Online videos shows children training for jihad; young son of Osama bin Laden reads statement

By J.M. Berger

INTELWIRE.com



INTELWIRE has uncovered a video of young boys training in jihad techniques. The video includes a statement read in Arabic by a young son of Osama bin Laden, according to a terrorism investigator.



The video was hosted on an Arabic-language Web site connected to Tawhid Wal Jihad, the terror organization led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

UPDATE: Pak Jihadis training children as 'future terrorists'



More on jihadist videos at INTELFILES.com

The video, titled "Hamza Laden," appears to show young boys between the ages of 10 and 14 engaged in commando training, including marching in formation, running a military-style obstacle course, rappelling and reading written statements in Arabic.



The training scenes appear to be closely modeled on a video of adults in commando traning that was included in the collection of images. The two videos may have been filmed in the same location, and several shots from the video of adult trainees appear to have been specifically recreated for the scenes that appear to feature children.



According to Neil Doyle, author of Terror Tracker, the child reading a statement in Arabic is one of Osama bin Laden's sons. The date the clip was filmed is unknown. The child is featured prominently in several other jihadi propaganda videos, in what is possibly the same clip recycled.



The quality of the video is extremely poor, but there are several discernable shots of young, beardless males. Viewers may evaluate the video themselves. The "Hamza Laden" video may be downloaded as a zip file (which expands to play in Real Media format) by clicking here.



Although INTELWIRE has scanned the file for viruses, download the file at your own risk. If mirroring or reposting the clip, please credit INTELWIRE as the source.

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al Qaeda and the Assassin Cult: Fighting The Eternal War

Historical pattern could link 21st Century al Qaeda to 11th Century Nizari Assassin cult

"Thus, this struggle is not a temporary phase but an eternal state -- an eternal state, as truth and falsehood cannot co-exist on this earth. ... The eternal struggle for the freedom of man will continue until the religion is purified for God."

-- Sayyed Qutb, "Jihad in the Cause of God"

On September 11, many Americans took their first hard look at the web of extremist groups known as al Qaeda, and publishers scoured their libraries for books that could offer insight into the phenomenon of radical Islamic terrorism.



Many drew an immediate connection between al Qaeda and the infamous Islamic radical sect of the 11th century, the Nizaris, best known today as the Assassin cult. These early comparisons were often more glib than accurate; many glossed over important gaps that created a seemingly insurmountable gulf of history and theology between the two movements.



But a still-closer examination of the two movements reveals fascinating parallels between al Qaeda and the Assassins, even suggesting a possible path for a historical link between the two. INTELWIRE's J.M. Berger has written a four-part analysis of the topic on behalf of the Rotten.com library. The result is an intriguing hypothetical scenario that could have major implications for the War on Terrorism as it is understood today.



Part I: Secret Agents of Islam



A look at an al Qaeda operation in motion. A lot can be learned from the techniques and organizations that supported al Qaeda's infiltration of the United States in the early 1990s, examining the behavior and movements of operatives and leaders like Ramzi Yousef, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Ayman al-Zawahiri.





Part II: Mind Control And Murder Cults



The operational structure of al Qaeda bears remarkable similarities to the secret society model used by the Assassins, according to intelligence gathered over the last few years from prisoner interrogations and thousands of recovered documents. A deep comparison of the two organizations yields important insights into how al Qaeda's structure insulates it from conventional attacks.



Part III: al Qaeda as Ecumenical Outreach



A key objection to comparing al Qaeda to the Assassin cult is theological: al Qaeda is primarily a Sunni Muslim organization; the Assassins were Shi'ites. But the history of each group is entwined with practices designed to obscure the real beliefs of members, including cooperation among normally competing factions.



Part IV: Then and Now; the Missing Link



The preceding chapters look at the parallels between the Assassins of the 11th Century and al Qaeda in the 21st, but they do not suggest a historical narrative linking the two movements. Part IV of this series examines a example of how a concrete historical link could someday be drawn between the Assassins and al Qaeda's modern killers.



Discuss this series

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Commentary: Fighting al Qaeda 'There' Instead of 'Here' Makes Iraqi Civilians Into Cannon Fodder For Terrorists

By J.M. Berger

INTELWIRE.com



During last week's vice-presidential debate, Dick Cheney reiterated a key tenet of the administration's policy on the Iraq War: "We need to battle (terrorists) overseas so we don't have to battle them here at home."



President Bush has struck the same chord several times since the beginning of the war in Iraq, mentioning it during the first presidential debate.



"We will fight the terrorists around the world so we do not have to face them here at home," he said. The sentiment has also been expressed in different words by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Bush political adviser Karl Rowe.



The deployment of U.S. troops as cannon fodder for terrorists is bad enough, but the "there not here" strategy is also drafting Iraqi civilians to die as victims of terrorism in the place of American civilians.



And they are dying, every month, by the hundreds.



The number of Iraqi civilians killed by U.S. forces during the U.S. invasion and occupation already dwarfs the number of Americans killed by al Qaeda over the last 15 years.



Roughly 14,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since the beginning of the war, according to the independent media-based research of IraqBodyCount.com. Of those, hundreds have been killed by terrorist attacks since the occupation phase began. In an incident that occured shortly after the president's first debate, 35 Iraqi children were killed by terrorist car bombings in a single day.



The civilian toll is only part of the picture. More than 1,000 U.S. soldiers have also been slain. Thousands more Iraqi combatants have been killed, mostly nationalists and insurgents.



These casualties would be troubling even if they were incurred on al Qaeda's home turf in Afghanistan and the tribal areas of Pakistan. But before the U.S. invaded, virtually no one in Iraq was a participant in the "War on Terror."



The number of civilian bystanders in Iraq is monumentally large compared to the number of al Qaeda-linked terrorists. Only a handful of expert terrorists are currently operating "over there." Have they been diverted from attacking America and its allies "here" at home? The evidence suggests just the opposite.



Jordianian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is by far the most prolific terrorist in Iraq. Despite his busy schedule, he still made time to orchestrate the successful Madrid train bombing in March, and a near-disastrous chemical attack plot in Jordan, which was narrowly averted in April.



Is Madrid "there" or "here" under the Bush Doctrine? What about Jordan? Is "there" defined by geography, by politics, by religion, or by the color of the victim's skin?



The "there instead of here" attitude is based on a cynical "end justifies the means" calculation. The Bush Administration's intends to sacrifice Iraqi civilians in order to protect American civilians. At its most basic level, this is an immoral and flatly unacceptable exchange.



Some may argue the presumed benefit outweighs the moral cost. But before you can launch that debate, you first must demonstrate that the strategy works.



Given the extremely large number of Iraqis volunteering for the insurgency, it takes only a few expert terrorist coaches like Zarqawi to make a big impact.



Before the Iraq war, few Westerners had even heard Zarqawi's name. Today, he's a terrorist celebrity with a veritable army at his disposal. Zarqawi can operate with impunity in the current Iraqi environment. In addition to the Madrid and Jordan attacks, his organization sets off half a dozen bombs and kidnaps half a dozen hostages every week in Iraq.



Meanwhile, al Qaeda's U.S. network soldiers on. Sleeper agents on U.S. soil are not going to pack their bags and move to Baghdad. There's absolutely no evidence that al Qaeda has directed any meaningful resources away from the West to deal with Iraq.



Instead, al Qaeda and other terrorist groups are now more motivated than ever to craft strikes in the U.S. and in other countries, where the risks are less and the rewards are great.



For instance, since the invasion of Iraq, al Qaeda-linked terrorists have made two attempts to assassinate Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.



If that effort succeeds, Pakistan could very well descend into civil war. In the ensuing chaos, al Qaeda could finally get its hands on a nuclear weapon from Pakistan's arsenal. Why make the difficult journey to Iraq when there are weapons of mass destruction on al Qaeda's home turf?



Yet Pakistan was mentioned only once during a 90-minute presidential debate on the subject of foreign policy - and then only in passing.



Is Pakistan "there" or "here"?



The conclusion is obvious, but it bears repeating: The war in Iraq is distracting America far more than al Qaeda. And that means the "cannon fodder" strategy isn't just immoral. It's also stupid.



The "there not here" strategy has already seen the death of 14,000 Iraqi civilians and more than 1,000 U.S. soldiers. Many more will die before this engagement ends. In the end, the U.S. death toll in Iraq will almost certainly surpass the U.S. death toll on September 11.



On even the most cynical and amoral level, the Bush Administration can defend the "there not here" strategy only by conclusively showing that the carnage in Iraq is preventing civilian deaths on U.S. soil.



When the next "September 11" comes - and it almost certainly will, undeterred by the Iraq war - Americans will demand an accounting of this cruel calculus.



When they do, the Iraqi death toll will not be subtracted from the casualties of terrorism on U.S. soil. It will be added to the total.



For 15,000 human beings, it's already too late to do the math.



J.M. Berger is a terrorism analyst for Cambridge, Mass.-based INTELWIRE.com (http://www.intelwire.com).

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Does The Latest al Qaeda Audio Message Hint At Ayman al-Zawahiri Capture?

By J.M. Berger

INTELWIRE.com



The latest audiotape communique from Ayman Al-Zawahiri contained a new element that caught the attention of many analysts -- a reference to his possible death or imprisonment. According to a CNN translation, Zawahiri said:



"Oh, young men of Islam, here is our message to you. If we are killed or captured, you should carry on the fight."



The reference is interesting in the context of the past week. The Jerusalem Post reported last week that the top-level al Qaeda leader had been captured in Pakistan. (external link)



In itself, an unconfirmed report of Zawahiri's capture is not especially notable. There have been dozens of similar reports since September 11.



But the reference to capture in the new audiotape could be suggestive.



The audio message contained no clues about when it was recorded, unlike other Zawahiri messages this year which have referred to dated news events in order to establish that they were recently recorded. (external link) No previous Zawahiri message has referred to the possibility of his being captured or killed.



It's possible (and indeed, likely) that Zawahiri and bin Laden have pre-recorded messages to be released in the event of their death or capture. These messages would presumably exhort imminent attacks (as this message did) in reprisal, and they may also contain coded instructions to trigger specific, large-scale attacks.



Could this message be a sign that Zawahiri is, at last, in the custody of the U.S. and its allies? Perhaps. But there are other possible explanations as well.



The reference to being captured or killed may simply be a reflection of current al Qaeda thinking. It may be a reflection of a specific plan which entails high risk for Zawahiri or bin Laden, such as a border crossing or a public appearance. An al Qaeda operative may have mistakenly believed Zawahiri was captured and released a pre-recorded message without proper grounds.



Of course, the reference could simply represent a careless use of language. But considering the high publicity value of such messages, and the risk involved in disseminating them, this possibility seems the most unlikely of all.



If it does turn out that Zawahiri was captured before this tape was released, it would be grounds for raising the U.S. terror alert level to red, the status indicating an attack is imminent. (Presumably, but not assuredly, the U.S. government would know if Zawahiri had been captured.) The confluence of such a capture with the release of a pre-recorded tape would represent an extraordinary threat level for the short to medium-term future.

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Details of Islamic extremist Web site that posted new beheading video; mirrored material available to credentialed journalists

By J.M. Berger

INTELWIRE.com



The Ansar-Alsunnah Web site (http://ansar-alsunnah.s5.co) has posted a video of an Iraqi hostage being beheaded.



The Web site is registered as a subdomain on s5.com, a provider of free hosting.



Portions of the site, including several graphics, are also hosted on the Lycos Tripod network of free Web sites. s5 is owned by United Group, a Woodland Hills, Calif. consumer Internet company that provides services to NetZero and Juno.



The beheading video, which appears to have been disabled, was hosted through a file sharing service called yousendit.com.



The actual page which provided links to the beheading video (and contains a still image of the hostage alive as of this posting) is also hosted by Tripod (http://top-top0.tripod.com/Mukawel.htm).



Bear in mind that some or all of these links will likely be disabled at some point after this story is posted.



INTELWIRE had mirrored a substantial portion of the site, and will make copies available to credentialed journalists. The beheading video itself could not be obtained by INTELWIRE.

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