On Sunday, the Iraqi government declared that its air force had struck a convoy carrying Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to a big Legion of Doom ISIS meet-up in western Iraq, but that turned out to have been a bit of a false alarm. Baghdadi was probably never in the convoy. Oh well, it’s not the first time he’s been falsely reported dead or wounded.
On the other hand, there’s word straight from ISIS today confirming America’s claim that its airstrikes killed ISIS’s #2 guy in Iraq, Hajji Mutazz, also known as Abu Muslim al-Turkmani (full name: Fadhil Ahmad al-Hayali), back in August. While reports of a terrorist figure’s death should always be questioned when they first come in, there’s little reason to doubt them once the terrorist organization itself has admitted that they’re dead. I guess the third report that Mutazz had been killed was the charm.
As you should know by now, there’s no consensus as to whether decapitation strikes on groups like ISIS actually do any good. Mutazz appears to have been involved in ISIS at the highest military and logistical levels, so his death is a genuine loss for them and probably a net gain for humanity. But if his replacement turns out to be smarter and/or more awful, who’s to say how it will ultimately affect things in Iraq?
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