Audio recording released
A 17-minute recording apparently of Baghdadi’s voice is released, his first public statement since U.S. airstrikes began against ISIS, and comes six days after he was reported to have been injured in a strike. Baghdadi is said to vow that ISIS will resist the ‘crusader campaign,’ and calls for ‘volcanoes of jihad,’ while saying that the group prefers death to humiliation of defeat or surrender. Recording:
God has ordered us to fight. For that reason the soldiers of the Islamic State are fighting… they will never leave fighting, even if only one soldier remains. They will never leave fighting, because they reject humiliation.
Released
U.S. forces release Al-Baghdadi from Camp Bucca, the biggest U.S. detention camp in Iraq. Kenneth King, commander at the time:
We spent how many missions and how many soldiers were put at risk when we caught this guy and we just released him.
Al-Baghdadi is not viewed as a threat upon release:
He said, ‘I’ll see you guys in New York,’ like, ‘This is no big thing, I’ll see you on the block’