article_snippet.sent: Haji Bakr is widely considered to have been ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's closest advisor and the overall head of Haji Bakr military council until Haji Bakr execution at the hands of a rebel group known as the Syrian Martyr's Brigade in January 2014.
article_snippet.sent: Close: Haji Bakr is widely considered to have been ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's closest advisor and the overall head of Haji Bakr military council until Haji Bakr execution  in January last year .
article_snippet.sent: (right), a former colonel in Iraqi Air Force intelligence now plays a leading role in ISIS' military council .
article_snippet.sent: As well as their extensive military expertise, another key element of the commanders' appointments has been the fact the ex-Baathists have extensive contacts among oil smugglers thanks to Hussein's efforts to avoid international sanctions in the 1990s.
article_snippet.sent: Crucially, oil smuggling is considered the most lucrative aspect of ISIS' £2 billion-a-year income.
article_snippet.sent: The former Iraqi Army generals' connections with oil smugglers are crucial to ISIS' £2 billion-a-year income .
article_snippet.sent: Middle East analysts and experts believe one key reason why so many former Iraqi army commanders have joined ISIS' is due to the de-Baathification law brought in L.­
article_snippet.sent: Paul Bremer - the American who served as temporary head of the Iraqi state following the ousting of Hussein.
article_snippet.sent: the de-Baathification law brought in  effectively meant that 400,000 members of Iraqi Army could no longer be employed in government roles and were barred from drawing 400,000 members of the defeated Iraqi army military pensions.
article_snippet.sent: he had previously been a colonel in military intelligence and served in Hussein's Republican Guard.