EXCLUSIVE: The Reference publishes excerpts from ‘Baghdadi… The Caliph of Terror’

Ahmed Al-Shorbagy

A new book by journalist and author Sofia Amara, entitled ‘Baghdadi… The Caliph of Terror”, which focuses on Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, will be released on Oct. 3.

The book includes a series of interview with former terrorists who used to have links with the terrorist organization, in addition to statements by some members of Iraq’s military special forces and press reports.

In her book, Sofia shed the light on Baghdadi’s background and early life.

Baghdadi, or Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim al-Badri, was born near Samarra, Iraq, in 1971 as the third of four sons in a poor Sunni family.

His high-school grades did not allow him to study law, he decided to join the Iraqi army, moreover, a few months later, he was deemed unfit for military service by the Iraqi military due to his nearsightedness.

As Baghdadi got accepted to receive education in Quranic Studies at the Baghdad University, he met with many colleagues who later became members in armed groups to fight the U.S. invasion in Iraq. According to Amara, Baghdadi was not affected by his constant failures.

Ibrahim Awad learned the art of giving speeches and elocution as he worked as a keeper at a mosque near his family house.

Being a young man, Ibrahim gathered a soccer team of people who used to pray at this mosque, and instated himself captain of the team. He played good soccer, but soon he would rage over missing an easy goal, therefore his friends called him “Maradona”.

Politically, Baghdadi was loyal to Saddam Hussein, and defended him during the Iraq War, this led him to spend some time in the Abu Ghraib prison and Camp Bucca.

During his time as inmate, he was a disciplined and cooperative prisoner, even as he played soccer before guards who were amazed by “Bucca’s Maradona”.

During that time, Baghdadi was planning the strategy of building an Islamic State, according to one of his fellow inmates, called Abi Ahmad, a former Daesh leader.

Anne Speckhard, a clinical psychologist and director of International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism (ICSVE), who was assigned to set a program to deter extremism at the camp, said she encountered prisoners who were imprisoned just for being in a fire exchange scene.

Speckhard also added how security footages caught extremists teaching inmates how to make bombs by drawing on the sand, not to mention many speeches and writings that promoted terrorism. “And despite of the decision to separate Qaeda leaders and dangerous extremists in separate cells, night Islamic trails would be held to punish informants and U.S. supporters,… Camp Bucca was a real school for terrorists.”

Another former terrorist, Abu Omar, a former IS member who was held three years at Camp Bucca, said the camp served as the safest place to promote extremism, describing it as the best service that the U.S. ever provided to terrorists.

“Not only we were safe, we were also just a few hundred meters away from Al Qaeda leaders, it really was the perfect environment to do this,” Abu Omar added.

In 2017, an international coalition, led by the United States, initiated an attack against Daesh to retake the city of Mosul. It is believed that Daesh sacrificed 17 of its militias in suicide car bombings to open a small passage for Baghdadi to escape.

In March 2015, Baghdadi received a spinal injury after a U.S. strike that claimed the lives of three of his men. Iraqi Military Gen. Fader Al-Barawry suggests that Baghdadi is hiding underground near Mosul and has changed his features so that he could not be identified.

The Guardian reported that Baghdadi was located at least three time, however, he remained out of reach.

The book, which reveals many aspects in Baghdadi’s life, gives us a detailed image of Baghdadi who remains an unknown mystery to the world. The question is, however, will terrorism end by the death of this terrorist?