Daesh Victims Doubt Death of U.S. ‘Stooge’

Date: 03 November 2019 - 21:22

News ID: ۷۲۳۵۹

BAGHDAD (Middle East Eye) -- Iraq has the dubious accolade of being the birthplace of the Daesh group.
After its initial formation in 2006 in the wake of the U.S. occupation, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, an Iraqi from Samarra, declared himself to be the state's caliph in July 2014, from Mosul's historic al-Nuri Mosque.
Although the news of Baghdadi's death last week grabbed international headlines, many Iraqis, including those who fell victim to Daesh, are ambivalent, some not even believing the news.
"I don't care at all, really," said Mosul resident Abdulrahman, 21, who lost his mother, father and younger brother in a U.S. airstrike on three family homes in Mosul in January 2017. "Baghdadi's a bastard, and he was going to die eventually, so his time had come. I'm slightly happier that the world will be way better without his ass in it."
The Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) - the U.S.-led coalition which carried out many controversial airstrikes in Mosul - initially denied carrying out the attack on Abdulrahman’s house, which left 18 people dead.
A year later, after a follow-up enquiry, they confirmed the coalition was responsible for the airstrike, explaining: "There appears to have been a staff error between March and November last year that resulted in an inaccurate response from CJTF-OIR."
Rami Dinha, 25, from Qaraqosh - a town near Mosul, which Daesh forcibly emptied of its Christian inhabitants save a few elderly people who refused to leave - said the Daesh leader's demise was still important, albeit coming much too late.
"Baghdadi was responsible for making us leave our towns because of his terrorism and ideology," he said.
Baghdadi's death still wasn't cause for celebration, he said. "We know that Daesh and its terror will remain in the area as sleeper cells that might still carry out attacks whenever they find the right environment."
Iraqi Christians' fears of future insurgency had been compounded, he said, by Thursday's news that Daesh already had a new leader - Abu Ibrahim al-Hishami al-Qurayshi.

Takfiri Bogeyman or U.S. Stooge?
Baghdadi generated an international "bogeyman" image, by rare media appearances coupled with Daesh’s terrifying media campaign. But, to many Iraqis, he was merely a U.S. stooge.
Throughout the battle against Daesh and even after the group was declared defeated in Iraq, military commanders routinely answered the question: "Where is Baghdadi?" with the simple answer: "Ask America."
Special Forces second lieutenant Hassan, 28, who the Middle East Eye first met during a January 2017 advance against Daesh through the "Mosul Jungle," a riverside playground nestled in a wooded area of the city, was ambivalent about Baghdadi's death.
"I'm not happy or sad about this news. It's not important," he told MEE. Many of his comrades fell during Iraq's battle against Daesh. Among those, 18 were close friends. He softly listed off the names of his slain friends, pausing sadly at Ali, the popular chef in his unit and a talented singer.
"Yes, they died because of him, but actually Baghdadi was just a frontman, like a picture. He was one Iraqi man, but behind him was something much bigger. When you see the massive reach of Daesh and what it achieved, it's impossible that this was the work of one man, or even one country. Many countries were involved in creating IS."
Hassan said many Iraqis viewed Baghdadi - who spent 10 months in U.S.-run detention centers in Abu Ghraib and Camp Bucca in 2004 - as an American stooge.
"Look at where he was before. Baghdadi was probably working for America. Of course, we don't know for sure, but that's what most Iraqis believe," he said. "There's a lot we don't know, and maybe Baghdadi is not even dead."
Fake News to Give Trump a Boost?
"I don't believe he is dead, and I hope one day that I will kill Baghdadi myself, with my own hands," said Muslim Amerli, the commander of Sayyed Shorhadat Brigade, a Turkmen unit in the Hashd al-Sha’abi, who led a successful defense of his Shia Turkmen town, besieged by Daesh for 89 days.
Amerli's brother, a widely respected member of the community, was killed in the battle. Amerli has remained active in the battle against Daesh, even single-handedly hunting down Daesh remnants in the Iraqi desert.
Fellow Turkman, Jawdat Assaf, described the news as "a piece of theatre" staged by the Americans and designed to boost U.S. President Donald Trump's popularity before next year's elections.
Baghdadi's death is a much-needed media boost for America, after its recent troop withdrawal from Syria was widely reported as a cruel abandonment of Syria's Kurds, with whom U.S. forces had been allied for years.
The "fake news' sentiment was echoed in other former Daesh strongholds. At its height, Daesh controlled almost one-third of Iraq's territory and, from its Mosul capital, ran a reign of terror across swathes of Iraq and Syria, controlling several "satellite states," including in Libya, and orchestrating global terror attacks.
"Some Libyans, especially those not personally affected by Daesh, still doubt it's true,” said Libyan oil worker Fadiel, 46, who was displaced from his home near Sirte by Daesh in 2016. "Others say it's all a U.S. conspiracy - that the Americans promoted (Osama) bin Laden, then killed him and promoted Baghdadi, then killed him."