Iraq TV Airs Confession of Terrorist Leader al-Baghdadi

Iraq's government has released a video of the confession of the alleged top terrorist leader, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi.

About a month after al-Baghdadi had been captured, on Monday the state-run Iraqiya TV showed a short clip of the man in question, and a press conference by General Qassim Atta, who is the spokesperson for Baghdad Operations Command, CNN reported.

In the video, the man reveals that his name was "Ahmed Abed Ahmed Khamees al-Mujamaie," and that he "joined al Qaeda in Iraq in 2005". He said that in 2006 he became the emir [leader] of the "Islamic State of Iraq," which is an umbrella group that encompasses al Qaeda in Iraq.

Al-Baghdadi also states the goal of the movement was to split up Sunnis from Shia in Iraq in order to create an "Islamic State of Iraq".

CNN also cites a radical Islamist Web site which has denied that the man in custody was al-Baghdadi.

"The news that was announced by the apostate Qassim Atta is false and the picture that they showed on the Iraqi satellite [television] is for someone that we are not aware of," said the statement, which claimed to be from the Islamic Republic of Iraq media center.

The United States military has refused to comment on whether the prisoner is al-Baghdadi, saying the military has not had access to him.

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