NYT retracts main story in hit 'Caliphate' podcast, citing failures - Al-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

Dec 18, 2020

Title card for the New York Times' hit 2018 podcast series "Caliphate" — New York Times

A man purported to be the reclusive leader of the militant Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has made what would be his first public appearance at a mosque in the centre of Iraq's second city, Mosul, according to a video recording posted on the Internet on July 5, 2014, in this still image taken from video. There had previously been reports on social media that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi would make his first public appearance since his Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) changed its name to the Islamic S

The many names of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

Ali Hashem

In Doha, reporting on Iran, regional politics, conflict

Masked Sunni gunmen pray during a patrol outside the city of Falluja April 23, 2014. Government forces are fighting rebellious Sunni tribes and an al-Qaeda splinter group, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), in western Anbar province. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS CONFLICT) - RTR3MDCC

Fallujah key to defeating Islamic State

Mushreq Abbas

In their heyday in 2014, fighters of the Islamic State group raised the jihadist black flag over army bases and government buildings across large swathes of Syria and Iraq

Islamic State group announces death of leader

Agence France-Presse

Iraqi security forces pull down a flag belonging to Sunni militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) during a patrol in the town of Dalli Abbas in Diyala province, June 30, 2014. The leader of the al Qaeda offshoot now calling itself the Islamic State has called on Muslims worldwide to take up arms and flock to the "caliphate" it has declared on captured Syrian and Iraqi soil. Picture taken June 30, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS MILITARY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) -

The Islamic State is here to stay

Ali Mamouri