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American prison camps in Iraq paved the way for ISIS

This passage from the Brookings Institution's essay, 'The Believer' describes how the US prison camps in a war-torn Iraq became a breeding ground for extremists and jihadists like Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, who would go on to create ISIS.  Late in 2003, after the Americans had defeated and disbanded Saddam’s army, Baghdadi helped found Jaysh Ahl […]

William McCants writes for Business Insider:

This passage from the Brookings Institution's essay, 'The Believer' describes how the US prison camps in a war-torn Iraq became a breeding ground for extremists and jihadists like Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, who would go on to create ISIS.  Late in 2003, after the Americans had defeated and disbanded Saddam’s army, Baghdadi helped found Jaysh Ahl al-Sunna wa-l-Jamaah (Army of the People of the Sunna and Communal Solidarity), an insurgent group that fought U.S. troops and their local allies in northern and central Iraq.  Soon after, in February 2004, Baghdadi was arrested in Fallujah while visiting a friend who was on the American wanted list. He was transferred to a detention facility at Camp Bucca, a sprawling complex in southern Iraq. Prison files classified him as a “civilian detainee,” which meant his captors didn’t know he was a jihadis.