Deadly Adversaries

"They turned up in convoys waving their black flags and saying that Fallujah belongs to al-Qaeda again. With God's help, the army will destroy them."
Ayad Dulaimi, Fallujah resident

"You will see the mujahedeen (holy warriors) at the heart of your country. Our war with you has only started now."
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader al-Qaeda in Iraq and Syria

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Photo: Supplied

This is the new leader of the terror group spearheading the Islamist takeover of the Sunni region of Syria. Born Ibrahim Ali al-Badri north of Baghdad in the Tigris city of Samarrah, the man also known as Abu Duaa ("Father of the Summons") busies himself leading his dedicated converts to martyrdom and conquest, promising when he is satisfied with progress in Syria, he will turn his  attention to the United States of America, to fulfill the obligation resting in his promise to avenge Osama bin Laden.

He had been imprisoned at Camp Bucca after a huge sweep in 2005 by U.S. Forces to neuter the opposition that caused the deaths of so many American military personnel in that restive province. It has been rumoured that it was there that his radicalization took place, among the al-Qaeda commanders held at the prison camp. 

"This guy was a Salafi (a follower of a fundamentalist brand of Islam associated with Saudi Arabia) and Saddam's regime would have kept a close eye on him", said Michael Knjghts, Iraq expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. It's too bad, in hindsight, that the U.S. didn't take the precaution to keep a close eye on him while they had him in detention, rather than allow his departure from imprisonment.

Which just goes to underline how decisions to remove a tyrant, no matter how irksome his presence is to the international community which hates to see a mass murderer in charge of any country, but whose dominating presence does somehow manage to keep some semblance of order and security. In Saddam Hussein's case, his Sunni minority Baathist government kept the Shia majority in check while afflicting the Kurds with his penchant for avenging hints of insurrection.

But there was a certain order to the disorder; with his removal the historical sectarian hatred between Sunni and Shia was unleashed with horrendous results on a scale far greater than Saddam's own excesses in mass brutality. Abu Bakr al-Baghdad, a former cleric, is well known for his ruthless brutality. Like any other leader of a barbaric militia dedicated to committing atrocities to instil fear and dread in their targets, he is single-minded in his goal.

So good luck to the feckless Shia-led government under its short-sighted President Nouri al-Maliki who spurned U.S. advice to respect a governing coalition of Shia, Sunni and Kurd to help keep the peace. Now that the majority Shia have clasped the opportunity to do unto the Sunni minority what Saddam had done to them, they reap the harvest of deadly suicide bombs at Shia gatherings, marketplaces, government offices. Oh, and the presence of toxic Islamists.

Gunmen patrol in Fallujah west of Baghdad on Saturday. Fighting between Iraqi security forces and al-Qaida-linked militants has killed at least 60 people over the past two weeks.     Photograph by: The Associated Press , London Sunday Telegraph