The making of...World's Richest Terror Army
By Producer Director Mike Rudin
I really wanted to make the documentary but I would be less than honest if I didn’t say it was daunting and just a little frightening. Daunting to add something new to the thousands of words written about the highly secretive, self-styled Islamic State, or IS. Frightening, as IS, unlike other extremists organisations, has deliberately set out to kidnap, terrorise and murder journalists.
But I was in excellent company, working with Peter Taylor, who has a vast wealth of experience from 35 years reporting on terrorism and political violence for the BBC; plus a terrific, tireless team in the BBC and a hugely experienced cameraman, Nik Millard, who manages to film the most amazing scenes whatever the conditions, even in the most stressful war zones, without ever losing his cool.
“Follow the money” usually works and it was soon clear the source of funding and the way it was reaching IS could provide a real insight into the organisation. From our very first telephone calls, we were struck by a strange mixture of hypocrisy, absurdity and tragedy. We talked to distinguished and dedicated archaeologists who explained that IS wasn’t just destroying priceless ancient monuments, but with breathtaking hypocrisy it was also looting on an industrial scale. There was extortion on a grand scale too. And despite being ringed by supposedly bitter enemies, it soon turned out that IS was managing to raise millions of dollars by exporting oil and gas, with much allegedly reaching the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
We started filming in the freezing cold of Istanbul, arriving in driving rain. We travelled down to the Turkish Syrian border, to peer across at Kobane, the devastated Syrian-Kurdish town where IS were still holding out against Kurdish fighters and coalition air strikes. We travelled along the border to see the Kilis checkpoint between Turkey and Syria. But crucially we also managed to film a number of interviews with people who couldn’t be identified. These are the sort of interviews that you need to spend hours and hours checking, but they are also the most difficult people to talk to in advance. Everything about them was difficult and fraught. The locations where we interviewed them were only agreed at the last minute. We could only talk via interpreters. And understandably all the interviewees needed plenty of assurance that we could keep their identities hidden.
Bit by bit we built up a picture of the self-styled Islamic State and what makes the organisation so unique – its vast war chest, its fastidious organisation and its brutal ideology. We also knew we needed to speak to someone at its heart. Not easy, when even ordinary IS members refuse to be interviewed in an open way. IS asks for detailed questions in advance and then will only answer the questions they choose to. But there was a senior leader of IS who had recently been captured in Iraq. Abu Hajjar was said to be the IS Treasurer in Iraq, and seized with him was a treasure trove of secret IS documents.
After months of negotiations we eventually arrived in Baghdad, where the IS prisoner is being held in a high security prison. Baghdad airport is unlike any other I’ve ever been to. As soon as you get off the plane there is a security screening, then another and then another. We had more than 200kg of kit and we had to lift by hand every bulky case on and off the security scanners. Hard work once, but by the fifth time, after long flights and little sleep, you begin to wonder what you are doing.
I had been warned by our indefatigable cameraman, Nik Millard, not to expect to get too much done in Baghdad. Nik warned me that he had recently spent a whole week trying very hard and failing to film much at all, and for his troubles been locked up in a container in the searing Baghdad heat for over an hour. So everyday as we managed to film planned interviews, I was deeply relieved as I walked back to our heavily guarded accommodation. But the one thing that wasn’t quite happening was the key interview with Abu Hajjar. It wasn’t for want of trying and I’d allowed an extra day for filming just in case. It was a good call and on the afternoon of the last day we finally arrived at the headquarters of the Iraqi federal police intelligence, Iraq’s equivalent of the FBI. We still didn’t know what was possible or even if Abu Hajjar would be produced and we didn’t have much time left.
We were offered tiny cups of the strongest and thickest coffee I had ever tasted and introduced to the director of Iraqi federal police intelligence. Finally we sensed we were getting close. The police officer who cannot be identified for security reasons, proceeded to give us a level of detail we hadn’t expected about the raid and the importance of Abu Hajjar. Finally as the sun was beginning to set and our time in Baghdad was about to run out, we were told the prisoner had been brought to the headquarters from his unnamed high security prison. With minutes left we set up with three cameras and awaited his arrival.
Abu Hajjar arrived blindfolded and handcuffed. We had no idea how long we had for the interview but equally no questions had been ruled out by police intelligence. Peter Taylor asked if his blindfold could be removed and they agreed. He asked if his handcuffs could be removed, but “no, no” came the instant response. And as soon as we could we started the interview. Finally we were sitting down with the most senior leader of IS to be captured alive and the most senior IS leader ever to be interviewed on TV. We still had several more months of work to do on our documentary and we still had to film on the frontline with the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq, but we had the relief of knowing we had something new to add.
