al-Baghdadi dead: Syrian Observatory for Human Rights

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Per Reuters. We'll see if this holds up.

[Middle-aged Europe]

That's kind of sad.

Just being killed let's him off the hook too easily IMO.

[Zinneke]

That's kind of sad.

Just being killed let's him off the hook too easily IMO.

Yeah would have loved to see the guy in a cell. But he's escaped from one before.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-baghdadi-idUSKBN19W1AW

The link was broken.

DoD is not corroborating at this time, from the article update.

Excellent news if true - aB has been "killed" and lived so many times before.

Sorry about that, I was copying the link on mobile, and what I pasted contained the article title as well. It should work now.

[Mike Thick]

This is good -- won't really change battle dynamics, but likely to be a major moral victory for the coalition.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

We've had such news before. I'll wait for something more concrete.

[Sir Mohamed]

Well, that has been reported several times before by various sources. I believe it when I see it, ergo when U.S. or European officials report or confirm it (the only relaible sources with that matter).

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Will there be a by-election?

[ZuWo]

Will there be a by-election?

More interestingly, will his successor be fiscally liberal or conservative?

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Will there be a by-election?

More interestingly, will his successor be fiscally liberal or conservative?

Maybe ISIS is ready for more a liberal salafist?

[Zioneer]

I won't believe it until ISIS itself admits it.

Not that I trust ISIS, but when terrorist organizations say "yep our leader is dead", he's probably dead.

[Mike Thick]

Will there be a by-election?

More interestingly, will his successor be fiscally liberal or conservative?

Eastern ISIS is more fiscally theocratic, while Western ISIS is more socially theocratic.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Well if past experience is any guide the deaths of Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi certainly crippled these murderous Salafi jihadist groups.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

He's got more lives than a cat.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Will this really have any effect (beyond morale)? I've seen several reports (though none recently) that the brains and organization behind ISIS were the surviving competent people from Saddam's regime. That the whole "Islamic" thing was basically a PR front.

[DavidB.]

That the whole "Islamic" thing was basically a PR front.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Will this really have any effect (beyond morale)? I've seen several reports (though none recently) that the brains and organization behind ISIS were the surviving competent people from Saddam's regime. That the whole "Islamic" thing was basically a PR front.

I don't remember the Baathists beheading people.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

I've seen several reports (though none recently) that the brains and organization behind ISIS were the surviving competent people from Saddam's regime. That the whole "Islamic" thing was basically a PR front.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/the-hidden-hand-behind-the-islamic-state-militants-saddam-husseins/2015/04/04/aa97676c-cc32-11e4-8730-4f473416e759_story.html

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The Islamist fanatics are getting the lion's share of high-profile coverage (and the precision airstrikes) but the rumored Baathist cadre would be the real string pullers.

As I mentioned, I haven't seen much on this exact topic recently, although there was apparently a fight over it in the pages of Foreign Affairs last year.

[Ebsy]

I mean of course W created ISIS. This should not come as a surprise to anyone who has been alive the past 17 years.