Counterterrorism Blog: "Abu Azzam": Is He Really Al-Qaida's No. 2 in Iraq?

"Abu Azzam": Is He Really Al-Qaida's No. 2 in Iraq?

By Evan Kohlmann

Yesterday, U.S. military officials made statements to the press reporting the death of Abu Azzam al-Iraqi (a.k.a. Abdullah Najim Abdullah Mohamed Al-Jawari), whom they described as the "No. 2 official" in Al-Qaida's Committee in Iraq and the "top deputy" to Al-Qaida commander Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. While there is no doubt that Abu Azzam is a relatively influential figure within Al-Qaida's local Baghdad network, there are several cogent reasons to question his purported title as "Number 2."

1.) Al-Qaida's top level infrastructure has already been publicly identified in recent statements and audio recordings issued by the group. Though little has been heard from him lately, Al-Qaida's de-facto "Deputy Commander" is reputed to be an unidentified Iraqi national who goes by the combat name "Abu Abdelrahman al-Iraqi." Allegedly, sitting beneath Abu Abdelrahman in Al-Qaida's chain of command is the official commander of Al-Qaida's Military Wing: another Iraqi national known as "Abu Usaid al-Iraqi" (see here and here). Neither of these individuals has been reported as killed or captured--neither by Al-Qaida nor by coalition military forces in Iraq.

3.) Even some statements previously issued by the Pentagon and the MNF in Iraq seem to raise questions about the notion of Abu Azzam al-Iraqi being legitimately described as Al-Qaida's "Number 2" most important official--even if we limit ourselves merely to the confines of the Iraqi capital. On July 20, 2005, the MNF in Iraq issued a statement asking for help in locating Abu Thar al-Iraqi (a.k.a. Muhammad Rabi Hadi Jassir al-Dulaymi), described as "Al-Qaida's chief bombing coordinator for Baghdad." There have been no subsequent reports from either the MNF or Al-Qaida suggesting that Abu Thar has since been killed or captured. One is left to wonder then, who is the real chief of Al-Qaida in Baghdad?

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