ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror (31 page)

 107 
Most of the insurgents Syria funneled: Gordon & Trainor,
The Endgame
, 231.

 107 
“crisis management cell”: Ian Black and Martin Chulov, “Leading Syrian Regime Figures Killed in Damascus Bomb Attack,”
The Guardian
, July 18, 2012,
www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jul/18/syrian-regime-figures-bomb-attack
; Michael Weiss, “What the Assault on the Assad Regime Means,”
The Telegraph
, July 20, 2012,
blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/michaelweiss/100171767/what-the-assault-on-the-assad-regime-means
.

 107 
Abu Ghadiyah, the Treasury Department alleged: Bill Roggio, “US Strike in Syria ‘Decapitated’ al Qaeda’s Facilitation Network,” The Long War Journal, October 27, 2008,
www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/10/us_strike_in_syria_d.php
.

 107 
According to a State Department cable: “Gen. Patraeus’s Meeting with P.M. Maliki,” Wikileaks, January 7, 2009,
www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/09BAGHDAD31_a.html
.

 108 
He was an al-Qaeda financier: “Treasury Designates Members of Abu Ghadiyah’s Network Facilitates Flow of Terrorists, Weapons, and Money from Syra to al Qaida in Iraq,” US Department of the Treasury, February 28, 2008,
www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/hp845.aspx
.

 108 
Abu Ghadiyah’s predecessor: James Joyner, “Zarqawi Financial Network Independent,” Outside the Beltway, January 25, 2005,
www.outsidethebeltway.com/zarqawi_financial_network_independent
.

 108 
Petraeus had even sought permission: Gordon & Trainor,
The Endgame
, 461.

 108 
Stanley’s McChrystal’s JSOC: Roggio, October 2008.

 109 
He asked al-Assad to end: Gordon & Trainor,
The Endgame,
577.

 109 
Maura Connelly, the charge d’affaires: “UK Foreign Secretary Miliband’s Nov. 17–18 Trip to Damascus,” Wikileaks, November 19, 2008,
www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08DAMASCUS821_a.html
.

 109 
Perhaps it was with the foregoing episode: “Cable 09DAMASCUS384, Re-engaging Syria: Dealing with Sarg Diplomacy,” Wikileaks, June3, 2009,
wikileaks.org/cable/2009/06/09DAMASCUS384.html
.

 110 
In December 2014 Martin Chulov: Chulov, December 2014.

 110 
More than one hundred people: Ibid.

 111 
In November 2009 his government aired: Steven Lee Myers, “Iraq Military Broadcasts Confession on Bombing,”
New York Times
, August 23, 2009,
www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/world/middleeast/24iraq.html
.

 111 
But it recalled its ambassador from Damascus: “Iraq and Syria Recall Envoys,”
Al Jazeera
, August 25, 2009,
www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2009/08/20098251602328210.html
.

 111 
One of the men he refused to turn over: Khaled Yacoub Oweis, “US Security Team to Visit Syria, Focus on Iraq,” Reuters, August 11, 2009,
www.reuters.com/article/2009/08/11/us-syria-usa-sb-idUSTRE57A5Y120090811
.

 111 
For a short time, al-Assad had tried: Gordon & Trainor,
The Endgame
, 610; Hugh Naylor, “Syria is Said to Be Strengthening Ties to Opponents,”
New York Times
, October 7, 2007.
www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/world/middleeast/07syria.html
.

 111 
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told: Tony Badran, “The ‘Lebonization’ of Iraq,”
NOW Lebanon
, December 22, 2009,
now.mmedia.me/lb/en/commentaryanalysis/the_lebanonization_of_iraq
.

 112 
The Iraqi general struggled: Chulov, December 2014.

 112 
As relayed in a State Department cable: “Syrian Intelligence Chief Attends CT Dialogue With S/CT Benjamin,” Wikileaks, February 24, 2010,
wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/10DAMASCUS159_a.html
.

 113 
He explained his own peculiar method: Ibid.

 113 
The answer to that question lay in Mamlouk’s follow-up: Ibid.

CHAPTER 8

 114 
ISIS’s history, according to
Dabiq
’s reconstruction: “The Return of Khilafah,”
Dabiq
, Issue 1, July, 2014,
media.clarionproject.org/files/09-2014/isis-isil-islamic-state-magazine-Issue-1-the-return-of-khilafah.pdf
.

 115 
The first was the killing of Abu Khalaf: Bill Roggio, “US Kills Senior Syrian-based al Qaeda Facilitator in Mosul,” The Long War Journal, January 28, 2010,
www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/01/us_kills_senior_syri.php
.

 115 
A US official later said: Ibid.

 115 
Al-Rawi named two couriers: Gordon & Trainor,
The Endgame
, 623.

 116 
Laith Alkhouri, the counterterrorism expert, said.: Interview with one of the authors, November 2014.

 117 
“No one thought he wanted competition . . .”: Ibid.

 117 
He’s said to have lived in modest quarters: Ruth Sherlock, “How a Talented Footballer Became World’s Most Wanted Man, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi,”
The Telegraph
, November 11, 2014,
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/10948846/How-a-talented-footballer-became-worlds-most-wanted-man-Abu-Bakr-al-Baghdadi.html
.

 117 
Al-Baghdadi wore glasses: Ibid.

 117 
Dr. Hisham al-Hashimi, an expert on ISIS: Interview with one of the authors, December 2014.

 117 
According to one of his neighbors: Sherlock, November 2014.

 118 
by late 2003 he had founded his own Islamist faction: Hashim, 2014.

 118 
a year after that, he was enrolled: Chulov, December 2014.

 119 
Abu Ahmed, the former high-ranking ISIS member: Ibid.

 119 
according to Abu Ahmed, he started causing problems: Ibid.

 119 
When al-Baghdadi was released: Ibid.

 119 
In 2007 he joined the Mujahideen Shura Council: Hashim, 2014.

 123 
“The brutality, the tradecraft . . .”: Interview with one of the authors, October 2014.

 124 
Harvey’s insight is all the more compelling: Ben Hubbard and Eric Schmitt, “Military Skill and Terrorist Technique Fuel Success of ISIS,”
New York Times
, August 27, 2014, mobile.
nytimes.com/2014/08/28/world/middleeast/army-know-how-seen-as-factor-in-isis-successes.html
.

 124 
The first is Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Bilawi: Ruth Sherlock, “Inside the Leadership of Islamic State: How the New ‘Caliphate’ Is Run,”
The Telegraph
, July 9, 2014,
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/10956280/Inside-the-leadership-of-Islamic-State-how-the-new-caliphate-is-run.html
.

 124 
Originally from al-Khalidiya in Anbar: Hisham al-Hashimi,”Revealed: The Islamic State ‘Cabinet,’ From Finance Minister to Suicide Bomb Deployer,”
The Telegraph
, July 9, 2014,
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/10956193/Revealed-the-Islamic-State-cabinet-from-finance-minister-to-suicide-bomb-deployer.html
.

 124 
The second influencer, according to al-Hashimi: Ibid.

 124 
Somewhere in between, according to the
Wall Street Journal
: Siobhan Gorman, Nour Malas, and Matt Bradley, “Brutal Efficiency: The Secret to Islamic State’s Success,”
Wall Street Journal
, September 3, 2014,
www.wsj.com/articles/the-secret-to-the-success-of-islamic-state-1409709762
.

 124 
Iraqi and Syrian militants think al-Anbari: Siobahn Gorman, Nour Malas, and Matt Bradley, “Disciplined Cadre Runs Islamic State,”
Wall Street Journal
, September 3, 2014,
www.wsj.com/articles/SB20001424052970204545604580127823357609374
.

 125 
according to a cache of internal documents: “Exclusive: Top ISIS Leaders Revealed,”
Al Arabiya News
, February 13, 2014,
english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2014/02/13/Exclusive-Top-ISIS-leaders-revealed.html
.

 125 
Another former US detainee: Hubbard & Schmitt, 2014.

 125 
Another graduate of both Bucca: “3 Senior ISIS Leaders Killed in US Airstrikes,” CBS News, December 18, 2014,
www.cbsnews.com/news/3-senior-isis-leaders-killed-in-u-s-airstrikes
.

 125 
A former lieutenant colonel: Sherlock, July 2014.

 125 
Baghdad is said to have “handpicked”: Hubbard & Schmitt, 2014.

 125 
The
New York Times
reported: Ibid.

 126 
Michael Pregent, a former US military: Interview with one of the authors, October 2014.

 126 
Known internationally as the “red-bearded jihadist”: “Red-Bearded Chechen Fighter Is Face of ISIS,” Sky News, July 3, 2014,
news.sky.com/story/1293797/red-bearded-chechen-fighter-is-face-of-isis
.

 126 
Abu Omar al-Shishani, or Tarkhan Batirashvili: Gorman et al. “Disciplined Cadre,” 2014.

 126 
He fought in the 2008 Russo-Georgian War: Nina Akhmeteli, “The Georgian Roots of Isis Commander Omar al-Shishani,” BBC News, July 8, 2014,
www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28217590
.

 126 
Al-Shishani even hung up the phone: Ibid.

 126 
Released in 2010: Bassem Mroue, “Chechen in Syria a Rising Star in Extremist Group,” Associated Press, July 2, 2014,
bigstory.ap.org/article/chechen-syria-rising-star-extremist-group
.

 126 
Teimuraz told the BBC: Akhmeteli, 2014.

 127 
The Chechen first emerged in Syria: Mroue, 2014.

 127 
In November 2014 Kadyrov announced: Joanna Paraszczuk, “The Chechen Leader With a Grudge and the IS Commander with Nine Lives,” Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty, November 14, 2014,
www.rferl.org/content/islamic-state-why-kadyrov-claims-shishani-killed/26692100.html
.

 128 
Some of them even made impressive incursions: Mroue, 2014.

 128 
Menagh finally fell: Nour Malas and Rima Abushakra, “Islamists Seize Airbase Near Aleppo,”
Wall Street Journal
, August 6, 2013,
www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323420604578652250872942058
.

 128 
Largely a morale boost: Anne Barnard and Hwaida Saad, “Rebels Gain Control of Government Air Base in Syria,”
New York Times
, August 5, 2013,
www.nytimes.com/2013/08/06/world/middleeast/rebels-gain-control-of-government-air-base-in-syria.html
; Michael Weiss, “Col. Oqaidi on al-Qaeda, UN Inspectors, and Kurdish Militias,”
NOW Lebanon
, August 18, 2013,
now.mmedia.me/lb/en/interviews/col-oqaidi-on-al-qaeda-un-inspectors-and-kurdish-militias
.

 128 
Khalid wrote in a statement: Joanna Paraszczuk, “Military Prowess of IS Commander Umar Shishani Called Into Question,” Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty, November 6, 2014,
www.rferl.org/content/umar-shishani-military-prowess-islamic-state/26677545.html
.

 129 
Stories about pretty, middle-class teenage: Allan Hall, “One of the Teenage Austrian ‘Poster Girls’ Who Ran Away to Join ISIS Has Been Killed in the Conflict, UN Says,”
Daily Mail
, December 18, 2014,
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2879272/One-teenage-Austrian-poster-girls-ran-away-join-ISIS-killed-conflict-says.html
.

 129 
copycats who are stopped: “Austria Detains Teenage Girls Who Wanted to Marry ISIS Fighters,” NBC News, January 11, 2015,
www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/austria-detains-teenage-girls-who-wanted-marry-isis-fighters-n284096
.

 130 
In 1940 George Orwell wrote an essay: “George Orwell Reviews
Mein Kampf
(1940),” Open Culture, August 19, 2014,
www.openculture.com/2014/08/george-orwell-reviews-mein-kampf-1940.html
.

CHAPTER 9

 131 
Bashar al-Assad gave an interview: “Interview With Syrian President Bashar al-Assad,”
Wall Street Journal
, January 31, 2011,
www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703833204576114712441122894
.

 131 
Just three days before his interview: “Syria: Gang Attacks Peaceful Demonstrators; Police Look On,” Human Rights Watch, February 3, 2011,
www.hrw.org/news/2011/02/03/syria-gang-attacks-peaceful-demonstrators-police-look
; Lauren Williams, “Syria Clamps Down on Dissent with Beatings and Arrests,”
The Guaridian
, February 24, 2011,
www.theguardian.com/world/2011/feb/24/syria-crackdown-protest-arrests-beatings
.

 131 
on February 17, a spontaneous protest erupted: Molly Hennessy-Fiske, “Syria: Activists Protest Police Beating, Call for Investigation,”
Los Angeles Times
, February 17, 2014,
latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2011/02/syria-activists-protest-police-beating-call-for-investigation.html
.

 131 
Although the protest was carefully directed: Ibid.

 131 
That demonstration came to an end: Rania Abouzeid, “The Syrian Style of Repression: Thugs and Lectures,”
TIME
, February 27, 2011,
content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2055713,00.html
.