Saturday, February 21, 2015

From failure to fanatic: Report card emerges of ISIS leader Baghdadi showing he struggled at English and had to repeat his final year

From failure to fanatic: Report card emerges of ISIS leader Baghdadi showing he struggled at English and had to repeat his final year 

  • Terror leader was described as 'well behaved' in school report issued by staff at Samarra High School for Boys 
  • Certificate outlines his talent for mathematics and a love of geography
  • But he barely scrapped a pass in English and had to resit his final year 
  • Details come one day after it emerged Baghdadi once worked as a security 
  • Those declassified documents were released by the American military 

A report card detailing future Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's time as a schoolboy in Iraq has revealed the bloodthirsty Sunni extremist struggled with English and had to repeat his final year.

Despite his current role as the head of a terror organisation that has brought rape and massacre to vast swathes of the Middle East, Baghdadi's tutors describe him as a 'well behaved' student.

The certificate - which addresses Baghdadi by his real name Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim - goes on to detail his talent for mathematics and love of geography at Samarra High School for Boys, the latter of which perhaps helps to explain the brutal expansionist policies of his self-declared caliphate.

Despite his progress in certain subjects, Baghdadi failed his final year in 1990 at the age of 18 or 19 and was forced to resit his exams - almost certainly alongside younger students.
Leader: Passport photos attached to the top of the documents show a young man with thick eyebrows who bears a striking resemblance to the extremist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi'
Leader: Passport photos attached to the top of the documents show a young man with thick eyebrows who bears a striking resemblance to the extremist Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi'
Engaged: The certificate - which addresses Baghdadi by his real name Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim - details his talent for mathematics and love of geography at Samarra High School for Boys
Engaged: The certificate - which addresses Baghdadi by his real name Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim - details his talent for mathematics and love of geography at Samarra High School for Boys
The Samarra High School for Boys certificate calls Baghdadi by his real name Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim, although it does not use his tribal suffix al-Badr.

It also names his parents as being individuals named Awad and Alia - something an education official familiar with Baghdadi's background later confirmed as correct, according to the Washington Post.
The document - first published by the German broadcaster ARD on Wednesday - describes Baghdadi as a student with a solid 80 per cent average score.

He performed far better in some subjects than others, however, soaring ahead with a 98 per cent average score in maths, 90 per cent in geography - but only 57 per cent in English, meaning he only scraped a pass grade by just seven per cent.

Interestingly for somebody who now speaks in an elaborate and difficult to master classical Arabic whenever delivering his radical sermons, Baghdadi was a fairly average Arabic student at school, scoring an 81 per cent pass grade. 
The Samarra High School for Boys certificate calls Baghdadi by his real name Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim, although it does not use his tribal suffix al-Badr.
The Samarra High School for Boys certificate calls Baghdadi by his real name Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim, although it does not use his tribal suffix al-Badr.
Pages: The document - first published by the German broadcaster ARD on Wednesday - describes Baghdadi as a student with a solid 80 per cent average score
Transformation: Since announcing himself as leader of the Islamic State, al-Baghdadi's bloodthirsty thugs have carried out thousands of brutal executions in the region
Transformation: Since announcing himself as leader of the Islamic State, al-Baghdadi's bloodthirsty thugs have carried out thousands of brutal executions in the region

Yesterday it emerged that Baghdadi was once a secretary working in office administration.
The terrorist was captured by American soldiers in 2004 in Iraq, and records from the time have revealed his life before he turned to terror.

The declassified documents show that al-Baghdadi - registered under his full name of Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Al Badr - was held for 10 months in a military prison in the south of the country.
Spectacles: Yesterday it emerged that Baghdadi was once a secretary working in office admin
Spectacles: Yesterday it emerged that Baghdadi was once a secretary working in office admin
The terrorist's status was listed as 'civilian detainee', which means he was not then officially thought to be an insurgent. His occupation was written as 'Administrative Work (Secretary)'. 

He was registered as married, and an uncle is listed as being his next of kin - although all of his relatives' names have been redacted.

It is believed he was detained during a raid aimed at arresting his friend, named as Nessayif Numan Nessayif, in Fallujah. 

The records, obtained by Business Insider, were released through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Although his date of birth is also redacted, he is believed to be 43-years old-and has a wife and a young son. 

Friends of al-Baghdadi have previously told of how he was a talented footballer, with one former team-mate even describing him as the 'Lionel Messi of our team'. 
He was also remembered as a shy and unassuming young man who was interested in religious studies, before his radicalisation to a dangerous extremist.  

Since rising to power within the Islamic State, al-Baghdadi's brutal thugs have shocked the world with their sadistic and savage murder of thousands of people in Iraq, Syria and Libya. 

The terror group - believed to have more than 30,000 soldiers - have revelled in posting graphic images and videos of murders including beheadings and burning victims alive.

There is a $10 million bounty on Baghdadi's head after the US State Department listed him as a 'Specially Designated Global Terrorist'.  

Making them rich: Mohamed Alhakim claimed that dozens of bodies with surgical incisions and missing body parts have been found in shallow mass graves near ISIS stronghold Mosul (pictured) over the past few weeks
Making them rich: Mohamed Alhakim claimed that dozens of bodies with surgical incisions and missing body parts have been found in shallow mass graves near ISIS stronghold Mosul (pictured) over the past few weeks
Militants: Each of the letters is signed with a purple stamp, indicating the province from which it was sent. They are understood to have been handed to ISIS' network of messengers and fighters
Militants: Each of the letters is signed with a purple stamp, indicating the province from which it was sent. They are understood to have been handed to ISIS' network of messengers and fighters

He was seen publicly in a slick propaganda video last July for the first time in years, sporting a long beard and black robes to deliver a sermon.

Speaking in Mosul's central Mosque, Baghdadi announced that the lands his group had conquered were now part of the new Islamic State and announced himself as the 'caliph' or leader. 

Under his leadership, ISIS has spearheaded a militant offensive that has overrun much of Iraq's Sunni Arab heartland since June after seizing major territory in neighbouring Syria, and carried out a series of atrocities in both countries.
During their domination in the area, the group have been pegged back in recent weeks due to a series of air strikes which have resulted in deaths and the loss of important strategic locations. 

It was rumored that he was killed or wounded by a US airstrike last November, but the group moved to quash this by releasing an audio recording purporting to be him, in which he encouraged militants to attack Saudi Arabia. 

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