Report: U.S. Prison Camp A Breeding Ground For ISIS
CABRERA: A chilling new report is out about the U.S. prison camp in Iraq, Camp Buka. It began as a holding cell for prisoners, but we are also learning how it became a breeding ground for terrorists, including the notorious Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS. CNN's Brian Todd reports.</s>BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He may be the most vicious terrorist leader in recent years, possibly more brutal than Bin Laden. Now, a former inmate at a U.S.-run prison camp in Iraq, says ISIS Leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, the man behind scores of ISIS beheadings, was once a trusted inmate by his American captors, allowed to roam freely around the camp.</s>MARTIN CHULOV, CORRESPONDENT, "THE GUARDIAN": The Americans seem to see Abu Bakr as somebody who could keep the prison quiet. There are 24 camps within the Sunni side of the camp and he was allowed access to all of them.</s>TODD: "Guardian" reporter, Martin Chulov interviewed a senior ISIS commander. He calls Abu Ahmed, not his real name. He told Chulov, Baghdadi was a fixer at the camp. Quote, "He was respected very much by the U.S. Army. Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, he said, was seen by other detainees as clever, scheming, quote, using a policy of conquer and divide to get what he wanted. A U.S. intelligence official tells us, Baghdadi built street cred inside Buka. Baghdadi and other jihadists at this American prison were not always segregated, allowed to meet freely to plot, and they had an ingenious way of communicating.</s>CHULOV: He and others were able to write their contact details on the white elastics of their boxer shorts, prison-issued boxer shorts, and that was a way that they networked. And when they got out of prison, they had phone numbers and details of fathers, uncles villages.</s>TODD: Abu Ahmed depicts Abu Bakr as the management school for ISIS leaders. If there was no American prison in Iraq, there would be no Islamic state now.</s>CHULOV: A good level came from Buka. Because, you know, tens of thousands of people were held in Buka, over the years. And so, just when they got out, they had little to do, and they had these wished networks and it's clear that they had done their homework in the prison.</s>TODD: And as he left, according to a former camp commander, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi had a chilling parting shot.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He looked over to us, and as he left, he said, see you guys in New York.</s>TODD: Responding to the camps that Camp Buka was a breeding ground for is, where jihadists could strategize, a Pentagon official told CNN, quote, these types of detentions are common practice during armed conflict.</s>TODD: U.S. commanders tried to separate the most violent hard-core inmates. But they said Buka was packed with detainees. The army was short staffed, and no one at the time thought Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi would go on to do what he's doing now. A U.S. intelligence official tells us, camp buka was not a turning point for Baghdadi. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.</s>CABRERA: Wow, so interesting. Minutes from now in Washington, protesters will march to the U.S. capitol, calling for justice after the recent police killings of unarmed African-Americans. We will go there live at the top of the hour, as soon as we come back.