Criminal Complaint on Detroit Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah

From the complaint:

The investigation has shown that Luqman Ameen Abdullah, Imam of the Masjid AI-Haqq, in Detroit, Michigan, is a highly placed leader of a nationwide radical fundamentalist Sunni group consisting primarily of African-Americans, some of whom converted to Islam while they were serving sentences in various prisons across the United States. Their primary mission is to establish a separate, sovereign Islamic state ("The Ummah") within the borders of the United States, governed by Shariah law. The Ummah is to be ruled over by Jamil Abdullah AI-Amin, formerly known as H. Rapp Brown, who is currently serving a life sentence in the Florence, Colorado Supermax for shooting two police officers in Georgia.

Luqman Adbullah was taped by an informant with a variety of interesting comments, including the following:

[U]ntil you act black and believe in that you are the leaders of mankind, you are going to be astray. If you can't please the Christians and the Jews. You cannot please them until you follow their religion. [...]

Obama is a Kafir [infidel]. McCain, all the rest of them Kufrars, are Kuffars. You can't make them a good Kafir, bad Kafir. [...]

The premise of Allah, and Islam said, "the worst of [unintelligible], the worst
Muslim is better than the best Kafir." [...]

It's impossible to for you to take and change this thing around, trying to go through it the same way. You know, like, "OK, let me become a part of it then. I'm going to change it." You cannot do that. It don't work like that. And you cannot have a non-violent revolution.

Oct. 27, 2009 Criminal Complaint, Luqman Ameen Abdullah et al.

Labels: American-Jihadists, INTELFILES, Luqman-Amin-Abdullah

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

More Documentation of Al Qaeda's Origin

Earlier this year, I posted some material about the date of Al Qaeda's founding, and a corollary issue, the earliest date of a U.S. government document that mentions the name of Al Qaeda.

The document question stems from an assertion by the House and Senate Select Intelligence Committees Joint Inquiry Into September 11 that the earliest reference they could find mentioning Al Qaeda by name was late 1996 (see Report Of The Joint Inquiry, page 745).

Although the original document has not been released to the public, we know from a reference in a later document that the FBI was told the name Al Qaeda in 1993 by Ali Mohamed, a former U.S. Special Forces sergeant who had infiltrated the U.S. on behalf of Al Qaeda.

Here's a another interesting example, a State Department cable dated Feb. 2, 1994, detailing a published interview with Talaat Fouad Qasem (aka Talaat Fouad Qassem, Abu Talal Al-Qasem and Abu Talal al-Qasimy), an extremely important leader of the Islamic Group. This document is full of interesting (and possibly fanciful) claims, but here's one of the highlights:

Some of the group of Dr. Ayman Al-Zawahry went to Saudi Arabia, and he went to Peshawar. In the beginning, they were called 'The Accused In The Jihad Organization Case.' When they got acquainted with Osama Ben Laden, a wealthy Saudi who believes in the principle of Jihad, he trusted them, and they jointly started to establish the 'Base,' a guest house for those desiring to participate in the Afghan Jihad. Ever since, they named themselves The Jihad Group ("Gama'at Al-Jihad").

"The Base" is, of course, the English translation of "Al Qaeda." Given that the "Base" is referenced in quote marks in two different places in this cable, it's safe to assume the translator realized it was supposed to be a name -- but neglected to provide the original Arabic as he or she did for "The Jihad Group" just one sentence later.

At any rate, this is an interesting document both for its early reference to Al Qaeda (firmly situating it with the known terrorist group Al Jihad) and for its confirmation of other documents placing the founding of Al Qaeda as roughly concurrent to the waning years of the Afghan Jihad.

Perhaps more significantly, it also corroborates other intelligence that specifies the importance of Ayman Al-Zawahiri to Al Qaeda from day one. Qasem here indicates Zawahiri is an equal co-founder of Al Qaeda. Although many sources refer to a 1998 "official" announcement as the date of the merger between Egyptian Islamic Jihad and Al Qaeda, it's quite clear from a wide variety of sources that the two organizations were joined at the hip from Al Qaeda's earliest days.

Feb. 2, 1994 State Department cable, "ISLAMIC GROUP" SPOKESMAN OUTLINES TERRORIST STRATEGY AND ALLEGES USG "ASSURANCES" TO THE IG

Labels: Weblog

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

1994 State Department Cable Referencing Al Qaeda

Earlier this year, I posted some material about the date of Al Qaeda's founding, and a corollary issue, the earliest date of a U.S. government document that mentions the name of Al Qaeda.

The document question stems from an assertion by the House and Senate Select Intelligence Committees Joint Inquiry Into September 11 that the earliest reference they could find mentioning Al Qaeda by name was late 1996 (see Report Of The Joint Inquiry, page 745).

Although the original document has not been released to the public, we know from a reference in a later document that the FBI was told the name Al Qaeda in 1993 by Ali Mohamed, a former U.S. Special Forces sergeant who had infiltrated the U.S. on behalf of Al Qaeda.

Here's a another interesting example, a State Department cable dated Feb. 2, 1994, detailing a published interview with Talaat Fouad Qasem (aka Talaat Fouad Qassem, Abu Talal Al-Qasem and Abu Talal al-Qasimy), an extremely important leader of the Islamic Group. This document is full of interesting (and possibly fanciful) claims, but here's one of the highlights:

Some of the group of Dr. Ayman Al-Zawahry went to Saudi Arabia, and he went to Peshawar. In the beginning, they were called 'The Accused In The Jihad Organization Case.' When they got acquainted with Osama Ben Laden, a wealthy Saudi who believes in the principle of Jihad, he trusted them, and they jointly started to establish the 'Base,' a guest house for those desiring to participate in the Afghan Jihad. Ever since, they named themselves The Jihad Group ("Gama'at Al-Jihad").

"The Base" is, of course, the English translation of "Al Qaeda." Given that the "Base" is referenced in quote marks in two different places in this cable, it's safe to assume the translator realized it was supposed to be a name -- but neglected to provide the original Arabic as he or she did for "The Jihad Group" just one sentence later.

At any rate, this is an interesting document both for its early reference to Al Qaeda (firmly situating it with the known terrorist group Al Jihad) and for its confirmation of other documents placing the founding of Al Qaeda as roughly concurrent to the waning years of the Afghan Jihad.

Perhaps more significantly, it also corroborates other intelligence that specifies the importance of Ayman Al-Zawahiri to Al Qaeda from day one. Qasem here indicates Zawahiri is an equal co-founder of Al Qaeda. Although many sources refer to a 1998 "official" announcement as the date of the merger between Egyptian Islamic Jihad and Al Qaeda, it's quite clear from a wide variety of sources that the two organizations were joined at the hip from Al Qaeda's earliest days.

Feb. 2, 1994 State Department cable, "ISLAMIC GROUP" SPOKESMAN OUTLINES TERRORIST STRATEGY AND ALLEGES USG "ASSURANCES" TO THE IG

Labels: Ayman-Al-Zawahiri, Egyptian-Islamic-Jihad, INTELFILES, Islamic-Group, Osama-Bin-Laden, Talaat-Fouad-Qassem

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Tarek Mehanna Complaint and Search Warrant

10/21/2009: Criminal complaint re: Tarek Mehanna

10/20/2009: Affidavit in support of search warrant re: Tarek Mehanna

12/2008: Archived copy of Tarek Mehanna's blog writings

Labels: American-Jihadists, Boston, Tarek-Mehanna

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Secret Service Document Describes Missing Scenes From FBI Release of Oklahoma City Bombing Videos

By J.M. Berger
INTELWIRE.com

A Secret Service timeline of events around the Oklahoma City bombing describes video surveillance tapes that show the Ryder truck used in the terrorist both before and during the detonation.

The FBI last week released security camera footage of the moments after the bombing. The videotapes, which the FBI claims were not edited, do not show the Ryder Truck, McVeigh or the explosion.

The Secret Service document, dated May 1, 1995, and provided to INTELWIRE by Attorney Jesse Trentadue, describes:

"Security video [that] shows the Ryder truck pulling up to the Federal Building and then pausing (7-10 seconds) before resuming into a slot in front of the building."

"Security video tapes from the area show the truck detonation 3 minutes and 6 seconds after the suspects exited the truck"

The word "suspects" in plural refers to a witness report that two men exited the truck. It is not entirely clear from the document whether the security tape shows anyone exiting the truck. Witness reports also described a third suspect, a woman believed to have been directing the truck into position for detonation.

Timeline document (excerpt)

The videotapes were released to Trentadue under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Trentadue sued the FBI to force it to disclose information about the Oklahoma City bombing after the death of his brother, Kenneth Trentadue, in federal custody on Aug. 21, 1995. Kenneth Trentadue's death was initially declared a suicide by prison officials, but the family discovered signs of numerous injuries when preparing him for burial. The family was awarded more than $1 million after winning a wrongful death suit against the government. Trentadue believes his brother was mistaken for a suspect in the case.

For more information on Trentadue's lawsuit including documents he has obtained through his FOIA lawsuit, click here.

Labels: American-Terrorists, INTELWIRE-Exclusive, OKBOMB, Secrets-Scandals

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Zazi Not The First Afghan Al Qaeda

Many otherwise excellent stories about Najibullah Zazi (such as this one) describe him as the first or only Afghan national to be involved in an international terrorism plot.

Even discounting Pakistani border regions for the moment, this statement is not true. Wali Khan Amin Shah was an Afghan national and close friend to Osama bin Laden, who was convicted in 1996 of plotting alongside Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed to bomb 11 U.S.-bound airliners.

KSM's mentor during his early career was Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, the founder of an Al Qaeda training camp and jihad instructor par excellence. Another of Sayyaf's protege's was Abdurajak Janjalani, the Filipino founder of the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf Group.

It's true that very few Afghans have been visibly involved in Al Qaeda's external operations, but Zazi is far from the first, and most likely not the last.

Labels: Weblog

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink