Former al Qaeda Executioner Finds New Work As Stage Magician
FALLUJAH, IRAQ – Standing on-stage in front of a large crowd, Dawud Muhammad makes a quick assessment of his audience.
Addressing a large pudgy man sitting in front of him, he asks, "Have you ever seen a man catch a bullet in his teeth?"
When the man says no, Dawud draws his Tariq 19mm pistol and shoots him point-blank in the face, adding "And you never will!" to uproarious laughter.
For Dawud "Abu Sayyaf" Muhammad, it's been a long journey from Al Qaeda in Iraq's (AQI) top executioner to the lead stage magician at Fallujah's prestigious Babylon Club.
"When I was a young man I really wanted to be a magician, so it was a natural choice to join Saddam's intelligence service," says Dawud as he wipes blood from his forehead.
"The first trick I mastered was having a prisoner pick a random card out of a deck. Later, when I was eviscerating him with a rusty saw, I would pull a Three of Clubs out of his lung and ask 'Is this your card?'"
Dawud said that the first few months after the invasion of Ir…
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Duffel Blog to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.