:
FAKE EMIR OF IRAQ (3#) -
A Cyberspace Myth -

Would you buy a used car from this man?
Perhaps you have . . .

# *The mysterious Abu Omar al-Baghdadi - the so-called "emir" of the so-called "Islamic State of Iraq" - apparently avoided capture so elusively through a very clever ruse: He didn’t exist...

Mashhadani’s interrogation has opened "insights" into the workings of al-Qa'ida operations in Iraq, US military and intel officials have said.* [slog]

# *The ruse, Bergner said, was devised by Abu Ayub al-Masri, the Egyptian-born leader of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, who was trying to mask the dominant role that foreigners play in that insurgent organization.* [iht]

# *fictional character - nonexistant leader: Mashhadani served as a propaganda chief in the organization... [and] helped create Islamic State of Iraq as a "virtual organization" that is essentially a pseudonym for al-Qaida in Iraq.* [chron]

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