Looks like the State Department has had ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on its "kill or capture" list at least since last August. From an official announcement:

The United States has offered a $10 million reward for information that helps authorities kill or capture Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. This reward is second only to information leading to Ayman al-Zawahiri, the chief of Al Qaeda’s network, and symbolizes our ongoing commitment to helping our partners in the region eliminate this threat from their territory. (my emphasis.)

He's also a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224 and listed at the United Nations Security Council 1267/1989 al-Qa'ida Sanctions Committee, and of course, wanted by Interpol.

I've just now started reading about Abu Bakr because the ISIS accounts I read on Twitter don't talk about him much, and I'm more interested in following events as they happen than reading bios of current or former leaders. But, now that I have read some accounts of him, I find it odd that these three photos are all supposed to be him. The first two don't look like the same person to me.

There's lots of disagreement about his "pedigree" and background. There's even some question about whether he exists, or is a composite of several persons. (I wouldn't be surprised if that turns out to be the case.) He doesn't appear in videos, he doesn't show his face, and reportedly, only two pictures of him exist. Here's another one I found yesterday, via Iraqi Witness, who says it is of Abu Bakr and his son Osama.

There seems to be general agreement that he was appointed leader of Al Qaida in Iraq after the death of the prior leader, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi in 2010. But in 2007, the U.S. military announced that Abu Omar was fictional -- an actor playing the part of a leader. It says it learned this during the post-arrest interrogation of another member of the group. It said his name was Abu Abdullah al Naima. Iraqi officials disagreed, and identified him as a former Iraqi army officer named Hamed Dawood Mohammed Khalil al Zawi. In any event, Abu Omar, whoever he was, was killed in 2010, and Abu Bakr took over as head of the Islamic State of Iraq.

In 2011, Abu Bakr announced the formation of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham). He moved back and forth between Iraq and Syria. When Al Qaida's Ayman al-Zawahiri told him he should stick to Iraq, Isis responded that it never swore allegiance to Zawahiri's group, only to al Qaida, so he shouldn't tell ISIS what to do.

Most sources agree Abu Bakr's real name is Awwad Ibrahim al-Badri al-Samarri or Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badr, that he was born in 1971, and that he was imprisoned at Camp Bucca in Iraq in 2004. He was a civilian internee according to the Defense Department, and not held there long. He had a hearing and was released by December of 2004, but whether he was set free or transferred to Iraqi custody is unclear. If he was held until 2009, it was by Iraq, not the U.S., and contrary to claims by Fox News, his transfer order would have occurred under Bush, not Obama. Punditfact contacted the Pentagon to find out:

When PunditFact asked the Defense Department to confirm the story, officials there said Baghdadi was released in 2004, not 2009.

"Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Al Badry, also known as ‘Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’ was held as a ‘civilian internee’ by U.S. Forces-Iraq from early February 2004 until early December 2004, when he was released," the Pentagon said in a statement. "He was held at Camp Bucca. A Combined Review and Release Board recommended ‘unconditional release’ of this detainee and he was released from U.S. custody shortly thereafter. We have no record of him being held at any other time."

About those hashtags predicting "calamity" if the U.S. steps in: They are being retweeted by ISIS supporters but are not associated with any official ISIS account as far as I can tell. Which means, they could also be a plant by pro-war U.S. groups to ramp up fear. "Calamity" sounds like something Auntie Em would say in Wizard of Oz, and I'm not buying it.