Al-Baghdadi Steps Out of the Shadows to Proclaim Himself Caliph and "Prince of All Muslims" at Crowded Iraqi Mosque

Yet another enemy of the nation who is feeling emboldened these past few years, eh?

This guy had been hiding for years and years. The only picture of him was a blurry black-and-white photo which I'm not sure was even positively identified as potraying him.

And now he's on a Hillary-esque Listening Tour.

For years the public only saw Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State (IS) formerly known as ISIS or ISIL, in a couple grainy pictures, like the one posted on the U.S. Rewards for Justice program wanted poster offering $10 million for information leading to his capture. But Friday a man looking very much like al-Baghdadi stepped into the spotlight, giving a fiery sermon at a mosque in the Iraqi city of Mosul in which he called for all Muslims to follow him.

"I was cursed with this great endeavor," a 21-minute video of the event shows the man saying in Arabic. "Obey me in my obedience to God, disobey me if I disobey God."

Kind of sounds like Obama.

...

Nada Bakos, a former CIA analyst who tracked al-Baghdadi’s predecessor Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, told ABC News al-Baghdadi had forced himself to step from the shadows, even if it meant "definitely taking a risk, security-wise."

"This would be in line with where he’s trying to take the organization," Bakos said. "He has to present himself as a leader. This was the next step... He has to come out and declare what he, as the caliph, expects from other Muslims."

Strangely enough, his principle demand was "No whammies no whammies no whammies!" Intelligence officials are baffled.

This USAToday article briefly explains what the Caliph is, and why the position of "Prince of All Muslims" has been unfilled since 1924.

After the prophet Mohammed died in 632, the Islamic community chose a caliph to lead the faithful. That institution lasted almost 1,300 years until it was abolished in 1924. Since that time, no mainstream Muslim held the position until June 29, when the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria re-established the caliphate, to the alarm of governments worldwide. But a look at recent history should quiet those fears, particularly if we consider just why has there been no caliph since the 1920s.

This guy predicts:

As ISIS should have known, proclaiming the caliphate might be the very worst thing it could have done.

Because Al Qaeda, for example, is not going to let some ISIS Jihadi-Come-Lately declare himself King Boss.

posted by Ace at 05:04 PM

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