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Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Islamic State’s top military commander was trained by American special forces units

Sep 15, 2015 4:51 pm By Robert Spencer

This article maintains that Abu Omar al Shishani was “radicalized” in a Saudi-funded mosque that challenged the moderate Islam that had hitherto prevailed in that region. Yet despite this supposedly prevailing moderation, its men gained a “reputation as crazy Islamic warriors.”

If this scenario is true, U.S. officials should think very carefully about the implications of the fact that there are hundreds of Saudi-funded mosques in the U.S. But they won’t.

And whether or not it is true that Abu Omar al Shishani was a “moderate” when he was trained by American special forces units, this story should make U.S. officials think carefully about the wisdom of such training, given that there is such a very fine line between “moderation” and “extremism.” But they won’t.

Umar al-Shishani

“U.S. training helped mold Islamic State’s top military commander,” by Mitchell Prothero, McClatchy, September 15, 2015:

…Abu Omar al Shishani, as he’s now known, had been born Tarkhan Batirashvili 27 years earlier in Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge, a tiny enclave of ethnic Chechens, known locally as Kists, whose roughly 10,000 residents represent virtually all of the Muslims in predominantly Orthodox Christian Georgia.

But analysts of extremist groups said Batirashvili’s impact has been far greater than the small numbers of Muslims in Georgia would suggest. Since he swore allegiance to the Islamic State in 2013, thousands of Muslims from the Caucasus have flocked to Syria to join the extremist cause.

“More than anything else, Batirashvili has legitimized ISIS in the Caucasus by the power of his exploits, which is amplified by slick ISIS propaganda,” said Michael Cecire, an analyst of extremism for the Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute.

Batirashvili’s battlefield successes, including orchestrating the capture of Syria’s Menagh Air Base after two years of failed attempts, “helped to legitimize ISIS in militant circles, including in the North Caucasus,” Cecire said.

“Batirashvili’s ability to demonstrate ISIS’ tactical prowess attracted fighters in droves from other factions and tipped the scales in foreign fighter flow and recruitment,” Cecire said. “In the North Caucasus, young people no longer wanted to fight in Syria with the increasingly marginalized Caucasus Emirate (groups), but wanted to fight with the winners – ISIS.”

Batirashvili’s story also was compelling, Cecire said: “A man with a modest background, sickly and impoverished before he went to Syria,” becomes “a great battlefield commander defying the world” . . . a “seemingly emulable, rags-to-riches story.” 

Those seeking an explanation for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s insistence on sending military supplies and manpower to Syria to bolster the government of President Bashar Assad would do well to consider Batirashvili. Putin not only personally oversaw the Russian push into Georgia, but he has twice waged war against Islamist-led factions in Chechnya whose cause Batirashvili has supported since he was a teenager. Ethnic Chechens are thought to be the largest group of foreign fighters among Islamic State forces.

Now 30, Batirashvili is a key figure, reportedly a member of the group’s governing council, is said to be the Islamic State’s supreme military leader in northern Syria and Aleppo, and is perhaps the group’s most fearsome ground commander. His current status is an irony for a man once considered a Georgian soldier with a bright future.

“We trained him well, and we had lots of help from America,” said a former Georgian defense official who asked to not be identified because of the sensitivity of Batirashvili’s role in the Islamic State. “In fact, the only reason he didn’t go to Iraq to fight alongside America was that we needed his skills here in Georgia.”

Even before Georgia and Russia came to blows in 2008, Batirashvili had earned a reputation for fighting Russians. While a part of Georgia, the Pankisi Valley’s northern end abuts Chechnya, where separatists fought a brutal war for independence from Russia in the 1990s. Batirashvili’s mother was Chechen, and his father has told local journalists that young Batirashvili had seen a handful of military operations as a rebel in Chechnya before joining Georgia’s military in 2006 at age 20.

The choice of a military career was natural, say Georgian officials and journalists who knew him and his community. Pankisi is a tiny and isolated sliver of Georgia with little economic activity, and the choices for its youth are narrow: leave home to fight the Russians, become a subsistence farmer, join one of the legendarily nasty Chechen criminal gangs, or join the military.

According to Batirashvili’s ex-comrades in the Georgian military, Batirashvili was tapped immediately upon his enlistment to join Georgia’s U.S.-trained special forces.

“He was a perfect soldier from his first days, and everyone knew he was a star,” said one former comrade, who asked not to be identified because he remains on active duty and has been ordered not to give media interviews about his former colleague. “We were well trained by American special forces units, and he was the star pupil.”

Fighting the Russians in Chechnya would not have disqualified him, the former comrade said. “Having fought the Russians as a Chechen is hardly unusual and not the sort of thing that would have meant you were a bad guy,” he said. “It just means you’re from Pankisi.”

None of the people who knew Batirashvili during his military service noted any sort of dedication to Islam or jihadist tendencies, but that’s not considered particularly unusual in a country where Muslims tend to adhere to a moderate strain of Sufi Islam despite Chechnya’s reputation as a incubator of extremism.

Batirashvili’s exploits in the 2008 war with Russia are the stuff of local legend. Why he left the military isn’t clear.

“Chechens have a reputation as crazy Islamic warriors, but our Islam has always been moderate,” according to one Pankisi community and clan leader who’s been ordered by the government not to talk about the man many Georgians laughingly refer to as “Pankisi’s most famous son.”

That reputation for moderation, however, began to change in the wake of the Chechen wars, which devastated Chechnya, and by the construction in 2000 of a second mosque to serve the valley’s six small villages.

The new mosque, the community leader said, was built with a donation from Saudi Arabia and “preached a kind of alien Wahhabi-style Islam,” not the Sufi-style Islam that had characterized the regions for hundreds of years.

“It told our people that it was wrong to pray at graves of saints and ancestors, as our people have done for hundreds of years, and even to share our religious rites with our Christian brothers,” he said.

By the mid-2000s, multiple residents say, the situation had split the community, mostly by age, with the original Sufi mosque attended by the older members of the community, while the young people were radicalized by the new mosque. This led to significant tensions with police until it was resolved by a revolution almost 1,000 miles away.

“They all started leaving for Syria,” the community elder said. “Things are safer here now because all the radicals – our children – have gone to Syria.”

American and Georgian intelligence estimates put that number at between 150 and 200 young men who have left Pankisi to fight in Syria….

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Filed Under: Featured, Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL, Daesh), United States, Useful idiots Tagged With: Abu Omar al Shishani, Tarkhan Batirashvili


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Comments

  1. Angemon says

    Sep 15, 2015 at 5:17 pm

    “U.S. training helped mold Islamic State’s top military commander,”

    Oh boy, this misleading title is conspiracy theory fodder…

    The new mosque, the community leader said, was built with a donation from Saudi Arabia and “preached a kind of alien Wahhabi-style Islam,” not the Sufi-style Islam that had characterized the regions for hundreds of years.

    Huh, so what? Sufis are mystic, not pacifists – sufi quran’s don’t read “hug the infidel”, “fight the people of the book only if they attacked you first and if you’ve asked them very nicely to stop and they didn’t” or “there’s no need for jizyia, you can trust the people of the book. Those hundreds of years of sufism still earned them the reputation of crazy islamic warriors, didn’t it? I don’t know about sufism, but there’s definitely sophistry afoot…

    • kay says

      Sep 15, 2015 at 9:08 pm

      Truth.
      Sufis were sometimes major MILITARY jihad supporters. Like al-Ghazali.
      And the Koran is just the Koran.
      There is such a thing as military / mystical asceticism.
      Religion is NOT about being nice to people. Westerners don’t get that.
      Sufis were once a major international influence and may have held great behind-the-scenes power in some areas.
      At the end of the day, they are just as much bad guys as any other carpet pilot.
      There are no “nice” Muslims. There are DELUDED non-aggressive Muslims, but they are just grass for the snakes to hide in.
      Anyway, the Sufis are pretty much extinguished now. The Sunnis went after them.

  2. Westman says

    Sep 15, 2015 at 7:14 pm

    “They all started leaving for Syria,” the community elder said. “Things are safer here now because all the radicals – our children – have gone to Syria.”

    They’ll be bhaaack….

    • kay says

      Sep 15, 2015 at 8:59 pm

      Yeah. They’ll be back. With lots of real military experience. To fight in the Caucasus.

      When Putin is shoring up the failing Assad regime in Syria with lots of war materiel, he’s doing that because he is terrified of local and very fiercely Islamic Muslims in the Caucasus.

      There are several things the bloodthirsty Islamofascists need to mount operations in any given area. They need military experience, effective military and political leaders, sources of jihadi fighters ( local or nonlocal ) military equipment, money, direct infrastructure support, and general Islamic community support. They can get that.

      The really key thing, the limiting factor, is effective strategic / military leadership.
      Now this Abu Omar al Shishani/ Tarkhan Batirashvili is clearly a key player and he can do ENORMOUS damage down the road, maybe even for another ten years.

      Best case is that he gets taken out in the next year. Worst case is that he trains hundreds of EFFECTIVE bloodhirsty jihadis and maybe even ten or so Islamofascist leaders, helps take Damascus in the next two years and then in five years works mainly on jihad for the Caucasus.
      He knows the area, the people, the language. He has a hug resource pool of potential jihadis there.
      If I were Vlaidimir Putin I would be sweating bricks over Syria, the Caucasus, and the very real military threat this guy represents.
      The Shia Iranians and Iraqis have proven worthless in this fight. These Islamic State jihadis are fierce and they are winning a lot.
      But here is the deepest concern. A superstar military leader like this guy can train bad guys to miltary level, insert them into Syrian refugee camps, and then they can try for Europe.
      If Islamic State can insert even just ten or so military leaders into Europe in the next year, then there will be hell to pay in Europe within five years. Because these unknown individual high-level bad guys can train more bad guys inside Europe.

      I am now ( very informally ) forecasting serious bloodshed and major infrastructure attacks in Europe five years from now. The current European leaders are all fools.
      The barbarians are inside the gates.

      • Westman says

        Sep 15, 2015 at 10:38 pm

        Kay, I suspect you’re right on the organized militant attacks that are coming in the future.

        Some EU states are looking for the exit and Britain may refuse to take any more immigrants.

        I expect angry demonstrations long before organized militancy from the “refugees” when they find limits on what they can demand from the EU. They will be a fertile “tilth” for the militant leaders and trainers.

        • kay says

          Sep 16, 2015 at 1:56 am

          Re: “I expect angry demonstrations long before organized militancy from the “refugees” when they find limits on what they can demand from the EU. They will be a fertile “tilth” for the militant leaders and trainers.”
          ————————-

          Westman, you’re right twice over.
          (1) We can see right now the beginnings of real anger among the migrants. These people can be really irrational, antisocial, and FIERCE. I’m seeing that right now on youtube video reports.

          (2) The migrant populations are mostly military age males. And they are tribal and bound mostly by Islamic religion. Their only real community is each other.

          Angry demonstrations will begin in earnest next year. It’s gonna get ugly in Europe. Real ugly.

          I had not considered (2). Thanks. It’s gettin’ complicated and messy.

          Can’t build enough four meter barbed wire fences.

        • Doug says

          Sep 16, 2015 at 3:59 pm

          Scotland wants to separate from England. At the time of the referendum a muslim MP was trotted out and displayed as potentially the first Scottish PM. If this comes to pass, then Scotland will take in all the refugees it can find and more, and the Sceptred Isle will be no more. The character in the picture above does rather look like a Scotsman with his ginger beard.

          PS. I love Scotland and think highly of its people and would loathe to see its demise.

  3. Peggy says

    Sep 15, 2015 at 8:37 pm

    The new mosque, the community leader said, was built with a donation from Saudi Arabia and “preached a kind of alien Wahhabi-style Islam,” not the Sufi-style Islam that had characterized the regions for hundreds of years.
    —————————————-
    Did the new mosque come with a new Imam from Saudi Arabia?

    • kay says

      Sep 15, 2015 at 9:50 pm

      YES.
      Peggy, that is ALWAYS the case when the Saudis commission the mosque.
      It is stipulated in the contract:
      “We Saudis will provide you a mosque. And WE will appoint the imam. And that imam WILL be Wahabi.”
      This is civilizational warfare. It is how Saudi Arabia works so well with Islamic State, the massive emigration flows to Europe, and so on.
      Saudi Arabia has tremendous cultural power in many parts of the world.
      Saudi Arabia is a primary enemy of western civilization.
      It is very very hard to fight Saudi Arabia. They have tremendous power and a long range operational plan to conquer the West. It looks to me like this plan is working better than anyone thought possible.
      The Saudis are Mordor. Just as much as Islamic State. They just don’t look it. It’s a deep game they play. And anyway, they helped start Islamic State.

  4. Mazo says

    Sep 16, 2015 at 12:16 am

    That picture is not of Batirashvili aka Abu Omar Al-Shishani.

    The man in the picture is Muslim Shishani.

    Muslim Shishani is another Kist from Pankisi who went to Syria but he is not the same person as Batirashvili.

    Use a search engine to see pictures of Omar Shishani and Muslim Shishani from news websites. They are different people. Actual reputable media journalists, who have shown their pictures before don’t make this mistake.

    Joanna Paraszczuk is a journalist who focuses on Chechen fighters in Syria. See her articles. The two do not look jack alike except for hair color.

    As Semeru says, the photo has nothing to do with the article.

    Batirashvili’s father is a Georgian Christian and his mother was a Muslim Chechen Kist.

    Abu Omar’s real name is Tarkhan Batirashvili and his father is a Christian Georgian while his mother is a Kist (Kists are Chechens from Pankisi gorge in Georgia).

    http ://www.bbc. com/news/world-europe-28217590

    http ://eaworldview. com/2013/11/syria-analysis-story-insurgent-leader-omar-chechen-means/

    http ://news.sky. com/story/1298930/omar-the-chechen-should-come-home-says-dad

    • kay says

      Sep 16, 2015 at 2:02 am

      I could care less.
      The strategic significance of this Islamofascist bad guy is what counts, not his high school yearbook picture.
      The problem is that the Caucasus could blow. All they need is 20,000 jihadis and lots of war materiel and military guidance from Islamic State pros.
      The Russians can get really fierce too.
      To be blunt, I would greatly prefer a Russia Vs Islam war in the Caucasus right now to take all the Russian pressure off Eastern Europe and Ukraine.

      ISIS WARNING: Horrifying map of target countries it wants to dominate in Europe by 2020
      http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/597254/ISIS-Map-Europe-Terror-Organisation-Andrew-Hosken-Caliphate-Abu-Musab-al-Zarqawi

  5. Jay Boo says

    Sep 16, 2015 at 2:26 am

    Yet another Muslim showing the whole world how Muslims do Muhammad’s kindergarten wife virginity test.

    Don’t Muslims have any shame at all?

  6. Baucent says

    Sep 16, 2015 at 4:41 am

    I’ve also read an article about “Shishani” where the reporter went to his home village and talked to his father, who is a Christian. His father said his son still phoned him from time to time and asked if he was praying to Allah ( he wasn’t). Shishani is therefore a convert to Islam, trained with the Georgian army. But influence of US special forces may be overstated.

    • Mazo says

      Sep 16, 2015 at 1:31 pm

      His father was a Georgian Christian. His mother was a Chechen Kist of Muslim background.

  7. Arkanthus says

    Sep 16, 2015 at 5:22 am

    The man on the picture isn´t Omar al Shishani, it´s “Abu Muslim al Shishani” or something like that.

  8. BC says

    Sep 16, 2015 at 8:21 am

    Cecire said: “A man with a modest background, sickly and impoverished before he went to Syria,
    It says he was trained by US special forces. From what I know the training is very demanding on the body. You have to be in superb physical condition. So how was he sickly? Before or after the training. He certainly looks very hearty in the photo. When exactly was he trained by US and where. I cannot see that.

  9. Andy says

    Sep 16, 2015 at 10:44 am

    Hold on a secound!
    The Guy in the picture isn’t Abu Omar al Shishani, its Abu Walid. A guy who is most likely a Russian FSB Asset since the War in Chechnya. Many of the Fighters from ex soviet republics are most likely FSB Assets. SOFREP Magazin had a piece on that “Putins hidden influence Agents in ISIS”. Abu Omar al Shishani was in the georgian Army in some recone unit, so maybee there he could have gotten some SpecOp Training.

    Don’t blame everything on the US!

    • Andyj says

      Sep 16, 2015 at 6:15 pm

      Point taken. They could be brothers comparing these two back to back. the latest images appear to show Shishani’s beard as grey now.
      .
      I’m open to hearing how you think any of these individuals are actually working for Russian interests.

  10. خَليفة says

    Sep 17, 2015 at 9:52 am

    The important thing to notice is that IS “top commander” needed training by kuffar. Why was his islamic training not good enough to put him on top?

    It is ironic that Islam considers USA to be the great satan, and yet, value our military training, AND their best are trained by “The Great Satan” – maybe Muslims say ‘that’ as a compliment, suggesting Islam is “The Lesser Satan”, but still Satan.

  11. kay says

    Sep 19, 2015 at 2:13 am

    https://news.yahoo.com/moscow-says-2-400-russians-fighting-islamic-state-081610596.html

    MOSCOW (Reuters) – About 2,400 Russian nationals are fighting with Islamic State militants, Russia’s First Deputy Director of Federal Security Sergei Smirnov was reported as saying on Friday.

    RIA news agency also quoted Smirnov as saying that in total there are about 3,000 Central Asian nationals fighting within Islamic State groups.

    Speaking to journalists, Smirnov said that the problem of migrants fleeing the Middle East to Europe is only likely to increase, posing potentially a “great threat” for Russia.

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