al Qaeda's smoke and mirrors...false Flag

U.S. Special Operations Forces scored a major victory against al Qaeda in Iraq's senior leadership and gained valuable insight on the al Qaeda creation known as the Islamic State of Iraq. On July 4, Coalition forces captured Khalid Abdul Fatah Da'ud Mahmud Al Mashadani, a senior al Qaeda in Iraq and Islamic State of Iraq leader and close associate of Abu Ayyub al Masri, al Qaeda's commander. Mashadani, also known as Abu Shahed, was captured in Mosul and is thought by the U.S. military to be the most senior Iraqi-born leader of al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). During Mashadani's interrogation, the U.S. confirmed the Islamic State of Iraq is an al Qaeda front and that its leader does not really exist.

Mashadani has a long pedigree in Iraq's Salafist terror networks, and had direct contact with Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. "Mashadani was a leader in the Ansar Al Sunna terrorist group before joining AQI two and half years ago," Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner said in a press briefing. "He served as the al-Qaeda Media Emir for Baghdad and then was appointed the Media Emir for all of Iraq, serving as an intermediary between AQI leader al-Masri, Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri. In fact, communication between senior al-Qaeda leadership and al-Masri went through Mashadani."

In an effort to give al-Qaida an Iraqi face, Bergner said al-Mashhadani and al-Masri established a front organization known as the Islamic State of Iraq, which the general described as ``a virtual organization in cyberspace.''...............

Mashadani stated that al Qaeda in Iraq is operationally controlled by foreign fighters, not Iraqi insurgents. "Mashadani confirms that al Masri and the foreign leaders with whom he surrounds himself, not Iraqis, make the operational decisions for AQI," said Brig. Gen Bergner.

But not only is the Islamic State of Iraq a contrived entity, its leader, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, is as well. "To further this myth [of the Islamic State of Iraq], al Masri created a fictional political head of ISI known as Omar al-Baghdadi," said Brig. Gen Bergner. Al-Baghdadi is actually played by an actor named Abu Abdullah al Naima, and al Masri "maintains exclusive control over al Naima as he acts the part of the fictitious al-Baghdadi character."

Abu Abdullah al-Rashid al-Baghdadi (also known as Abu Hamza al-Baghdadi and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi)^[1][2] was the leader (or emir) of the Mujahideen Shura Council (also known as the "Council of Freedom Fighters,"^[3] the "Consultative Council of Mujahedeen,"^[2] and the "Council of Holy Warriors"),^[4] an umbrella organization composed of eight terrorist groups that violently oppose the United States' military presence in Iraq, and is the current head of Islamic State of Iraq. The Interior Ministry of Iraq said that Al-Baghdadi was captured in Baghdad on March 9, 2007,^[5] but it was later said that the person in question was not Al-Baghdadi.^[6] On May 3, 2007, the Iraqi Interior Ministry said that al-Baghdadi was killed by American and Iraqi forces north of Baghdad.^[7]

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Abdullah_al-Rashid_al-Baghdadi}

However al Qaeda's control of the leadership via its foreign operatives, its vast resources in cash, and its campaign of co-opting or decapitating the Iraqi leadership of domestic insurgent groups has allowed the terror group to direct the Islamic State of Iraq. "Al Masri started overpowering us and acted of his own accord," Mashadani said. "Al Masri controlled the distribution of funding and controlled the content of ISI publications."

Al Masri then swore allegiance to al Baghdadi "which was essentially swearing allegiance to himself, since he knew that Baghdadi was fictitious and totally his own creation," said Brig. Gen Bergner. "The rank and file Iraqis in AQI believed they are following the Iraqi al-Baghdadi but all the while they have actually been following the orders of the Egyptian Abu 'Ayyub al- Masri."


http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6790027,00.html