Baghdadi claims ‘infidel nations’ are afraid of ‘final war’

15-12-27 Baghdadi graphic

Supporters of the Islamic State have released images with translations of excerpts from Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s new speech.

The Islamic State has released a defiant new speech by Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. In the new audio message, which was posted online on Dec. 26, Baghdadi claims the West and its allies are afraid of an apocalyptic showdown in Iraq and Syria. He dares the US to wage a ground war.

The “Christian Crusaders and infidel nations,” with the “Jews behind them,” do not “dare come to the land to fight a small group of mujahideen,” Baghdadi says, according to a translation obtained by The Long War Journal.

The “infidels” have “learned that it is the final war, and after it, Allah permitting, we will strike them, and they will not strike us.” Once his enemies are defeated, Baghdadi says, “Islam will rule the world…until Judgment Day.” It is for this reason that the Islamic State’s foes supposedly “delay their arrival as much as possible.”

Instead of fighting the “caliphate’s” soldiers directly on the ground, Baghdadi claims the US and its allies dream of annihilating the Islamic State using “agents,” including “the Awakenings, apostates, the heretic Kurds, and herds of rejectionist cattle.”

The “Awakening” is a reference to the US-backed Sunni tribes that rose up against the Islamic State’s predecessor organization, al Qaeda in Iraq, during the height of America’s involvement in the Iraq war. The Islamic State’s leaders have expanded the term to include even rival jihadist organizations that reject Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s claim to rule over the entire Muslim-majority world.

Baghdadi acknowledges that his “caliphate” is fighting against the “whole world,” but says no one should be surprised if his jihadists are victorious, because this would be a sign of Allah’s will. He also leaves open the possibility that his followers will “face even greater misfortunes,” as Allah has promised adversity for the true believers.

Baghdadi blasts the recently announced Saudi-led anti-terrorism coalition, which is intended to thwart the “caliphate’s” designs. If the alliance was truly Islamic, Baghdadi argues, then it would have announced its war on the Alawites in Bashar al Assad’s regime and their “Russian masters.” The alliance also should have announced “its disavowal of its Jewish-Crusader masters and made its objective killing Jews and the liberation of Palestine,” according to Baghdadi.

“Stand up against the tyrant and apostate people of [the Saudi coalition] and champion your brothers in the Levant, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, the Caucasus, Egypt, Libya, Somalia, the Philippines, Africa, Indonesia, Turkestan, Bangladesh, and everywhere,” Baghdadi tells his audience. The Islamic State has either established a presence, or is attempting to, in all of the locations he mentions.

The “caliphate’s” leader insists that all Muslims are confronted by a “Jewish-Crusader-Safavid alliance that is led by America and was devised by the Jews.” From Baghdadi’s perspective, the Crusaders include America, Europe and Russia. Safavid is a derogatory word that is used to describe Shiites and Iran. All of these parties have come together in a coalition to supposedly wage “war on Islam and Muslims.”

Muslims around the globe must support his project, Baghdadi argues, because it is “the spearhead in the conflict between the camp of belief and the camp of non-belief.” He sees “proof” of the “caliphate’s” divine mandate in the fact that “all of the forces of the infidels and apostates in the entire world” have “agreed to wage war on the Islamic State.”

Baghdadi tells his followers that the war between the Islamic State and the rest of the world is necessary, because it will leave the world divided into two camps. In the camp of faith, no hypocrite will be left standing. In the camp of hypocrisy, Baghdadi says, no believer will be found.

Despite the formidable opposition his men face, the Islamic State’s jihadists should be “confident in Allah’s victory.” The more “hardships” the Islamic State “suffers,” Baghdadi claims, the more its “ranks become ever more whole,” “stronger,” and “more resolute.”

Baghdadi knows that his organization has suffered some significant losses in Iraq and Syria over the course of the past year. But he urges his followers to be “patient,” for Allah has supposedly promised them victory in the end.

Thomas Joscelyn is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Senior Editor for FDD's Long War Journal.

21 Comments

  • None says:

    Oh please!!!

    Church People and their fairy tale religions and “gods”!!!

    This man is nothing more than a delusional moron.

  • David Roberts says:

    Antisemitism is at the core of ISIS, and thus it is certain to be defeated. Those who hate the Jews work against God’s purposes.

  • Warren Abeshouse says:

    As excerpted here, the speech by al-Baghdadi can only be described as the optimistic, delusional ravings of a madman, similar to that of Hitler before he committed suicide in his Berlin bunker. If not captured and prosecuted for heinous war crimes, one can only hope he meets a grisly and unlamented demise.

  • wiggum says:

    All this “apocalyptic showdown” and “caliphate” gibberish is meant for the delusional foot-soldiers and internet jihadis. Baghdadi himself and the Saudi leadership know better.
    There is a reason why he says “Islam will rule the world” and not “the Islamic State will rule the world”. Their ultimate goal is simple but effective, destabilize muslim nations and draw western nations into the mess, keep high birth rates or regain them and dispel as many people (preferable sunnis) as possible to the west, make sure they stay highly religious (thats the job of the Saudis) and keep a cultural distance to their host nations.
    Make sure they are a burden to the social fabric and economy of their western host nations.
    Repeat (destabilize, dispel, keep them religious) and wait…

    You think thats just a conspiracy theory ?
    Well, think twice before you judge !

  • Arjuna says:

    This guy is too good. Most of what he says is true, and the rest of it is devilishly clever. We are afraid to go back after losing so much blood and treasure. It’s a lose-or-lose-bigger choice for us.
    We showed him all our institutional weaknesses (political, military, intel and CT) in Bucca and now he’s playing a great game against our Goliath. His deputies are almost as good as he is, which is why 50k of them are tying up millions of OPFOR in knots. They will win at the rate we’re going.

  • Wolfgang says:

    With the Brits, French, Russian & US relentless bombings and now recent loss of Ramadi Bagdadi and Co. are in (hopefully) serious decline. Only waiting for strategic Daesh targets in Raqqa & Faluja to be vaporized before opening the champagne. None the less, thanks Warren for your comments.

  • irebukeu says:

    I would love to moderate a polite discussion about religion between you and the person who posted above you.

  • irebukeu says:

    There is a ‘win’ that can be had here. By stopping the support of Arab Sunni extremists who have chosen to take the path of jihad, we can, without the involvement of one US soldier, watch the Islamic state be crushed by Syria, Russia, Iraq and Iran.
    To put American forces in the fight is a lose and lose bigger situation. A no fly zone would be a disaster. Drones, intel and a stock of weapons behind a cash register is the path IMO.
    I advocate a more Byzantine approach. We should, IMO, quietly advocate a free Kurdistan at Turkey’s, Iran’s, Syria’s and Iraq’s expense but get Russia and Europe to pay for it all.

  • Mike Hutch says:

    Over the last several years I’ve taken to listening to Nasrallah (Hezbollah) before the Israelis, Americans, “Quartet,” etc. These guys make no bones about their objectives, state as much right in the West’s face and the West turns around and says, “Oh, they wouldn’t do that.” Then… boom. Kenya, Sinai, Beirut, Paris, San Bernardino, ad nauseam. Too bad. We will win this, I think. Western democracies dilly dally and fiddle around but eventually when/if we motivate to deal with this I have no doubt we will lay waste to this goofball. There are some worrying trends. Political correctness, moral relativism and the like are blurring our ability to define “bad” and decades of popular sentiment like “one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter” have blurred the lines but I have no doubt when ISIS/AQ or whoever finally hits us hard enough… we will go fissile on them. Only a matter of time.

  • Lisa says:

    I still want to know how these guys got started. What state or states are helping them along, etc. etc.

  • Lisa says:

    From the documentaries I’ve watched they are actually taxing people. States do that…

  • Lisa says:

    Blaming Christians and Jews or any other religion for the barbaric behavior of Muslims is very rich, don’t you think? Church has nothing to do with this guy. Evil has everything to do with him and his followers.

  • Lisa says:

    And why don’t we call it like it is-http://www.wahhabis.com/index.cfm

    It’s The Saudi’s. It’s the Sunnis. It’s Wahhabis. And why in the heck are we ignoring the obvious? Why are we not seeing this or why aren’t we at least saying the truth? These are bad people. They live like they just stepped out of a cave. They abuse their women. They cut off arms, hands, feet, heads. They still crucify people. They rape and kidnap and yet somehow we have seen them become a force to be reckoned with? That can’t be so. We will not allow them to carry us back to the Dark Ages.

  • Mr T says:

    Isn’t this the prophecy that Mohammed said would happen? Islam followers will be reduced in number to 5,000 and the final battle will take place in a town in Syria named Dabiq where Islam will defeat the armies of Rome and then take over the world.

    Of course, once they lose the battle there again, as they did in 1516 against the Ottoman Turks, they will just revise history to suit their blood lust.

  • bob says:

    Guys, Saudi doesn’t support ISIS in any way shape or form, why would Saudi support an organisation that is on its own terror list? Have you ever seen the Saudi government support ISIS or Al Qaeda? No, because both of these terror groups regard Saudi, the country, its rulers, its clergy, its government and population as apostates from the Islamic faith that are deserving of the death penalty as they have “allied with the infidels” as the terrorist “blind sheikh” Omar Abdul Rahman stated during the mid-1990s. ISIS is a remnant of Saddam Hussein’s Baathist party and nothing more; they have only cloaked themselves with Islamic rhetoric in order to dupe young naive men into becoming cannon fodder. Think about it, who did Saddam Hussein have wars with in the past? Under his leadership Iraq fought Iran and later tried to annex Kuwait and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in which the USA participated in order to repel Saddam.

  • I don’t know if he reminds me more of Baghdad Bob:

    “There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never!”
    “My feelings – as usual – we will slaughter them all”
    “Our initial assessment is that they will all die”
    “God will roast their stomachs in hell at the hands of Iraqis.”

    Or the Cowardly Lion:

    “Put ’em up, put ’em up! Which one of you first? I’ll fight you both together if you want. I’ll fight you with one paw tied behind my back. I’ll fight you standing on one foot. I’ll fight you with my eyes closed… ohh, pullin’ an axe on me, eh? Sneaking up on me, eh? Why, I’ll… Ruff! ”

    He shows typical strategic spin from a collapsing position.

  • Arjuna says:

    I sure hope you’re right about him, Mr Gmail, but I suspect he is in Sirte, Libya working on some Bear and Eagle traps.

  • Arjuna says:

    You nailed the problem. They say what they’re gonna do, and they do what they say they’re gonna do. They are well on the way to something they refer to as the Stage of Weapons of Mass Destruction while we keep focusing on individuals in the flawed CT = LE mindset. Cantlie wasn’t kidding about nukes, people, and he wasn’t blowing smoke. When they radiate or infect Western cities the only responses available to us will be tragically lethal, as we are just as bellicose as they are.

  • Astaris says:

    So now he’s taking on the Jews and Israel? He’s finished then. Hitler, Stalin, Vichy France, Moseley and his Fascists, the Tsars and their pogroms, the Crusaders, the Spanish Empire/Inquisition, the Roman Empire, the Seleucids (Greek-Syrians), the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Ancient Egyptians – all dust. Turkey, in alliance with Israel, was in major ascendancy until antisemitic Erdogan pushed it into isolation and decline. The Indian economy has become a powerhouse since diplomatic rations with Israel in 1992, while hostile Pakistan is a basket case. West Germany accepted its guilt toward the Jews and supported Israel for 40 years – while East Germany did not, note the difference when the Wall came down. The philo-semitic Persian Empire survived for 3000 years, until Israel-hating Khomeini plunged Iran into darkness and backwardness. Venezuela was a prosperous state until the Israel-hater Iran-lover Chavez took power, and look at it now, the first petrodollar pauper in history. Egypt and Jordan who have peace agreements with Israel are stable states. So is Saudi Arabia which recognizes Israel de facto. Israel-hating Syria, Libya, Yemen and Iraq have descended into hell. So goes the so-called Islamic State!

    No religious mysticism here – only pure facts!

  • Astaris says:

    One might add – the philo-Semitic British Empire reached its pinnacle – until Britain turned its back on the Jews in Palestine after which it quickly disintegrated. The United States – the new Jerusalem for millions of Jews – is the greatest superpower ever. The Roman Empire (both kingdom, republic and empire) grew and grew for a millenium – but disintegrated after Rome destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem and committed genocide upon the Judeans. Assyria, one of the greatest empires of ancient times, was destroyed by Babylon after destroying the northern Kingdom of Israel. Babylon, in its turn, was the regional superpower – until destroying the southern Kingdom of Judah, sacking the First Temple and taking the Jews into captivity, after which it swiftly succumbed to Persia and disappeared, virtually without a trace. Baghdadi’s threats against Israel and the Jews are probably the best news that the enemies of Islamic State have heard for years.

  • irebukeu says:

    Arjuna, we can still get a win without putting American ground forces “on the ground”.

Iraq

Islamic state

Syria

Aqap

Al shabaab

Boko Haram

Isis