Al-Mawla Interrogation Reports

Within a short time following the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on October 27, 2019, the group’s shura council moved to appoint his successor. The individual they selected, Amir Muhammad Sa’id Abdal-Rahman al-Mawla, was not well known to the world. Although there were rumors about al-Mawla’s identity and past, much was shrouded in ambiguity and uncertainty.

This uncertainty was partially lifted in September 2020, when the Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) at West Point, in cooperation with U.S. government partners, released two articles analyzing three tactical interrogation reports (TIRs) from the time when al-Mawla had been detained by U.S. forces in Iraq in early 2008. These three TIRs, translated into Arabic and released by the CTC on its website, provided glimpses into al-Mawla’s background, which was supplemented by excellent reporting by Jenan Moussa, a journalist from the Middle East with extensive experience and networks in Iraq and Syria.

Then, on April 6, 2021, the CTC was able to release an additional 53 TIRs from interrogation sessions involving al-Mawla. Taken together, these 56 TIRs provide a rich and unique source of information about al-Mawla, the Islamic State in Iraq’s (ISI’s) activities from 2006-2008, and militant movements in general. This page serves as a platform for accessing the documents as well as products that scholars and journalists have created utilizing the documents. We welcome the public, journalists, and researchers to make liberal use of these documents. If you do use the documents and would like us to highlight your work, please send a link of the work to ctc [at] westpoint [dot] edu.

Note: The three TIRs released in September 2020 were labeled as TIRs A, B, and C. Because of the large number of TIRs being released with this article, as well as the fact that the A, B, and C chronology that made sense at that time would no longer make sense when incorporating TIRs that took place before, in between, and after TIRs A, B, and C, the CTC opted for a new file name scheme that uses the date of the session and the order of sessions on that day. In this scheme, TIRs A, B, and C have been given new files names:
TIR A is now al-Mawla_TIR_08JAN08_2;
TIR B is now al-Mawla_TIR_25JAN08 _2;
TIR C is now al-Mawla_TIR_25JAN08 _3

Associated Publications

Daniel Milton, “The al-Mawla Tactical Interrogation Report Mixtape,” Lawfare, April 6, 2021.

Susan Katz Keating, “Inside ISIS: Interrogation trove shows terror group’s leader was a snitch,” Just the News, April 9, 2021.

Joby Warrick, “Before becoming a terrorist leader, ISIS chief was a prison informer in Iraq for U.S., records show,” Washington Post, April 7, 2021.

Haroro J. Ingram and Omar Mohammed, “The Head of ISIS Is a Hypocrite and a Traitor,” Foreign Policy, November 19, 2020.

Haroro J. Ingram, Craig Whiteside, and Charlie Winter, “The Islamic State’s Global Insurgency and its Counterstrategy Implications,” International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, November 1, 2020.

Lauren Holtmeier, “How ISIS leader al-Mawla rose rapidly through the ranks in Iraqi terrorist group,” Al Arabiya English, September 24, 2020.

Kim Sengupta, “ISIS leader conspired with US to betray fellow jihadists,” The Independent, September 22, 2020.

Ephrem Kossaify, “New Daesh leader was informant for US, says counter terrorism report,” Arab News, September 18, 2020.

Thomas Harding, “ISIS leader Al Mawla’s treachery led to death of his comrade in US air strikes,” The National, September 17, 2020.

Dominick Nicholls, “Islamic State leader collaborated with America while in prison, documents show,” The Telegraph, September 17, 2020.

Jenan Moussa, “The Al-Mawla Documents, Part 1,” Al-Aan TV, September 17, 2020.
Jenan Moussa, “The Al-Mawla Documents, Part 2,” Al-Aan TV, September 17, 2020.
Jenan Moussa, “The Al-Mawla Documents, Part 3,” Al-Aan TV, September 17, 2020.

Tactical Interrogation Reports

Al-Mawla TIR 1 – January 3, 2008
Al-Mawla TIR 2 – January 3, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR 1 – January 4, 2008
Al-Mawla TIR 2 – January 4, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR – January 5, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR – January 7, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR 1 – January 8, 2008
Al-Mawla TIR 2 – January 8, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR – January 9, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR 1 – January 10, 2008
Al-Mawla TIR 2 – January 10, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR – January 11, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR 1 – January 12, 2008
Al-Mawla TIR 2 – January 12, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR 1 – January 13, 2008
Al-Mawla TIR 2 – January 13, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR 1 – January 14, 2008
Al-Mawla TIR 2 – January 14, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR 1 – January 15, 2008
Al-Mawla TIR 2 – January 15, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR 1 – January 16, 2008
Al-Mawla TIR 2 – January 16, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR – January 17, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR 1 – January 18, 2008
Al-Mawla TIR 2 – January 18, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR 1 – January 19, 2008
Al-Mawla TIR 2 – January 19, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR 1 – January 20, 2008
Al-Mawla TIR 2 – January 20, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR – January 21, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR 1 – January 22, 2008
Al-Mawla TIR 2 – January 22, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR 1 – January 23, 2008
Al-Mawla TIR 2 – January 23, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR 1 – January 24, 2008
Al-Mawla TIR 2 – January 24, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR 1 – January 25, 2008
Al-Mawla TIR 2 – January 25, 2008
Al-Mawla TIR 3 – January 25, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR – January 26, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR 1 – January 27, 2008
Al-Mawla TIR 2 – January 27, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR – January 28, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR 1 – January 29, 2008
Al-Mawla TIR 2 – January 29, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR 1 – January 30, 2008
Al-Mawla TIR 2 – January 30, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR 1 – January 31, 2008
Al-Mawla TIR 2 – January 31, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR – February 1, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR 1 – February 7, 2008
Al-Mawla TIR 2 – February 7, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR – February 8, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR 1 – July 1, 2008
Al-Mawla TIR 2 – July 1, 2008

Al-Mawla TIR – July 2, 2008

 

Stay Informed

Sign up to receive updates from CTC.

Sign up