US Military: "al-Mashhadani’s (AQ #2) comments hadn’t been independently verified"

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/nationworld/story/113417.html

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Al-Mashhadani “was cooperative from the moment we picked him up,” said Rear Adm. Greg Smith, another military spokesman. Smith said al-Mashhadani’s comments hadn’t been independently verified.

Al-Mashhadani told his American captors that he and al-Masri concocted the al-Baghdadi character. Al-Mashhadani used an actor to recite al-Baghdadi’s statements and declare the Islamic State of Iraq, Bergner said.

“Islamic State of Iraq leaders cloak themselves in Iraq nationalism, but in fact their purpose is to subjugate the Iraqi people under a foreign-led terrorist organization that wants to impose a Taliban-like ideology on Iraqis,” Bergner said.

Bergner quoted Mashhadani as saying: “‘Al-Masri started overpowering us and acted on his own accord by controlling the distribution of funding. Al-Masri also controlled the content of al-Baghdadi’s publications.’”