Then there was an odd twist. Bergner said Mashadani had created a “virtual organization in cyberspace called the Islamic State of Iraq.” Last fall, announcements began appearing on jihadi Web sites announcing the creation of an umbrella group of Sunni insurgents, including AQI, called the Islamic State of Iraq. The group has taken credit for a number of kidnappings and brutal attacks since that time, including the bombing of the Iraqi Parliament last spring and the bombing of the Mansour hotel last month. It claimed Diyala province as its emirate and even announced the formation of a cabinet with 10 ministers (including a minister for agriculture and fisheries). According to Bergner, the whole thing was a sham. Mashadani has apparently confessed that AQI used the name “Islamic State of Iraq” as a front. “The Islamic State of Iraq is a ‘front organization’ that masks the foreign influence and leadership within in an attempt to put an Iraqi face on the leadership of Al Qaeda in Iraq,” Bergner said.
It got weirder. In various Internet postings, the Islamic State of Iraq has claimed their emir is an Iraqi named Abu Omar al Baghdadi. In recent months, Iraqi security officials have announced the death or capture of Baghdadi on more than one occasion. Only one problem: Baghdadi doesn’t exist, according to Bergner. Mashadani apparently confessed that Baghdadi is not a real person. The voice messages occasionally posted on the net under Baghdadi’s name were actually done by an Iraqi “actor” named Abu Abdullah al Naima. As if these details weren’t muddled enough, Bergner offered this explanation about the identity of Baghdadi and his link to Abu Ayoub al-Masri, the leader of AQI: “To make al-Baghdadi appear credible, al-Masri swore allegiance to Baghdadi and pledged to obey him, which was essentially swearing allegiance to himself, since he knew that Baghdadi was fictitious and a creation of his own.” Huh?
Following Bergner’s narrative, this tidbit does fit in, but it’s impossible to say who’s playing whom. Was Mashadani telling the truth during his interrogation? Or is this another part of the elaborate deception scheme? Mashadani’s confession does conveniently sync the message coming from U.S. military commanders in Baghdad with the message coming from the White House: that Al Qaeda in Iraq is directly linked to Al Qaeda central. But in the briefing today, Bergner said he couldn’t point to any specific attacks that could be traced directly to decisions passed down from Al Qaeda central. The overall message was also mixed. Bergner hammered home the point that Al Qaeda in Iraq is run by foreigners, not Iraqis, but did concede “the rank and file [of AQI] are largely Iraqi.” And, while Baghdadi may not have been a real person, another senior U.S. military official, Real Adm. Greg Smith, said the rest of the cabinet of the Islamic State of Iraq (presumably including the agriculture and fisheries minister) are real jihadis. So is it a “virtual organization”? The next captured Al Qaeda leader may have the answers.
(Photo shows an undated image of Khalid al-Mashadani. REUTERS/Multi-National Force-Iraq/Handout)
