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| Iraq |
| Iraqi Officer Under Saddam Masterminded The Rise Of ISIS, Reports Spiegel |
| 2015-04-20 |
| [Rooters] A former intelligence officer for the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was the mastermind behind Islamic State's takeover of northern Syria, according to a report by Der Spiegel that is based on documents uncovered by the German magazine. Spiegel, in a lengthy story published at the weekend and entitled "Secret Files Reveal the Structure of Islamic State," says it gained access to 31 pages of handwritten charts, lists and schedules which amount to a blueprint for the establishment of a caliphate in Syria. The documents were the work of a man identified by the magazine as Samir Abd Muhammad al-Khlifawi, a former colonel in the intelligence service of Saddam Hussein's air defense force, who went by the pseudonym Haji Bakr. Spiegel says the files suggest that the takeover of northern Syria was part of a meticulous plan overseen by Haji Bakr using techniques -- including surveillance, espionage, murder and kidnapping -- honed in the security apparatus of Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi national was reportedly killed in a firefight with Syrian rebels in January 2014, but not before he had helped secure swathes of Syria, which in turn strengthened Islamic State's position in neighboring Iraq. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |