Abu Ghraib jihadists escape to Syria
For these Al Qaeda radicals, war is about replacing ‘unbelievers’ with an Islamic government
HARALD DOORNBOS AND JENAN MOUSSA GAZIANTEP, TURKEY— Waiting for the tram in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep, Abu Omar is on his way to the mall. No groceries today — his shopping list includes a Turkish-made tablet computer and a small GPS navigation device loaded with digital maps of the Middle East.
“It’s nothing special,” says Omar, an Iraqi national, as he puts the goods in his rucksack. “But this stuff might come in handy after I make it to Syria.”
Omar, a handsome young man with long black hair, is not the only one making the trek to Syria. Hundreds of Iraqi prisoners — mostly suspected or convicted jihadists — were freed in July after Al Qaeda-linked militants staged a jailbreak at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. At the time, Iraqi and Western authorities feared that some of those men would travel to Syria, helping to fuel the rise of extremist groups there. Those fears have become a reality.
Omar is one of the Al Qaeda members who escaped during the Abu Ghraib prison break. He says six of his former cellmates have also made it to Syria. “Many more are on their way,” he says. “Everybody wants to go for jihad to Syria.”
Omar sees the Syrian war as much more than a struggle against a brutal dictator. For him, it’s a war against unbelievers and its ultimate aim is the establishment of an Islamic government that transcends the borders of the modern Middle East. “Syria and Iraq are the same struggle to us,” he explains. “Both governments in Iraq and Syria are run by unbelievers, so we will fight both. Syria is currently very weak and close to falling into the hands of the mujahideen ( jihadists).”
Omar refuses to give his exact age, saying only that he is in his 20s. We were able to contact him through a Syrian activist in Turkey known for his close links to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS).
Omar spent 26 months imprisoned in Abu Ghraib, which gained notoriety in 2004 after shocking pictures were published of American guards torturing and humiliating Iraqi prisoners. He was imprisoned on terrorism-related charges. According to him, the experience of being locked up in Abu Ghraib led to his radicalization. “When I was in prison I met a lot of ISIS inmates,” he says. “They convinced me of their ideas and I decided to join them in their fight.”
The prison break gave him the opportunity to make good on his word.
After breaking free, Omar stayed for a couple of weeks in an ISIS camp set up in Anbar, the traditional heartland of Iraq’s Sunnis. The camp’s leaders provided him with military training and showed him rousing videos of jihadi speeches and operations within Syria.
After Omar made up his mind to leave for jihad in Syria, he was given a cellphone by an Iraqi ISIS member whom he refers to as “my handler.” Omar is only allowed to call one number — that of his handler. The handler, meanwhile, uses his phone only to call Omar’s number. It’s a precaution designed to protect the jihadi network.
Before he left for Syria, Omar decided to visit a barber and shave his beard. This way he would not stand out as a religious man. Clean-shaven, he travelled north to Iraq’s Kurdish region, snuck into the part of northern Syria controlled by the Kurdish rebels, and then illegally crossed the border into Turkey.
The day after Omar went shopping, his phone rang again. “Please know that you will go tomorrow to Syria,” he says his handler told him. “Be ready; somebody will pick you up.”
On Sept. 18, Omar was taken by a Syrian ISIS contact to the Turkish border town of Kilis, a stone’s throw away from Syria. Five minutes after illegally crossing the border and kissing the ground, his new comrades picked him up and drove him to the nearby town of Azaz, where he disappeared into the fog of Syria’s war.
“Syria and Iraq are the same struggle to us . . . Both governments in Iraq and Syria are run by unbelievers, so we will fight both.” ABU OMAR AL QAEDA MEMBER AND ABU GHRAIB ESCAPEE