Jihadist movement.

IOW, yes, Abdullah al Baghdadi is exactly the same thing as saying "Bob from New Jersey."

Riseth out of your fungal reverie and straighten uz all out... please.