Cold War Veterans Blog

Joba Dead but the Propaganda lives on

Here is a couple archive posts from JAWA Report on the

mythical Super Sniper and propaganda tool known as Joba

A forum connected to al Qaeda has announced the death of 'Juba, the Baghdad sniper'. Several videos produced by The Islamic Army in Iraq purporting to be of 'Juba' began to appear online 2005. A 'Top 10' video went viral and 'Juba' became a pop phenomenon.

It also caused outrage when CNN aired clips from the video showing an American being shot and killed.

The announcement of Juba's death claimed that the sniper had left the Islamic Army in Iraq to join al Qaeda when the latter group formed 'The Islamic State of Iraq'. Juba, the announcement claimed, had been betrayed by an informant and 'was killed like a hero'.

On hearing the announcement, the popular Canadian based pro-terror website Jihad Unspun, released a poem lauding 'Juba':

My targets were many
Crusaders and traitors
All on my hit list
For a bullet through their chest
Or mortal wound
As a warning to others

Jihad Unspun is a Google News source.

Of course, the problems with the announcement of 'Juba's' death are many.

First, the claim that he left the IAI to join al Qaeda. Possible, but not likely.

Second, the claim that he was killed just a few days ago during Ramadan. In November of last year the Iraqis claimed they had captured a man named Ali Nazar al Jubori and that he was the original Baghdad sniper.

Third, it seems clear that even if there was a Baghdad sniper who called himself 'Juba' (there is a popular myth that the Americans named him that, but it's not true) that the vast majority of sniping videos were not of the same man.

How do we know that 'Juba' could not have been one man? Because the very first Islamic Army in Iraq produced "Juba Top 10 video" included footage of an American soldier being hit near his Humvee. What is not shown in the Juba footage is the fact that the American survived, the sniper was killed, and this "Juba's" sidekick who filmed the incident was captured down the road, videotape in hand.

The survivor's name is Lance Cpl. John McClellan, and his story is here.

Juba was a myth created for propaganda purposes by The Islamic Army in Iraq. The same group that murdered American hostage Ronald Schulz and Italian Red Cross worker Enzo Baldoni.

This is also the same group that produced the Lee Tucker: Lee's Life for Lies video, which was also a complete fabrication.

So it's not surprising that a group which glorifies the murder of civilian hostages and makes propaganda films showing a 'dead anti-war' soldier would also lie and create a sniper 'hero' named Juba. It's also not surprising that the Islamic State of Iraq would lie about this 'hero' joining al Qaeda before being 'martyred' during Ramadan. After all, al Qaeda in Iraq is the same group that paid an actor to play the part of the leader of The Islamic State of Iraq.

So, we welcome the news that another Baghdad sniper has been killed. But he's not the Juba. If there ever really was a Juba, he was either killed in 2005 or captured in 2006. And if it just so happens that this Juba is the Juba, then all the better.

Howie has more at our sister website Juba Sucks.

Hat tip: Thalja

UPDATE: Blackfive weighs in. He doesn't think Juba was real either.

Just to clarify, it wasn't Jihad Unspun--the Canadian website--that announced Juba's death. They just reacted to it by praising.. The actual announcement came on one of al Qaeda's favorite forums, al Hesbah.

By Dr. Rusty "John Doe" Shackleford at September 24, 2007

Juba the Baghdad Sniper Captured!

The Iraqi Ministry of the Interior announced that it has captured the Baghdad sniper known as Ali Nazar al Jubori. The name sounds eerily familiar. al Jubori....could this be the original Juba sniper? That is the claim being made.

Let me remind my readers that the "Juba the Baghdad sniper" does not exist--at least, not in the heroic sense that the jihadi crowd has painted him as. He's a myth. A piece of fictional propaganda produced by terrorists. A heroic superman for the al Qaeda supporters of the world.

This is not to say that there never was an al Qaeda linked sniper in Iraq who got the nickname "Juba", only that the popular videos showing "his" work are really compilations of not only different snipers, but also of different terror organizations. We know this because the "Juba top 10 video" shows previously released material from several different known terror groups and that at least one of the snipers who's work is shown in the video was later arrested.

But like many heroes, there may actually be a man behind the myth. Al Jubori may actually be the original "Juba Baghdad Sniper" as the Iraqis are claiming. In fact, a recent video proported to show the real "Juba" and included interviews with the Baghdad sniper.

The sniper cell he is said to have trained, also called the "Juba snipers", was also broken up and many of them arrested. Again, that is what the Iraqis are saying. We'll see.

If it is "Juba", then this is an important moral victory for the US and anti-terrorist forces in Iraq. Juba is a real hero to many in the Salafi terrror supporting community.

There were several websites devoted to Juba, and which were alleged to be run by him (although I doubt that), and which were based in the US. They were bought and paid for by someone claiming to be a member of the terrorist organization knows as the Islamic Army in Iraq (IAI)--which has links to al Qaeda. Oh, but thanks to Jawa Report readers, those websites are down.

Of course, not all of Juba's webzines are down. Only those that were commercially bought and paid for by the IAI. There is still one website up, provided for free by the Google owned Blogger/blogspot platform. That's right, Google continues to host a terrorist's website--or one proported to be run by him.

We've begged and pleaded with blogspot over this and other terrorist websites to no avail. They literally help the enemy while wrapping themselves under the veil of the First Amendment. The best we could do was set up an alternative Juba website.

Interestingly enough, I found this information from Michelle Malkin, who I believe doesn't yet know the value of the press release she was sent from CENTCOM (UPDATE: Now she does). The purpose of the press release was to counter stories by the AP which seem to be false. But buried down in it is this from Brig. Gen. Abdul Kareem Khalaf Al-Kenani, Ministry of Interior spokesman (update: also buried in this MSM report):

The third subject is, this week the strikes we made against the al-Qaeda terrorist organization in Baghdad were many and very strong in Baghdad. Before my arrival to this press conference, I was informed that one of the three who were just captured or detained is Mazer Al-Jubouri, aka the Baghdad Sniper, and his group. He admitted many things that are very important and very dangerous and our forces used this information about his network and conducted raids in the past 24 hours and detained 30 terrorists.

Those terrorists executed several explosions in Palestine and Beirut streets, and the New Baghdad area. He also admitted that their base is in Diyala province, which supplied them with money, weapons and explosives. They are now under investigation and we think this cell or network has been dismantled.

Expect updates.

UPDATE II: Murdoc has an exclusive (and short) podcast about media coverage of the "juba" capture.

UPDATE: Howie grabbed this image of Juba the Baghdad Sniper from one of the Islamic Army in Iraq's propaganda videos.

By Dr. Rusty "John Doe" Shackleford at November 30, 2006 10:35 AM