The man believed to be holding at least one hostage at the Discovery Channel headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, has been identified as James Lee, a law enforcement source tells CNN.
Lee's Web site is down as of this writing, but here's are its former contents.
The Discovery Channel MUST broadcast to the world their commitment to save the planet and to do the following IMMEDIATELY:
1. The Discovery Channel and it's affiliate channels MUST have daily television programs at prime time slots based on Daniel Quinn's "My Ishmael" pages 207-212 where solutions to save the planet would be done in the same way as the Industrial Revolution was done, by people building on each other's inventive ideas. Focus must be given on how people can live WITHOUT giving birth to more filthy human children since those new additions continue pollution and are pollution. A game show format contest would be in order. Perhaps also forums of leading scientists who understand and agree with the Malthus-Darwin science and the problem of human overpopulation. Do both. Do all until something WORKS and the natural world starts improving and human civilization building STOPS and is reversed! MAKE IT INTERESTING SO PEOPLE WATCH AND APPLY SOLUTIONS!!!!
2. All programs on Discovery Health-TLC must stop encouraging the birth of any more parasitic human infants and the false heroics behind those actions. In those programs' places, programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility must be pushed. All former pro-birth programs must now push in the direction of stopping human birth, not encouraging it.
3. All programs promoting War and the technology behind those must cease. There is no sense in advertising weapons of mass-destruction anymore. Instead, talk about ways to disassemble civilization and concentrate the message in finding SOLUTIONS to solving global military mechanized conflict. Again, solutions solutions instead of just repeating the same old wars with newer weapons. Also, keep out the fraudulent peace movements. They are liars and fakes and had no real intention of ending the wars. ALL OF THEM ARE FAKE! On one hand, they claim they want the wars to end, on the other, they are demanding the human population increase. World War II had 2 Billion humans and after that war, the people decided that tripling the population would assure peace. WTF??? STUPIDITY! MORE HUMANS EQUALS MORE WAR!
4. Civilization must be exposed for the filth it is. That, and all its disgusting religious-cultural roots and greed. Broadcast this message until the pollution in the planet is reversed and the human population goes down! This is your obligation. If you think it isn't, then get hell off the planet! Breathe Oil! It is the moral obligation of everyone living otherwise what good are they??
5. Immigration: Programs must be developed to find solutions to stopping ALL immigration pollution and the anchor baby filth that follows that. Find solutions to stopping it. Call for people in the world to develop solutions to stop it completely and permanently. Find solutions FOR these countries so they stop sending their breeding populations to the US and the world to seek jobs and therefore breed more unwanted pollution babies. FIND SOLUTIONS FOR THEM TO STOP THEIR HUMAN GROWTH AND THE EXPORTATION OF THAT DISGUSTING FILTH! (The first world is feeding the population growth of the Third World and those human families are going to where the food is! They must stop procreating new humans looking for nonexistant jobs!)
6. Find solutions for Global Warming, Automotive pollution, International Trade, factory pollution, and the whole blasted human economy. Find ways so that people don't build more housing pollution which destroys the environment to make way for more human filth! Find solutions so that people stop breeding as well as stopping using Oil in order to REVERSE Global warming and the destruction of the planet!
7. Develop shows that mention the Malthusian sciences about how food production leads to the overpopulation of the Human race. Talk about Evolution. Talk about Malthus and Darwin until it sinks into the stupid people's brains until they get it!!
8. Saving the Planet means saving what's left of the non-human Wildlife by decreasing the Human population. That means stopping the human race from breeding any more disgusting human babies! You're the media, you can reach enough people. It's your resposibility because you reach so many minds!!!
9. Develop shows that will correct and dismantle the dangerous US world economy. Find solutions for their disasterous Ponzi-Casino economy before they take the world to another nuclear war.
10. Stop all shows glorifying human birthing on all your channels and on TLC. Stop Future Weapons shows or replace the dialogue condemning the people behind these developments so that the shows become exposes rather than advertisements of Arms sales and development!
11. You're also going to find solutions for unemployment and housing. All these unemployed people makes me think the US is headed toward more war.
Humans are the most destructive, filthy, pollutive creatures around and are wrecking what's left of the planet with their false morals and breeding culture.
For every human born, ACRES of wildlife forests must be turned into farmland in order to feed that new addition over the course of 60 to 100 YEARS of that new human's lifespan! THIS IS AT THE EXPENSE OF THE FOREST CREATURES!!!! All human procreation and farming must cease!
It is the responsiblity of everyone to preserve the planet they live on by not breeding any more children who will continue their filthy practices. Children represent FUTURE catastrophic pollution whereas their parents are current pollution. NO MORE BABIES! Population growth is a real crisis. Even one child born in the US will use 30 to a thousand times more resources than a Third World child. It's like a couple are having 30 babies even though it's just one! If the US goes in this direction maybe other countries will too!
Also, war must be halted. Not because it's morally wrong, but because of the catastrophic environmental damage modern weapons cause to other creatures. FIND SOLUTIONS JUST LIKE THE BOOK SAYS! Humans are supposed to be inventive. INVENT, DAMN YOU!!
The world needs TV shows that DEVELOP solutions to the problems that humans are causing, not stupify the people into destroying the world. Not encouraging them to breed more environmentally harmful humans.
Saving the environment and the remaning species diversity of the planet is now your mindset. Nothing is more important than saving them. The Lions, Tigers, Giraffes, Elephants, Froggies, Turtles, Apes, Raccoons, Beetles, Ants, Sharks, Bears, and, of course, the Squirrels.
The humans? The planet does not need humans.
You MUST KNOW the human population is behind all the pollution and problems in the world, and YET you encourage the exact opposite instead of discouraging human growth and procreation. Surely you MUST ALREADY KNOW this!
I want Discovery Communications to broadcast on their channels to the world their new program lineup and I want proof they are doing so. I want the new shows started by asking the public for inventive solution ideas to save the planet and the remaining wildlife on it.
Derived From: Parwan PSC. Governor Taqwa, Bazir Selangi (Deputy GOV), GEN Salim (ANP Chief), GEN Khalil Amil (NDS Chief).
Summary: (S//NF) During a scheduled weekly meeting with the head Parwan Provincial Government officials TF Gladius was given the following information in reference to the BAF Security Zone (BSZ) and areas around Parwan Province: background information on the new Deputy Governor of the Parwan District, confirmation of Engineer Hamidallah being in the AO and the Governors want to employ him to work for the local government, possible Criminal or Insurgents working on Bagram Air Field (BAF) for KBR, HIG plans in the Kohi Safi and BSZ area, IED TTP to be employed against Government Officials in the Parwan Province, and plans for ANP in the Kohi Safi District.
(S//NF) Background information on the new Deputy Governor of the Parwan Province. The new Deputy Governor of the Parwan Province is Bazir Selangi (NFI). He is from the Selang area of the Parwan Province which is located in the northern portion of the province. DEP GOV Selangi was the commander of the United Front during the Taliban rule. He was also the Chief of Police (CoP) for Kabul (date of office wasnt given). Selangi was a Division Commander for troops in Wardak and Jalalabad during the Taliban Regime and was a Chief of Police (CoP) in Nangahar as well (NFI).
(S//NF) Confirmation of Engineer Hamidullah being in the AO and Governor Taqwas willingness to hire him. Governor Taqwa speaks frequently with Engineer Hamidullah on the telephone and believes that he is of good nature and wants to hire him to work for the government of Parwan Province. Earlier reporting shows that Engineer Hamidullah is spreading anti US/Coalition/IRoA sentiments within the Parwan and BSZ area. With this information known by the Parwan government leaders, they still believe that he is good natured and want to employ him. GEN Salim (Parwan ANP Chief) will investigate and confirm if Engineer Hamidullah is still conducting these operations before he is employed.
(S//NF) Possible criminals or insurgents working for KBR at BAF. GEN Salim informed TF Gladius that there are approximately 35 bad guys working for KBR on BAF. GEN Salim may be referring to criminals or low level insurgents who are working as local contracts on BAF. If the individuals mentioned were Taliban or HIG, GEN Salim would have mentioned the groups by name (NFI).
(S//NF) Taliban and HIG plans in the Kohi Safi and BSZ area. There are two Taliban (TB) commanders in a refugee camp in Pakistan (NFI) that are believed to be targeting the Kohi Safi and BSZ area. These two individuals are named Perferoq and Qari Nazr Gul (NFI). These TB Commanders are reported to be developing IED TTPs using motorcycles as SVBIEDs targeting Parwan Provincial government officials and offices (NFI).
(S//NF) Plans for the ANP in the Kohi Safi District. The Parwan leadership believes that the Kohi Safi ANP Chief, Gul Said is uneducated and not aggressive. In order to support the Kohi Safi ANP Chief, GEN Salim is committing up to 200 ANP into the Kohi Safi District. These men will be trained, equipped and sent to work in the Kohi Safi District (NFI)." RC EAST NEUTRAL FALSE TF GLADIUS (DSTB) TF GLADIUS None Selected 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 42SWD1528774655 35.01441956 69.16755676 UNKNOWN UNKNOWN NEUTRAL GREEN SECRET
Wikileaks Document: Afghan Intelligence Said In June 2007 That Osama Bin Laden Died In Peshawar Hospital
Updated 7/26/2010, 2:30 p.m. Eastern
Don't assume this is correct (I am assuming it is not), but a single-source intelligence report from the Afghanistan National Directorate of Security reported in June 2007 that Osama bin Laden had died in a Peshawar hospital.
According to an intelligence report leaked by Wikileaks:
NDS is also reporting that UBL had been transported to Peshawar hospital in Pakistan for treatment, where he has died. NDS stressed that this was a single source report and had not been verified.
Interestingly, there is virtually no other information about Osama bin Laden or Ayman Al Zawahiri to be found in the files, at least not by name. (There are a few more references to bin Laden in the remaining 15,000 or so records which Wikileaks has not yet issued but which select news organizations have viewed.)
One finds only the barest scraps of intelligence; nothing that points to bin Laden or Zawahiri being located in Afghanistan (no surprise there), and nothing that points to any degree of operational control over Afghan forces by either man. There are less than five references to each man in 76,000 records.
Compare that to almost 400 references to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (an Al Qaeda ally) and his network of fighters, and at least 85 references to Jaliluddin Haqqani (a Taliban Ally) and his network of fighters. There are 70 references to high-value targets -- including a handful of named Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders.
There are fewer than 200 references to Al Qaeda. Compare that to 6,000-ish references to the Taliban. Most references to enemy forces refer to ACM (Anti-Coalition Militia) or INS (insurgents), but the comparison between Al Qaeda and Taliban references is very interesting and perhaps telling. I've been one to argue that the estimate of 50 to 100 Al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan is too low. Does this call that into question? It's hard to say. There are a number of factors that could skew this sample. But this is certainly one of the most important data points to date.
(Here's a contrarian point of view citing some documents I haven't seen in my download from the Wikileaks site and others which I feel are being overrepresented in the article.)
Importantly, there are more than 200 references to Iran -- more than there are to Al Qaeda, although dozens are in longish diplomatic cables. Most non-diplomacy citations were in reference to weapons and dozens of reports of IED components which were manufactured in Iran. Additionally, there are references to smuggling routes for both trained fighters and weapons coming from Iran into Afghanistan. One record describes an alleged terrorist facilitator moving Al Qaeda personnel and other militants through Afghanistan to Iran.
Other tidbits:
November 2006: AQ (NFI) trained 30 women (NFI) to execute suicide attacks against all foreigners in AFGHANISTAN. The women trained at a base located in MIRALI/MIRAMSHAH/ PAKISTAN (NFI); they are Chechens, Uzbeks, Arabs and Pakistanis. Seven of them are now located in KABUL (NFI) and they will execute suicide attacks against CF/ISAF (NFI).
Speaking of bombs, there were around 14,000 reports of IED encounters, which is an extremely worrisome number. Even allowing for the numerous false alarms, we're talking about IED production at a staggering level. With so many incidents, Darwin tells us that IED makers are learning a lot about what works and what doesn't, and the fittest who survive the war will be extraordinarily dangerous.
Fortunately, thus far, the IED production capacity has been pretty focused on the actual war/insurgency. But eventually we're going to be gone, or at least less engaged, and the survivors will turn their eyes in a systematic way to training foreigners or traveling abroad to ply their skills. We've been lucky that we haven't had a second Ramzi Yousef yet -- a super-competent bomb builder with both ambition and ancillary skills such as language and disguise. But we won't be lucky forever.
One of the memos records a non-combat meeting in November 2006 attended by military personnel during which a supposedly pro-government fatwa was read on the permissibility of killing Muslims.
a). First if some one kills Muslims, he should be revenged for
b). If a person is married and do have illegal sexual affairs with some one else, then he should be punished to death for that.
c). the third thing is if a Muslim convert to other religions, then he/she should be punished to death.
My favorite comment on the arrest so far comes from Revolution Muslim founder Yousef Al Khattab (no longer involved with the site), who described Abu Talha's output on his blog as "Tourette's Dawa."
Abu Talha al-Amrikee aka Zachary Chesser Arrested, South Park Creators Can Rest Easy
Aficionados of this site and your finer American Jihadist propaganda will be pleased to hear that Abu Talha al-Amrikee, aka Zach Chesser, has been arrested and charged with material support for terrorism after being intercepted on his way to Somalia to join Al Shabab.
Chesser (who reads this site) was bringing his baby boy along for the ride as "cover," and -- fellow jihobbyists take note -- it looks like he is spilling his guts to the FBI.
Chesser was most notorious for threatening the creators of South Park in respect to their "likely" demise should they show an image of the Prophet Mohammed. For more of Zach's greatest hits, see the links below.
A couple of short notes on recent buzz around the Web:
OVERESTIMATING INSPIRE
Coverage of AQAP's Inspire continues to disappoint, although it's improved since the full issue was posted. I continue to think this is not as much of a quantum leap forward as its reception might indicate. I suspect aspiring jihadists are more likely to burn down their moms' kitchens than create a successful bomb with the recipe provided in the magazine, and beyond that, there isn't much about Inspire that is groundbreaking.
The magazine's graphic design has been praised by various reporters and analysts. Personally, I found it rather busy and distracting, not to mention undercutting the alleged serious-mindedness of the content. One thing is certain -- all the rave reviews guarantee we'll be getting a second issue, which was far from certain given the fiasco around its release.
THE NEW BIN LADEN
Inspire has also kicked off a minor flurry of attention for Awlaki including some retreads of the premise that has been kicking around for a while: Is Awlaki the new bin Laden?
The answer to that is pretty easy. "No."
First off, Awlaki's never seen actual combat, and frankly, I don't think he's the type. Bin Laden's military exploits may be greatly exaggerated, but they do, in fact, exist. Unless and until Awlaki gets out there with a machine gun, he's not likely to become the leader of what is essentially a military organization. He can be the spiritual head or a senior advisor, up to a point, but he's not blind, so he has no excuse for not fighting.
Secondly, while everyone generally agrees Awlaki has become "operational," there is no evidence he has a head for operational details or tactics. Bin Laden is quite the opposite. He understands the value of planning, and he has been hands-on supervisor for some of Al Qaeda's greatest triumphs. He notoriously pointed out the weak points in the U.S. embassy in Nairobi during the planning of the East African Embassy bombings. Awlaki, so far, has directed a college student to set his pants on fire.
Thirdly, he's American. Whether due to the local angle or unconscious bias, the fact of his American citizenship automatically causes the media to inflate his dangerousness.
Of course, I am not saying Awlaki isn't dangerous or important. He's both of those things. But we need to keep him in perspective.
ABU TALHA SPEAKS
Speaking of people whose status benefits from media coverage, the always engrossing Al Maktaba blog has an interview with Abu Talha Al Amriki, aka Zach Chesser. Turns out the heat from the South Park death threat has driven the American jihad supporter into radio silence, at least as far as using his own name. When reading, keep in mind that Abu Talha has advised pro-jihad Muslims only to talk to us "counterterrorism analysts" in order to "feed them outright lies."
First, and most important, if the editors of Inspire are to be believed, then Anwar Awlaki did play a direct role in the creation and production of Inspire. There is at least one article by Awlaki which is characterized as an original piece written for the magazine.
So clarifying some earlier questions, the magazine is, at the least, formally endorsed by Awalki. I suspect we're still looking at a jihobbyist production, but as I noted earlier, Awlaki and AQAP's active role in the magazine does open the door to a "material support of terrorism" charge for any Americans who helped produce it.
The most important article in AQAP Inspire is not Awlaki's fairly pedestrian article on the Danish cartoons, but a guide for aspiring Westerners about what to expect and how to prepare when you go to jihad overseas.
The format still strongly resembles Jihad Recollections, but it seems to me the content is a bit more sophisticated and a bit more activist in terms of what it expects its readers to do after perusing the issue.
Overall, I'm sticking with much of my earlier analysis of the magazine as cited above. I will say that the magazine is, in some ways, a step up from Al-Hussam in terms of its sophistication as a magazine. It's probably also an upgrade in terms of content, except for the impression that its main participants (writers of original articles and editors) appear to the reader's eye to be mostly noncombatants -- a category that includes Awlaki, I might add. Al-Hussam had tremendous credibility for its unpretentious style and links to actual fighters. In contrast, Inspire is a bit effete.
That's all for now, but I may ring in with some additional thoughts later.
All this has happened before, and it will happen again. Despite the fact that so many in the media and government are only just discovering that jihadists are trying to recruit Westerners, these programs have been going on -- successfully -- for decades. There is nothing new about what AQAP Inspire is trying to do.
As I noted earlier, Inspire is likely the product of online jihad enthusiasts rather than created by an active jihadist organization.
In contrast, earlier examples, like the Al-Hussam newsletter shown below, were produced by jihadists with credibility, in this case the legitimate successor to Abdullah Azzam's Services Office, which stage-managed the Arab jihad against the Soviets. I've spent a lot of time with Al-Hussam and its modern counterparts as research for my forthcoming book on American jihadists.
The difference between the 1980s, the 1990s and today is not so much a change in the jihadists. It's a change in media technology. Jihadists in the '80s and '90s distributed propaganda on videotape and paper newsletters.
Jihadists today have access to sophisticated publishing software that can be purchased off the shelf, relatively inexpensive, and they don't need to print their product on paper (despite what NPR would have you think).
More importantly, jihadists today have access to the Internet for distribution. This, more than anything, opens the door for amateur jihad enthusiasts to put out products like Inspire. Al-Hussam, in contrast, was put out by professional jihadists.
Another difference, and an extremely important one, is that Al-Hussam had to be printed (which cost money), mailed (which cost money), or handed out at mosques, which cost money and also required approval from the mosque. Even 15 years ago, some mosques refused to allow this content and banned Al-Hussam from being distributed on their grounds. It would be an even tougher sell today.
The total bill for printing and mailing Al-Hussam was significantly north of $1,000 per issue, and its reach was limited by the number of copies that were printed. The total bill for an issue of Inspire was probably zero dollars, and if not for the drama around its release, it could have reached an unlimited number of people.
The Internet has served as a platform for jihadists for more than a decade, and while its use is ever-growing, it's not new. Inspire isn't new. None of this is new, and it's not really news.
Now don't get me wrong. I am all in favor of using incremental developments like the release of the magazine to discuss the overall issue of jihadist propaganda in English and otherwise. And I am happy to do so, whether here or in interviews.
Al Qaeda's New Magazine, Or Was It Web Site, Or Is It Really Al Qaeda? Or... Or...
This week saw the debut of a new English-language magazine called "Inspire" and branded as coming from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or rather, the first three pages of such a magazine. I don't think I've ever seen such a crazy welter of bad coverage.
To start with, dozens of news outlets began trumpeting Al Qaeda's new English-language "Web site" -- apparently an army of supposedly tech-savvy reporters and/or headline writers are unable to distinguish between PDF documents and Web sites. Apparently many major news outlets are also incapable of distinguishing between Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and Al Qaeda central in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Hint: Osama bin Laden is only directly involved with one of these groups. (At most.)
Then, the real hand-wringing began (and continues today). Was it REALLY an Al Qaeda magazine or was it fake? Few of the reporters could answer that question because they were all afraid to open it and actually read the magazine. Turns out the PDF got corrupted or was parsed wrongly in the first place, so the file just had three pages and then a lot of alphanumeric junk. Reporters and jihadis alike leapt to the conclusion that the file was some sort of Trojan horse that would beam your sexual preferences directly to the CIA. (Hint: The author prepared the PDF on a Mac.)
So reporters began not just reporting but analyzing a document they had not viewed, and which even if they had viewed it, they could basically only have read the cover and the table of contents. However, if they HAD read the three pages they might have noticed that it did not match their imaginings. Click here for the most egregious example of would-be analysis of a document that the analyst clearly had not even glanced at and the broader logic of which wouldn't stand up even if the actual magazine reflected the author's assumptions. (Hey, Max, in case you missed it, the "secretive" Ayman Al-Zawahiri and other top AQ leaders like Abu Yahya Al-Libi have written and distributed plenty of books online since 9/11, a publishing process which is identical to putting out this magazine.)
Could it be a FAKE? Let's take a moment to consider what that even means. First off, no one except hyperbolic journalists are even claiming that this magazine was produced by Al Qaeda Central. (Spoiler Alert! That's the one with Osama bin Laden.) The only question here is:
Was the document produced by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula proper or by its online jihobbyist fans?
If the latter, did AQAP formally endorse the publication?
If none of the above, was the document created by the CIA or online terrorist hunters to serve as misinformation or a trap?
The answers to these questions, in my opinion, are Jihobbyists, Maybe, and No.
The table of contents pretty clearly indicates that the magazine consists mainly of transcripts of earlier communiques by celebrity jihadists such as Bin Laden and AQAP's own Anwar Awlaki. There is nothing in the table of contents which suggests new or original material by anyone important. Click here to see the TOC as an image if you are too terrified to find and open the PDF.
The selection of authors (lots of celebs and relatively little from AQAP's main leaders) plus the fact that there doesn't seem to be any original material suggests that the person who assembled the magazine was not part of AQAP proper. In fact, the format of "Inspire" strongly resembles last year's "Jihad Recollections," composed by American jihadist blogger Samir Khan of North Carolina.
So assuming it is not a trap, a point which I will not belabor because those who think it is a trap are unlikely to be swayed by anything I say, the main question is whether AQAP formally endorsed the publication or played any other role in its publication. And to be honest, there is really only one reason to care about that question -- "material support."
When a lone American like Khan makes what is essentially a fan magazine about Al Qaeda, there is room for debate about whether he is exercising his first amendment rights. If an American like Khan is creating a magazine at the behest of AQAP or with its direct cooperation, that is material support for a terrorist organization, and as the Supreme Court recently ruled, exactly this kind of material support is appropriate for prosecution by the Justice Department.
New Evidence On Terror Links Of Yemen Charity That Received U.S. Grant
I've completely overhauled the original story on the Department of Labor's $3.5 million grant to a partnership that includes the Charitable Society for Social Welfare (CSSW), a Yemen charity accused of wide-ranging links to terrorism. The update includes denials from CSSW and extensive new evidence suggesting those denials are unfounded. Many thanks to Evan Kohlmann of the NEFA Foundation and Flashpoint Partners for additional evidence of CSSW's links to Anwar Awlaki.
Quick Notes On Newest Adam Gadahn, Yahya Al Libi Videos
And that brings us to tonight's "Word"
By J.M. Berger INTELWIRE.com
In around January or February, Al Qaeda's As-Sahab media operation suffered a serious setback. We don't know the details, but some key node in the media shop was taken out, with clearly visible results. Where once there were near-HD videos, now there were Webcam-quality videos. Where once there was low-quality video, now there was audio.
Over the last several days, it has become clear that whatever happened (let's say, drone attack on the studio), As-Sahab is back. Two recent videos from senior AQ leader Yahya Al Libi and American Al Qaeda Adam Gadahn (who also runs the media shop) show a return to nearly complete functionality.
Both videos are in near-HD quality, although with some compression, which suggests to me they are using a high-end consumer camcorder. Before 9/11, Al Qaeda used professional media equipment from time to time, but since then, HD camcorders are pretty much the state of the art. That's just smart business. When you're distributing over the Internet, you don't need anything bulkier or more expensive.
The Al Libi video features a CGI background. It's been quite a while since we saw that in an Al Qaeda video. So that means they're back up with a quality laptop too. Gadahn's video features a black background, but a spiffy Bill O'Reilly/Colbert Report style text sidebar.
One final note of interest. Gadahn's video was released today, June 20, 2010, and the content is noteworthy only in its failure to mention Times Square or the Gaza Flotilla. A closer look shows that the file appears to have been last modified on April 10. This might mean that As-Sahab reconstituted its camera in the spring but didn't get replace it's presumed-exploded laptop until very recently. It also means that, technically, we haven't seen Gadahn for at least two months (assuming his last video is also dated back this far). Also, April 10 is the modified date, not the create date, so it's possible the video was recorded even earlier.
P.S. Remember the reports this spring that some American named Abu Yahya Mujahdeen Al Adam had been arrested in Pakistan? That was around March 9 or 10, and the new video references the March 11, 2010, State Department Human Rights report.
So Adam II is definitely not the same guy as Adam I. But it's possible Adam II worked for As-Sahab, and his capture might have sent Adam I scrambling for the hills without his laptop. Just a thought.
Exclusive: Gaza Flotilla Official Was Foreign Fighter in Bosnia War
By Esad Hecimovic SPECIAL TO INTELWIRE
A senior official with the Turkish activist group IHH who participated in the Gaza-bound flotilla boarded by the Israeli army last month served as a foreign fighter during the civil war in Bosnia.
Osman Atalay, a senior official with IHH, was on board the ship "Mavi Marmara," part of the controversial aid convoy to Gaza, which was boarded by Israeli commandos on May 31, according to published reports.
The initials IHH stand for the The Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief in Turkish. The charity was created the mid-1990s, according to published reports, for the purpose of assisting Bosnian Muslims caught up in the three-way civil war between Muslims, Croats and Serbs in the former Yugoslavia. The war lasted from 1992 to 1995, leaving over 100,000 dead.
Several purported charities created to provide humanitarian assistance to Bosnian Muslims during the war were, in reality, funneling weapons and mujahideen fighters into the country, according to documents obtained during the making of the documentary "Sarajevo Ricochet", which debuts at the Kortfilmfestivalen (Short Film Festival) in Oslo, Norway, later this month.
Jihadist fighters frequently posed as employees of the charities in order to secure travel papers. Some mujahideen fighters were incorporated into the regular Bosnian army. A relatively small number of foreign volunteers bypassed the mujahideen and enlisted in the army directly.
Some IHH employees served as volunteer fighters with the Bosnian army, stationed in the town of Zenica, near the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo, according to a Bosnian intelligence document obtained during research on the documentary.
The report by the Sarajevo Sector of the Bosnian National Security Service is dated November 19, 1995, and titled "Citizens, Organizations and Institutions from Afro-Asian Countries Who Reside and Operate in Our Area - A Sample of What We Have Learned and a Suggestion for Measures to be Taken."
Atalay was enlisted as a soldier of the Bosnian Army from 1992 to 1994, according to the document. After serving in the war, the document states, Atalay became head of the IHH office in Sarajevo.
A CIA report from the mid-1990s, obtained for the documentary, claims a director of IHH in Sarajevo was linked to Iranian government operatives, but does not name the person in question (read the document).
Efforts to reach Atalay for comment through IHH in Turkey were unsuccessful.
Another IHH employee, Hakan Bogoclu, was enlisted in the Bosnian army during the same period. According to the document, he served in the Seventh Muslim Brigade, a unit that included some mujahideen.
The document does not specify what unit Atalay served with, but it states both men served on the same dates, Sept. 1, 1992 through July 1, 1994.
In 1995, Bogoclu moved to IHH's Sarajevo office, where he was became deputy chief, according to the Bosnian intelligence document. Bogoclu still lives in Bosnia, where he is today an influential Sufi religious figure.
He declined to be interviewed at length, but denied any connections to terrorism and said he was an activist with IHH but not an employee.
A third IHH employee is named in the document as a director of IHH in Sarajevo but is not said to have been involved in the military.
A 2006 report written by terrorism expert Evan Kohlmann described a Turkish police raid on IHH headquarters in the late 1990s:
Security forces uncovered an array of disturbing items, including firearms, explosives, bomb-making instructions, and a "jihad flag." After analyzing seized IHH documents, Turkish authorities concluded that "detained members of IHH were going to fight in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Chechnya."
According to Kohlmann, IHH phone records also showed calls to the Islamic Cultural Institute, an Islamic center linked to Anwar Shaban in Milan. Another call was recorded between IHH and Abu Maali, the leader of the Bosnian mujahideen after Shaban's assassination in 1995. Both men are believed to be linked to Al Qaeda.
Some other figures named in the Bosnian intelligence document clearly illustrate the links between foreign fighters in Bosnia and terrorism.
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the September 11 mastermind, lived and worked in Sarajevo in late 1995, according to the document, which says he was employed by a humanitarian organization called "Egipatska Pomoc" or "Egyptian Help," believed to be a reference to the Egyptian Humanitarian Relief Organization (EHRA).
Mohammed is described as a "Pakistani citizen, born on April 14, 1965, in Kuwait, temporarily residing at 11 Bjelave Street, engineer by profession, residing in Sarajevo since September 25, 1995."
Esad Hecimovic is a Bosnian investigative journalist. You can follow him on Twitter. INTELWIRE's J.M. Berger and "Sarajevo Ricochet" producer Ola Flyum contributed to this report. A version of this story was published in the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet.
Charity That Received Millions From U.S. Denies Terrorism Links; INTELWIRE Responds With Documentation
Yemeni government official Hamoud Hattar, left, and Al Qaeda-linked cleric Abdul Majid Zindani at an October 2009 Charitable Society for Social Welfare (CSSW) event in Yemen. Hattar on June 7 announced that Yemen will not extradite Awlaki to the United States.
By J.M. Berger INTELWIRE.com
Updated June 23, 2010
The U.S. Department of Labor gave millions of dollars to a joint venture that included a Yemeni charity with extensive links to Al Qaeda.
At least $3.5 million was allocated by the Labor Department to fund a three-year partnership between the Charitable Society for Social Welfare (CSSW), based in Yemen, and CHF International, a Maryland-based foundation, to fight child labor and child trafficking starting in fiscal year 2008.
The money was provided through a grant by the Labor Department's Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking (OCFT), according to a Labor Department press release, the agency's Web site and Middle Eastern news sources (link, link).
Wanted fugitive and radical Yemeni-American cleric Anwar Awlaki served as a vice president for the organization during the 1990s. Awlaki is also believed to be associated with Al Qaeda (link). Awlaki's name is listed on an IRS Form 990 filed by the Charitable Society for Social Welfare for an now-defunct U.S. branch of the organization. Click here to read the CSSW tax form, which is a public record. Awlaki is listed as vice president on page 4 of the document.
CSSW spokesman Jamal Al-Haddi denied that the organization was connected to the Yemeni CSSW and denied that Awlaki ever worked for the Yemen branch of the organization. He told INTELWIRE in an e-mail that "CSSW has no branches outside Republic of Yemen. No official or unofficial branch of CSSW in the United States."
However CSSW's own Web site, in an archived page found on Archive.org, shows that in 2003 CSSW listed contact information for branches in Brooklyn, Detroit and San Diego. The 990 form shows that CSSW had directors in all three cities, including Awlaki in San Diego, whose listed address is the Ar-Ribat mosque. Two of the September 11 hijackers attended that mosque while Awlaki was imam there. The archived link was provided by Evan Kohlmann, a senior investigator with the NEFA Foundation.
The U.S.-based organization claims on its tax form that it provides services and support for orphans in Yemen, just as the Sana-based CSSW does. According to additional tax documents obtained by the NEFA Foundation, CSSW intitially claimed it was not related to CSSW in Yemen in an IRS 1023 filing. But the charity's attorney, Ronald Rose, later admitted, in response to IRS questions, that the two organizations were closely linked. According to Rose:
In general, the distributions of funds raised by this charity will not go directly to individuals…to provide assistance for people who have been victimized by the civil wars in Yemen and Somalia… A similar charitable organization exists in the nation of Yemen, whose goals are the same. In many cases, application for benefits will be submitted through the organization in Yemen and contributed funds will be routed through this organization to the ultimate recipients. The role of the charitable organization in Yemen will be to act as an agent or facilitator for the distribution of benefits from the Society.
The Brooklyn branch of CSSW was the subject of an FBI terrorism financing investigation in 2003, five years prior to the Department of Labor grant approval. Al-Haddi did not respond to a question on this issue. The terrorism financing investigation was known as "Black Bear." Click here to read a court filing which provides some details of the investigation.
The filing was made by the defense team for Numan Maflahi, a Yemeni-born U.S. citizen who was convicted of lying to federal agents in a terrorism financing investigation. Click here for a New York Times story about the conviction. Click here for an Associated Press story on the investigation of CSSW.
The Washington Post reported in 2008 that CSSW was founded by Abdul Majid Al Zindani, a veteran of the jihad against the Soviet Union and its civil war aftermath. Zindani was an associate of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, according to published reports and exclusive documents obtained by INTELWIRE. Zindani has been designated as a member or associate of Al Qaeda by both the U.S. government and the United Nations.
Documents filed in a U.S. terrorism prosecution state that the Yemeni government considered the Al Iman University, run by Zindani, "as a 'nest for terrorism' that exports and propagates terrorism." Click here to read the document. Awlaki lectured at the University, according to the Washington Post and other sources.
Al-Haddi denied that Zindani had ever played any role in the organization. Neither Awlaki or Zindani has "never have been part of CSSW either as founders, members of Managerial Boards, employees, consultants volunteers or any position in CSSW," Al-Haddi wrote in an email. When asked if CSSW had requested a correction from Washington Post, he said that he had not but intended to.
However, the CSSW Web site again seems to contradict Al-Haddi's statement.
CSSW's Web site contains stories on a 2009 "Orphan's Festival" event featuring Zindani as a featured speaker in a central role. Zindani is named on the page, which also features a photograph of the cleric at the center dias of the event. Click here for the original page in Arabic, and click here for a cached copy of the the page. The event was also extensively covered in the organization's newsletter. A cached copy of the story may be viewed by clicking here.
When asked about the photos, Al-Haddi said that Zindani's presence at the 2009 festival was simply as an attendee due to Zindani's participation in the Yemeni government in 1990. He also suggested that Zindani was only one of 500 participants, and played no role at the conference.
However, photos of the event, found on an Arabic Web site Yemen-Sound.com, show Zindani seated prominently in the front row of the event and handing out awards from the stage. The CSSW Web site additionally describes Zindani as a speaker at the event.
In several photos, Zindani appears with another speaker at the event, Judge Hamoud Hattar, who in June announced that Yemen will not extradite Anwar Awlaki to the United States. Hattar, ironically, has gained a measure of fame for his "deradicalization" efforts with Yemeni extremists in prison.
Yemeni government official Hamoud Hattar, left, and Al Qaeda-linked cleric Abdul Majid Zindani at an October 2009 Charitable Society for Social Welfare (CSSW) event in Yemen.
Also at the event was Sheikh Aed Al Qarni, who can be seen in this video calling on Allah to "destroy the Jews" and praising jihadists attacking American forces in Iraq.
Sheikh Aed Al Qarni at an October 2009 Charitable Society for Social Welfare (CSSW) event in Yemen.
The CSSW Web site lists partner organizations including the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) and the Qatar Charitable Society, both of which are believed by the U.S. government to be Al Qaeda financing vehicles. The U.S. alleges that IIRO helped finance the Manila-based Bojinka plot to blow up U.S. airliners in 1995. According to an Al Qaeda informant, Osama bin Laden has stated that Qatar Charitable Society funds were used to pay for an attempt to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarek, also in 1995.
This story has been substantially updated with CSSW denials and with additional documentation which supports the story. Al-Haddi's letter to INTELWIRE is included below in its entirety. Based on the evidence laid out in detail above, INTELWIRE stands by its story. Additional documentation is being sought and will be posted when it becomes available.
Dear Mr. Berger,
First of all, I would like to introduce myself. I'm Dr. Jamal Al-Haddi, the Program Manager of ACCESS-Plus Program working for Charitable Society for Social Welfare (CSSW).
ACCESS-Plus Program is the a program that receives US Department of Labor fund to combat Exploitive Child Labor, Worst Forms of Child Labor and Child Trafficking in Yemen. This Program is the program that you denoted in your article in the index page of your website; www.intelwire.com .
Herein, I would like to reveal some facts about Charitable Society for Social Welfare (CSSW).
The Charitable Society for Social Welfare (CSSW) is a national non-faith, non-governmental organization (NGO) established in Sana'a, Yemen, in March 1990. CSSW works at the grassroots level, and seeks to provide an effective charity model to promote sustainable, economic and social development through relief and development programs, in addition to emergency relief. Its programs cover sustainable development, orphan care, education, health, family, social welfare, population, food security, poverty alleviation, environment, and working with certain groups, including those who are poor, and women, youth, children, refugees, the disabled and the elderly.
CSSW has a consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (Special Category). It is also an NGO member of United Nation Department of Public Information UN DPI. It also has a membership status in many national institutions, such as the Supreme Women Council, Mother & Childhood High Council, the National Population Council, Social Fund for Development, Social Care Fund, Public Works Project, Disaster Preparedness NGO Forum, Poverty Reduction Strategy for NGOs Network Group, and Yemeni NGOs Network. Meanwhile, CSSW partners with UN agencies, in particular, U.N. Capital Development Fund, International Committee of the Red Cross, WFP, UNDP, UNHCR, UNFPA, WHO and UNICEF, UNV in addition to international organizations such as CHF International, Futures Group International (American NGOs). It has also partnerships through group of projects and programs with, World Bank, Canada Embassy, Japanese Embassy, US Embassy, British Embassy, European Commission, Dutch Embassy, etc.
The current CSSW activities are developmental projects that target the poor and needy people in urban and rural communities. The projects aim to alleviate poverty. Within the NGO networking group on poverty reduction that sponsors poor families, CSSW is responsible for monthly food distribution.
CSSW also implements family development projects targeting poor women and families through micro-credit, handicraft projects, including work with leather products, orphan care and a sponsorship program. CSSW currently sponsors about 25,312 orphans and street children.
CSSW's Smart woman Centers in Sana'a and other governorates organize training courses all over the year in manual work and skills that might be particularly helpful for women. The courses span a wide range of topics that include computer technology, sewing, embroidering, and carpet weaving, in addition to literacy programs, educational sessions, English language courses, and first-aid courses. CSSW has ongoing programs in public health, reproductive health, family planning and health care for refugees, Combating Females Genitalia Malformation (FGM) Projects, Combating Early Marriage Project.
CSSW also provides its health services through 22 facilities in 13 governorates, outreach health activities, an onchocerciasis (River Blindness) control program in four governorates, and by conducting studies and field surveys, in cooperation with UN agencies and international relief organizations. Regarding allegations stated in your article, here is the response for them:
CSSW is a non-faith based organization which provides its services to all categories regardless sex, ethnicity, color or religion inside and outside Yemen according its constitution. For example, CSSW provide services to Muslim and non Muslim Ethiopian Oromos refugees in addition to Somali refugees who displaced to Yemen. It also used to assist poor Jewish families in Raida Town- Amran Governorate.
All information in this article is baseless and fabricated.
According to official documents of registration and elections of CSSW which was established in March 1990, Abdulmajeed Al-Zendani or Anwar Al-Awlaki never have been part of CSSW either as founders, members of Managerial Boards, employees, consultants volunteers or any position in CSSW. (The official registration documents are available upon request and Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor keep the original copies of them).
CSSW since its foundation in 1990 used to work with local, regional and international partners. CSSW works with all UN agencies in Yemen including Unicef, UNDP, UNFPA, UNV, UNHCR it a member of United Nations Economic Council & Social Council (ECOSOC), it is also a member UN Department of Pubic Information (DPI). It has also partnerships with Japanese Embassy, Dutch Embassy, British Embassy, and many other partners.
One of the values that CSSW works in, is transparency. CSSW annual reports used to be disseminated through booklets and internet. The CSSW financial system was checked from international experts and then the NICRA was signed and approved United State Department of Labor.
If any one needs any information about CSSW, it can be provided simply through the official email at info@csswyemen.org.
According to media rules, we call upon posting CSSW response in the same page and in same area of your original article.
If you need any information related to CSSW, Please don't hesitate to contact me at my contacts below.
Best wishes,
Jamal Al-Haddi ACCESS-Plus Program Manager Alternative to Combat Child Labor through Education & Sustainable Services
UPDATE 6/23/2010: On June 23, Jamal Al-Haddi gave the following responses to the questions cited in the artice. After careful consideration of these responses relative to the documentation above, INTELWIRE still stands by its story. However, additional documentation is being sought in order to fully clarify any issue which remains disputed.
Q: Just so I understand, you are specifically denying that Anwar Awlaki worked for CSSW as reported by the Washington Post and other major media outlets?
A. Yes, Anwar Al-Awlaki had never been a part of CSSW as mentioned in my comments. He wasn't a member of CSSW General Assembly. And for your information, CSSW managerial board including it president and vice president are selected through direct secret election from the General Assembly under supervision of Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor. Minutes of meetings, and names of elected members are kept with the ministry.
Q: I have viewed and intend to publish with your letter the United States government tax form for the CSSW branch in the United States listing Anwar Awlaki as a vice president. Are you certain you wish to maintain your denial against that document?
CSSW has no braches out side Republic of Yemen. No official or unofficial branch of CSSW in the United States. I don't know from what source they concluded that CSSW has a branch and has a vice president for it!!
There are some associations have same name of CSSW in different parts of the world. For example, Charitable Society for Social Welfare (CSSW) based in Midwest has the same name of Yemen's CSSW. This society or any other society has nothing to do with CSSW-Yemen.
CSSW used to receive any unconditional fund or grants to use them in development of Yemeni community.
Q:In your letter, you say that Abdul-Majid Zindani has no link to CSSW, not even as a volunteer or a consultant. Do you deny then that Zindani played a central role in CSSW’s October 2009 Seventh Orphans Festival?
CSSW has periodic Orphan Festivals since its establishment as it sponsors more than 25,000 orphans. ALL these Festival are conducted under the patronage of H.E. President Ali Abdulla Saleh, the President of the Republic of Yemen. More than (500) persons attend or participate in each festival. The attendance of these festival which includes different activities, is open for officials or dignities or personalities who would like to participate, regardless their political affiliation or any other considerations. Some of those festivals were partially sponsored by international agencies such as Unicef.
Zendani hasn't any role in the 7th festival. He only attended the festival as he was the member of Yemeni Presidency Council after unification of Yemen in 1990.
Q: The Washington Post first reported that CSSW was founded by Zindani and that it employed Awlaki. Have you written a similar letter to them? Did they print a correction?
No. not yet, however, we are intending to do so. And I'm sure that they will correct this false information.
Q: Do you deny that CSSW works as partners with the International Islamic Relief Organization and the Qatar Charitable Society?
CSSW used to deal only with organizations and entities that are recognized in their original countries and have good reputation regardless they are Islamic of non-Islamic. CSSW used to deal with Islamic Relief Organization and Qatar Charity like any other agency such as WFP, UNDP, UNHCR, UNFPA, WHO , UNICEF, UNV, World Bank, etc.
National Geographic Explorer presents Talibanistan, a documentary on the activities of the Taliban along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. INTELWIRE's parent company, the Multifaceted Media Group, contributed footage of insurgents to the program. The episode airs Tuesday, June 8, at 10 p.m. Eastern. Natgeo's episode description is as follows:
For eight years the Taliban and Al-Qaeda have bogged down US and NATO troops in Afghanistan-all the while seizing territory and creating chaos in nuclear-armed Pakistan. In mid October, under pressure from the US, Pakistan announced that it would launch a military campaign designed to destroy the Taliban, The Taliban responded with a series of brazen attacks against the Pakistani Army, the police, and civilians, leaving the US in doubt over Pakistans ability to secure its nuclear weapons, and its own ability to fight the agile Taliban in Afghanistan. National Geographic Explorer was in Pakistan and Afghanistan during these explosive days documenting the fight on the ground and in the skies above this territory controlled by the Taliban, known as "Talibanistan." Explorer asks the question: who is winning this war and is this Obama's Vietnam or will he be the first to pacify Afghanistan?
For more information about how your production can commission research and license terrorist and insurgent footage from INTELWIRE and MMG, click here.
Anwar Awlaki Video Posted Online by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
A new Anwar Awlaki video has been posted online by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The 45-minute video is an interview format, entirely in Arabic, with no subtitles, and Awlaki is wearing a Yemeni-style dagger similar to the one worn by Osama bin Laden in earlier Al Qaeda videos. The video features extensive discussion of the U.S. and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Fox News Reporting: The American Terrorist, Anwar Awlaki
A few INTELWIRE exclusive documents were referenced in tonight's special "Fox News Reporting: The American Terrorist." The program airs throughout the weekend. I will be featuring a chapter on Awalki in my forthcoming book on American jihadists.
The documentary also mentioned the Charitable Society for Social Welfare (CSSW), a Yemeni charity which the FBI has investigated as a terrorist financing vehicle. Awlaki worked for the charity during the 1990s.
At least $3.5 million was allocated by the Labor Department to fund a three-year partnership between the Charitable Society for Social Welfare (CSSW), based in Yemen, and CHF International, a Maryland-based foundation, to fight child labor and child trafficking starting in fiscal year 2008. Click here for full story.
Click here to look at documents exploring Awlaki's links to the September 11 hijackers, including documents featured on the program.
Click here for more stories and documents related to Awlaki.
The documents linked above were received today as part of a FOIA request by INTELWIRE.
There is also a story in the Washington Post, which also received the records:
The FBI launched three separate investigations into the leaking of classified material made public by newspaper columnist Robert Novak in the 1980s, newly obtained records show.
Previously secret FBI files reveal that the bureau pursued Novak's sources after reading columns Novak and his writing partner, Rowland Evans, published in The Washington Post in 1983 and 1987. Agents also tried to identify the source of classified information that Novak divulged in 1983 on the television show "The McLaughlin Group."
Hard on the heels of an arrest for Al Qaeda financing in New York comes a plea deal from a Kansas City man, Khalid Ouazzani, a Moroccan national and a naturalized American citizen, who defrauded Bank of America and other sources for hundreds of thousands of dollars, at least $23,000 of which was provided directly to Al Qaeda. Once again, this illustrates the fact that Al Qaeda proper might be down, but it is certainly not out.
These last two cases represent around $75,000 in financing provided to Al Qaeda-branded operations by American citizens. We can safely assume they are the tip of the iceberg. And if Americans are raising potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars for Al Qaeda operations, what is happening in the rest of the world? Al Qaeda proper may be reduced to a shadow of its former self in many respects, but it casts that shadow long and even a lowball estimate of its finances still represents more than enough money to carry out serious terrorist attacks.
AQAP Promises A New 9/11 If Anwar Awlaki Is Killed
UPDATED: 4:57 p.m.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula threatened a new 9/11 attack on the United States if American forces kill Yemeni-American cleric Anwar Awlaki.
The audio recording in support of Awalki was issued today by AQAP chief Abu Basir Nasir al-Wuhayshi.
"We are enamored with the attacks of September 11," Basir said, pledging to protect Awlaki from U.S. attacks, according to a translation by Reuters. President Barak Obama recently authorized U.S. forces to target and kill Awalki, an American citizen.
The recording, which is in Arabic, provides an interesting window into Awalki's current status among Arabic speaking jihadis.
Until recently, Awlaki might as well have been the invisible man on the Arabic jihadist forums. The reasons for this aren't totally clear to me, but it may have to do with him being perceived as an American first, and a Yemeni second. His releases were almost always in English, and while there is a cottage industry translating jihadist material from Arabic to English, that train doesn't often reverse direction.
When he released a video in Arabic through AQAP's Al Malahim production company, it looked to be a breakthrough for him. But the video appeared on Al Jazeera and the full-length version never surfaced on the forums. And the AJ video wasn't linked from the Arabic forums either, at least not prominently. When the people in charge of the forums like someone, it's hard to miss it -- the moderators post multiple banner ads and giant headlines.
Enter this new audio, a celebrity endorsement of Awalki -- landing before the actual Awlaki video has been posted. This suggests to me that AQAP feels that it needs to prepare the ground for our Anwar.
A banner ad promoting the audio release was posted second from the top by the mods on the Al Fallujah forum as of 5 p.m. ET. Typically about a dozen communiques from various terrorist groups are highlighted with banner ads and headlines at the top of each forum page. Upwards of 20 Al Fallujah posters had replied with positive comments about the video, endorsing the forum's endorsement of Awalki.
The Majahden forum posted the banner at the very top of the page, indicating a strong endorsement. Al-Qimmah, a Somali and Arabic forum, did use the banner but interestingly the English-language Al Ansar had not posted it, as of noon Sunday. By 1 p.m., Shaimkh was playing Awlaki fourth from the top, basically over the fold, but it looks to be a "slow news day."
All of this is probably a pre-show to the actual Awlaki video being released.
Sneak Preview of CNN's 'American Al Qaeda' Special
The series airs on AC360 this week, at 10 p.m. Eastern each night, and an hourlong documentary version will air on Saturday, May 15, at 8 and 11 p.m. Eastern. This features the first ever interview with the best friend of Bryant Neal Vinas, an American Al Qaeda operative.
New Yorkers Arrested As Al Qaeda Members, Technical Advisors
With Times Square dominating the attention of most terrorism watchers last week, the indictment of two new American Al Qaeda operatives went largely unnoticed. The two New Yorkers were charged with providing technology, technical assistance and money to Al Qaeda.
WESAM EL-HANAFI, a/k/a "Khaled," and SABIRHAN HASANOFF, a/k/a "Tareq," the defendants, would and did agree to provide al Qaeda with, among other things, computer advice and assistance, services, and currency. [...]
Apparently Al Qaeda didn't get the memo that they're broke, because these guys raised about $50,000 for operations, according to the indictment, although the flow of money isn't totally clear. El-Hanafi also met "two members of Al Qaeda" in Yemen. No word on whether everyone's favorite American cleric Anwar Awlaki was one of them.
Hanafi and Hasanoff seem to be serious operators, allegedly recruiting people in the United States to join Al Qaeda and accepting bayat oaths of allegiance on behalf of the organization.
El-Hanafi also purchased seven Casio watches for Al Qaeda. These watches have become notorious as a jihadi fashion statement after Ramzi Yousef figured out how to make a similar model into a timer-detonator for very small but powerful bombs.
This is just the latest indicator that the Al Qaeda threat, as we knew it before 9/11, has not disappeared, even if the particulars of its organization have changed. To put it in some perspective, the September 11 attacks cost about $500,000 to pull off. These guys had at least $50,000 to work with, whether they raised it here or abroad, and that's enough money to get something done.
Faisal Shahzad, Times Square Bomber, Criminal Complaint
Pakistan, traveled to the United States, transported a sports utility vehicle to the vicinity of 45th Street and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan, New York, and attempted to detonate explosive and incendiary devices located inside the sports utility vehicle. [...]
Is Revolution Muslim Now Al Qaeda In North America? AQNA Says 'Nope'
UPDATE 4:10 p.m.: This is what poking the bear produced from Al Qaeda in North America's Twitter account:
This is not Revolution Muslim. This is probably the last tweet from here as well. 27 minutes ago via web
So for now, I'll take that at face value... However I did have a question, also delivered to AQNA via Twitter:
@AQNorthAmerica If you're not planning to tweet, why not call your account "The Centreville Elks Club" or something equally innocuous?
END UPDATE I woke up this morning to find an interesting new entry among my latest Twitter followers.
Al Qaeda in North America is following three people, myself, Jarret Brachman and Evan Kohlmann. Where have we seen those three names grouped together before? Oh yes, now I remember. So if AQNA is not the very same thing as Revolution Muslim, its top Twitterer is clearly reading RM.
The Twitter account is also displaying the same version of the Al Qaeda flag which was used on the Anwar Awlaki audio-video presentation that Revolution Muslim insisted was not actively threatening the creators of South Park.
This doesn't seem like a particularly smart re-branding, but then...
I have a query in with my new follower. We'll see if we can get this confirmed or denied.
UPDATE: AQNA is following more CT outlets now, so it's more than just the three listed above, which were the only ones for several hours.
Revolution Muslim managed to illustrate the reason its bloggers hate South Park so much. They are seriously humor-impaired. It's an occupational hazard when you spend all your days and nights trying to maximize your rage.
Anyway, RM posted an item discussing the watchlisting of Faisal Shahzad. The post by Taliba Al Quran was pulled back pretty quickly this morning but I happened to catch it before it vanished.
The surveillance team's revelations come on the heels of the Dept. of Homeland Security's shocker that it had friended Mr. Shahzad on Facebook weeks ago and had even played the popular online game Farmville with him.
"A few days before the Times Square incident, Mr. Shahzad attempted to blow up one of our sheep," a Department spokesman said. "In retrospect, that should have been a red flag."
Yes, you may want to read that again. Blowing up a sheep in an online game should "raise red flags." Ya Allah protect us all from these "Security" people! Well, it should serve as a lesson. If you are playing an online game, and are Muslim - don't blow stuff up in "Farmville."
Yes, you may want to read that again. RM bloggers are so eager to wind up their engines of outrage over imagined slights to Muslims that they actually believed DHS was playing Farmville on Facebook with Faisal Shahzad last week.
In an undated letter obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, the militant commander, Hakimullah Mehsud, threatened attacks on America and Pakistan in retaliation for the conviction in the United States of Aafia Siddiqui, a 37-year old Pakistani scientist.
Siddiqui was convicted in New York in February of trying to kill American service personnel in Afghanistan. Her case has triggered anger among Pakistani Islamist $groups and in sections of the media, where she is portrayed as innocent. The letter is addressed to Siddiqui's sister, Fozia, who is campaigning for her release.
"We are with you in the pain you have suffered in connection with Aafia Siddiqui. God willing, we will give a reply to America and the cruel rulers in Pakistan in such a way they will remember for their whole life." The letter was given to the AP by a reporter for the local TV station that first reported its existence.
Click on the tag for previous posts on this subject.
Times Square: A Dramatic Arrest And A Parcel Of New Questions
In a dramatic last-minute save, Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized American citizen of Pakistani origin, was snatched off an airplane bound for Dubai and a connection to Pakistan.
The FBI issued a cautiously worded statement indicating it was still looking for possible other conspirators, but Shahzad claimed to have been working alone. He had traveled to Dubai at least one time previously.
It's not clear when he was last in Pakistan, and his family is from the Northwest. All of this lends significant credibility to Sunday's claim of responsibility by the Pakistani Taliban, first reported by the Long War Journal. The claim was initially greeted with some skepticism by many people, including (I must admit) myself. A follow-up message indicated that multiple terrorist operatives were deployed to the U.S., a possibility which must be taken very seriously.
HAKIMULLAH MEHSUD
The head of a major Pakistani Taliban faction, Hakimullah Mehsud has not exactly been a household name in the United States, although he's a well-known figure to anyone following events in the Af/Pak region.
Mehsud was thought to be dead, or at least that's the story the Pakistani government was peddling, so his sudden re-emergence in conjunction with an attack on the U.S. homeland is a rather dramatic turn of events and one which leaves Pakistani counterterrorism officials with egg on their collective face.
As I noted earlier, the Pak Taliban claim of responsibility for the "recent attack" in the U.S. cited U.S. treatment of Aafia Siddiqi as one of the reasons for the attack. It's bad enough that Mehsud came back from the dead in dramatic manner to strike a blow against the United States on its own soil (albeit a failed blow), but that attack is also tied to an issue that has a lot of traction among ordinary Pakistanis. As I reported a couple weeks ago, the tale of Aafia Siddiqi has been boiling over in Pakistani media outlets, with no sign of cooling.
In short, the narrative around this attack really catapults Mehsud into a position of prominence and imbues him with some populist credibility he previously lacked. It's a dangerous development. Terrorism is storytelling, and Mehsud's story just became a lot more compelling. Let's hope he doesn't have any additional operatives running around on U.S. soil.
Finally, some reports have indicated that the Taliban videos were posted from Connecticut, where Shahzad lives. The first claim video was fairly generic, but if Shahzad (or another member of his cell) was empowered to post the first video of Mehsud since his alleged death, that means he's probably more than just a useful idiot. On the other hand, that conclusion is undermined by the bomb itself.
THE BOMB DESIGN
If Shahzad is indeed affiliated with the Pak Taliban, it's really surprising that he didn't use a better bomb design.
Keep in mind that when I and others talk about the bomb design being "good" or "bad" or "amateurish" we're not saying it's undangerous or that it might not have gone off and killed people.
What "amateurish" means is that the bomb is 1) inefficient for its size, 2) not suited to its apparent target, and 3) not equipped with a reliable detonation system.
In this case, the bomb is also "amateur" looking in that it doesn't resemble the most common forms of improvised explosive devices which have traditionally been taught by Al Qaeda and its allies in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
So if Shahzad was born in Pakistan, and his family hails from the Northwest (near Peshawar per CNN TV), how is it that he became involved in this kind of operation without getting better training in bomb design?
It's possible that Shahzad was simply personally incompetent. Terrorists come in all varieties, ranging from stupid to brilliant. However, bombs come in all varieties too, from simple to complicated, and the Times Square bomb was a bad combination of complicated and inept. If Shahzad was incompetent, but working for Mehsud, I would have expected his handlers to give him the simplest possible shopping list for bomb components.
I'll have some more thoughts about this when we have more facts.
[Charles] Faddis, also author of “Willful Neglect, The Dangerous Illusion of Homeland Security,” said “terrorist groups all around the world have run probing ops in the past. Leave a package outside an embassy and then watch how security deals with it.”
“Let's hope it is not the latter, because that would imply some very smart boys have something much bigger in mind,” he said.
This would potentially explain a lot. If the device was a method to test chemical detection systems, for instance, it would be a hodge-podge of materials just like the one that was found -- gunpowder, fertilizer, propane, gasoline. And if it was to test responder times and traffic, you would make sure there were real explosives so you could track the whole process, but you wouldn't put a lot of trouble into the design.
Not enough evidence yet to say for certain, and hopefully we'll have a suspect in custody soon to refute the idea, but the number of things I don't like about the last 24 hours seems to be piling up...
UPDATE TUESDAY: CNN is now reporting a piece of data I have been waiting for. According to them, a surveillance camera caught the bomb-rigged Pathfinder entering Times Square about two minutes before it started smoking. In my opinion, this significant reduces the odds that this was a test run -- one of the things that a potential bomber would be trying to evaluate is how long the unattended vehicle could be left double-parked without attracting notice.
LWJ: Pakistani Taliban Claim "Recent Attack" in US
The Long War Journal is reporting that the Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for the failed attack in Times Square last night.
The claim does not make it so, but the LWJ offers some compelling reasons to think it may be legitimate. If so, this is a very interesting situation in light of the observations below, should they prove to be the culprits. I'll have more to say about that later, should the claim prove true.
An important counter-indicator is that the communique does not specify New York or Times Square, which is something between curious and suspicious. The person who posted the YouTube video may have been told to watch for an attack around this time, but may not have been told what attack to look for. That means a professional terrorist attack may still be in the works.
Also worth noting is that the message specifically cites the treatment of Aafia Siddiqi as a motive for the attack (among several other things). This may indicate an effort to win Pakistani hearts and minds -- Siddiqi's case in extremely contentious in Pakistan, where she has become something of a folk hero, depicted as a victim of America.
UPDATE: A new video of Haikimullah Mehsud, a top Pakistani Taliban leader, surfaced today to definitively refute reports of his death and to threaten attacks on the U.S. homeland within a month. That makes me increasingly uneasy that the real attack has not yet arrived. (See also this.)
UPDATE 12:13 p.m. EST: The Long War Journal is reporting that the Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for the failed attack in Times Square last night. My immediate reaction to this can be found here. END UPDATE
Story here. Or you can watch CNN live for some truly worthless speculation.
My first thoughts (aka worthless speculation): If the descriptions of the bomb design are accurate, this certainly sounds like an amateur effort. It was made up of fireworks, a relatively small amount of gasoline and propane as well as some fairly random-sounding components.
The vehicle was left running with its hazard lights on, which also smacks of amateurism. It was parked on a street corner rather than targeting a building from a parking garage. It was an SUV (with windows) rather than a van or a truck (which not only hold more explosives but are more difficult to peer into). There were apparently no shrapnel generators, which a pro (or someone getting professional help online) would have used in a device targeting a crowd rather than a building and which can be easily improvised by someone with even a rudimentary knowledge of bomb-making. However, there was an ammo box in the vehicle, which hasn't been opened as of this writing and could have contained such components.
The amateur design doesn't preclude the involvement of AQ or another organized component, but it does reduce the odds. Even a casual jihadist or a typical domestic anti-government extremist would be able to build a better bomb.
If an amateur effort, the suspects would include a petty criminal or criminals or a depressed or mentally ill person lashing out in a disorganized and relatively spontaneous manner.
This person could still be motivated by classically terrorist ideology, such as jihadism or white supremacy, but there are such robust communities in the U.S. for both of these ideologies, it's difficult to see how one could have an interest in one of those subjects and still put together such an amateurish bomb.
If you look at the Underwear Bomber, for instance, his device was sophisticated even if his execution was not. PETN is not a amateur's tool. Fireworks and gasoline are another story.
I'm available to talk to journalists on this subject today on telephone, Skype or at Boston-area studios. Contact me if you need something.
UPDATE 11 a.m. EDT: Authorities have found a VIN number on the vehicle, which will help them trace its ownership. Interestingly, the primary VIN number had been obscured in some way, which is a much more professional-type of action than the bomb would suggest. If confirmed, this most likely means the car was bought from a chop shop, although it could indicate that the bomber was a mechanic or worked some other sort of profession relating to cars.
However, a mechanic would have built a better bomb. Although the bomb is pretty low-end, as discussed above, a few simple tweaks could have made it work better, and it would still have provided a pretty big bang even if it wouldn't have been as lethal as a professional-grade device.
American-born cleric Anwar Awlaki is the star of a new video release from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
The release, which is in Arabic , represents a fundamental shift in status for Awlaki, who has not thus far attracted much of an audience among the Arabic-speaking jihadis online. This also marks the first time Awlaki has been featured in an official Al Qaeda-branded media event.
Awlaki's previous lectures, sermons and pronouncements have been in English. To my knowledge, they have not been translated or posted by the admins of the major Arabic-language jihad message boards. By way of comparison, media releases featuring American jihadists Adam Gadahn and Omar Hammami almost always get splashy banner ads and wide distribution.
Since openly embracing the dark side, Awlaki's following has consisted mostly of English-speaking jihadists, who have so far been the boy sidekicks of the global jihadist community. Holy asymmetric warfare, Batman!
Awlaki's recent activities clearly indicated how much he craved the approval of the real terrorists. His cultivation of Omar Mutallab was an effort to show he could get involved with terrorism on purpose (rather than by accident, as he characterized his interaction with Nidal Hassan). And his March declaration of obligatory jihad against the United States was a by-the-books emulation of Al Qaeda's theological talking points, the jihadist equivalent of trying on Dad's shoes.
So this Arabic release isn't just a matter of language, it's a matter of status. This video is Awlaki's worldwide premiere. He's been invited to join the ranks of the cool kids. Will they accept him? Will he get a giant banner at the top of the page, a sticky, or just a fleeting post in the AQAP section? Stay tuned for dtails...
Abu Yahya Al-Libi: All Americans Must Be Killed Even If They Capitulate
Top Al Qaeda leader Abu Yahya Al-Libi is out with a new, and particularly grim, tract comparing America to the Bani Quraidah, a Jewish tribe that once came into conflict with Mohammed, resulting in all the adult males being killed, and the women and children being taken as slaves, according to a mix of hadith and Quranic sources.
The takeaway from this 20-page work is rather specific and quite possibly a signpost to trouble ahead. Al-Libi is arguing:
1) The harshest punishment is justified for those who ally themselves with the enemies of Islam, even if those people do not commit overt acts against Muslims.
2) That punishment, in the case of the Quraidah, was that all of the adult males were killed and all women and children taken as slaves. Al-Libi goes out of his way to point out that this punishment was meted out after the Quraidah surrendered.
3) The United States meets the same criteria for judgment as the Quraidah.
The expansion of the conflict here is in keeping with Al Qaeda's practices, although I don't recall seeing it stated so bluntly and justified so elaborately before.
Basically, Al-Libi is saying that every adult male American ought to be killed, whether or not they submit to the judgment of Muslims (meaning Al Qaeda, of course), and whether or not they have specifically taken up arms against Muslims and whether or not they continue to be at war with Muslims.
Or, to use his words, they are to be killed "not just as a punishment for the crime which they have committed in the past" but "to cut off the very substance of their evil." He specifically includes prisoners taken on the battlefield in this category, although he takes pains to say that his point is much broader.
Al-Libi makes a few references to the White House outreach to Muslims and efforts at conciliation in Afghanistan which make me think this piece is designed to shore up resistance to the rumblings from Karzai government and elsewhere about trying to work out some sort of conditional accommodation with tribal and Taliban factions.
The argument here is a shift from Osama bin Laden's earlier declarations of war against the U.S., which were largely predicated on specific foreign policy offenses. Al-Libi is saying that America has crossed a threshold and should be fought, not for what it does, but for what it is, and that no amount of capitulation is enough to end the killing.
Although this represents a serious escalation in some ways, especially as far as actions carried out by the committed AQ core, I think it could be an indicator that Al-Libi's radical constituency in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the world (including his homeland of Libya) is getting tired of fighting and thinking -- however preliminarily -- about what kind of peace they might be willing to accept.
Counter-counter-counter-terrorism: The Positive Power of Dissent
Lost in the South Park Scuffle over Revolution Muslim last week was a little post by the cartoon-hating Abu Talha (aka Zachary Adam Chesser) on the subject of counter-counter terrorism. One part in a longer series about how to foil the forces of the West, this week's installment proposed turning terrorism researchers against each other, starting with Jarret Brachman, Evan Kohlman and myself.
...I have noticed that there are many polarizing figures and ideas in the movement that can be exploited to create divisions. My initial experiments pitted expert A against expert B, but this is not practical. However, by identifying areas of difference or strange theories we can exploit them and divide the movement in sha'a Allah.
Another thing I have learned is that you should not dialogue with these people unless you are going to feed them outright lies to mislead them. This is a permissible lie, because it is misleading the enemy. Simply put, they are better at analyzing us than we are at analyzing them. They do it full time, but we spend a large amount of our time learning other things and only spend a little time of CT officials.
Jarret Brachman, on his blog, gave an interesting and lengthy response. I will highlight what I think is his most important point:
In a nutshell, he thinks that turning CT researchers against each other is bad for us, good for them – just like he would view us turning jihadi ideologues against one another. The difference is that, whereas in their world this is called fitna and leads to all sorts of in-fighting, for us, this is called academic debate – even democracy. Our system is predicated on in-fighting (Madison anyone), which is why it works. Jihadis don’t seem to fully capture that, which is why Abu Talhah, a smart guy, advances a strategy that’s flawed from the start.
I would just add to this that sowing fitna among CT experts probably looks like a good counter-counter-terrorism idea to Abu Talha since the tactic has been employed so effectively against the jihadist community, not just by us but by governments in the Middle East. Counter-counter-terrorism suggests turning the tools of counter-terrorism back on the counter-terrorists. So this posting is a backhanded vote of confidence for the counter-terrorism strategy it seeks to emulate. He's seen it work against them, therefore, he figures it will work against us.
Fitna is the Achilles' heel of the Salafi/Jihadi mindset. Sayyid Qutb, one of the fathers of modern jihadist thought, wrote that fitna "must" be interpreted as "a signal pointing to the existence of a strange factor which is alien to [the Ummah's] nature and its faith. There must be a purpose or an ailment which prevents the first characteristic of the Muslim community [namely, unity] from taking root."
This heavy emphasis on unity is one lousy match with pretty much everything else in the jihadist movement, which combines fierce legalism with a non-existent centralized leadership. Its primary thinkers tend to be obsessed with details, and there is no methodology for resolving the inevitable conflicts between different ideologues. Each one is in business for himself, and half of them are willing to excommunicate those who disagree with them. The movement cannot tolerate dissent, and yet it cannot resolve dissent. It's a logic bomb in the heart of the jihad.
Conversely, our culture is (as Jarret Brachman points out) pretty much centered on fitna. We thrive on it, we think it's fun. We learn from it, and through the process of dissent, over time, the best ideas tend to rise to the top. This can take a long, long time, and a lot of garbage tends to flush through the system in the process, but it's essentially a peaceful and merit-based system. Well, at least I hope it is.
Finally, there's an interesting point to be made regarding Abu Talha's choice of experts for his case study. The "terrorism industry" is made up of counterterrorism analysts like Brachman and Kohlmann, people like myself who are more properly classified as journalists specializing in terrorism, and a large vocal army of pundits. Within this fairly large pool, there are many outsized personalities and egos, and many, many ideologues posing as subject-matter experts.
If you're looking to sow fitna, I think it would have been difficult to pick three less likely candidates. The posting of mine which Abu Talha selected as a possible fitna opportunity begins with the words "I don't like to get into politics." That should be a clue. If either Evan or Jarret called me up one day and told me I was wrong about something, I would certainly go back to the drawing board, re-examine my thesis and seek to learn from the criticism rather than come out swinging.
I won't help out the Revolution Muslim cause by suggesting alternative names. By all means, focus on us. But the choice betrays another vulnerability in the jihadist movement -- it's too much inside-baseball, elitist rather than populist. They're following the people who follow them, rather than looking for the biggest or most vulnerable targets. They have this problem in a lot of different fields, so it's not surprising that it would come up in this context.
Of course, the pot pointed out to the kettle, now I'm responding to them, because they're following us. Since the serious jihadists aren't likely to be lured into a debilitating bout of navel-gazing, all of this is a bit of a sideshow. But it does highlight a few interesting vulnerabilities which might be more fruitfully explored later.
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