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August 29th, 2014
04:34 PM ET

You need to know: 5 things you probably didn't know about ISIS' leaders

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Ben Hubbard has been covering the battle with ISIS for the New York Times. Anderson spoke to him from Baghdad. Here are the five most surprising things we learned from Ben about the leadership of ISIS.

– ISIS' top leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has about two dozen deputies.

– These deputies are mostly middle-aged Iraqi men who spent time in U.S. custody.

– About 1/3 of al-Baghdadi's deputies were officers trained in Saddam Hussein's military

– The advantage they bring is to allow ISIS to operate as more of a military, rather than just an insurgency force.

– Ben says the creation of an inclusive Iraqi government is key to a longterm strategy for defeating ISIS.

This is not all Ben Hubbard had to say about ISIS. Watch his full interview with Anderson Cooper.

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Filed under: Iraq • ISIS • You need to know
soundoff (4 Responses)
  1. edlf2014

    I'lll add this to the five things I don't know about my doctor, my dentist, my teacher, my employer, my coach, my wife, my mother, as well as a few five things I don't know about several others.

    September 1, 2014 at 7:24 pm |
  2. warthog6

    Maybe the US should send Oscar the Grouch out to suppress the Jihadi massacre headed our way.

    If they're going to treat us like a stupid puppet, then maybe a stupid puppet will go out and fight their war for them while the rest of the US Army starts protecting themselves by doing just enough to get by.

    August 31, 2014 at 7:35 pm |
  3. kurvedancer

    Yeah, we are being unfair, these sound like a nice bunch of men. Like some you would want living next door to you.
    They didn't mean to go their they got confused at the bus station, but when they arrived and were handed a machine guy and sent out to fight they had no choice as they were in fear for their lives.

    August 29, 2014 at 9:16 pm |
  4. urnest7

    Did ISIS go too far to bring attention to themselves?

    August 29, 2014 at 5:20 pm |

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