Recently on Intelwire...

A quick recap of recent site headlines:

Dangerous New Shift In Video From Top Al Qaeda Leader

The Power of Dissent (Fitna)

INTELWIRE Exclusive: U.S. Granted Millions to Al Qaeda-Linked Charity

Anwar Awlaki's Path

How Many American Jihadists?

INTELWIRE Exclusive: State Department Cables on Bhutto Assassination

Labels: Site-News, Weblog

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Awlaki: Finally One of the Cool Kids

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...

Labels: Al-Qaeda-In-The-Arabian-Peninsula, Anwar-Awlaki, AQAP

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

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.

Labels: Abu-Yahya-Al-Libi, Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

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.

Labels: Abu-Talha-Al-Amreeki, American-Jihadists, Revolution-Muslim, Zach-Chesser

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

CAIR Says Revolution Muslim A 'Setup' To Smear Muslims

I couldn't help but notice that the Council on American-Islamic Relations had been strangely silent on the South Park-Revolution Muslim dustup (link, link). Of course, CAIR was pretty busy this week emailing alerts about right-wing extremism and Franklin Graham (who hasn't threatened to kill anyone recently), so perhaps they missed the saturation coverage of RevMuslim's threats on most of the major news networks.

Well, they caught up today, and the response is an instant classic:

Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, characterized Revolution Muslim as a loosely-organized group with such outrageous beliefs he believes it may be a "setup" to smear Islam.

"They say wild and irresponsible things periodically," Hooper told FoxNews.com. "There's a strong suspicion that they're merely a setup to make Muslims and Islam look bad. They say such wild and crazy things that you have to wonder."

Labels: American-Jihadists, CAIR, Revolution-Muslim, South-Park

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Napolitano Has Got To Go

I don't like to get into politics on this site, but Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano appeared on CNN's "The Situation Room" this evening and blew my mind. Host Suzanne Malveauz asked a direct and fairly simple question: How did she prioritize the threat of domestic extremism vs. Al Qaeda extremism vs. Other?

MALVEAUX: What is the biggest threat now facing Americans?

Is it from a domestic attack, is it from local groups or is it from foreign groups like Al Qaeda?

NAPOLITANO: You know, I don't have the luxury of ranking those things.

Remember the outrage after the underwear bombing incident, when she claimed "the system worked"? This statement makes that one look brilliant. I was willing to hold my tongue last time, hoping it was a gaffe rather than an indicator of incompetence. But if DHS can't prioritize terrorist threats, then we're in big trouble.

Obviously, someone in the federal government is deciding how to allocate resources for homeland security, and that person had better be making that decision based on the priority of the threat. But that person is supposed to be the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

Answering "What is the biggest threat?" is the JOB DESCRIPTION of the DHS chief. Anyone who can't mount a sensible response should not be filling one of the most important jobs in this country.

Napolitano has got to go.

Here's the rest of the exchange. Note that Malveaux can't quite believe the answer either, although she was too polite. Regular host Wolf Blitzer would have been better in this "situation."

NAPOLITANO (continued): We have to lean forward and be prepared for both, that it could be an international terrorist or a domestic terrorist. It could be someone who is a -- a U.S. citizen who now has been trained in an international camp and come back.

All of those things are phenomenon that are currently happening in the United States. All of them are things that, you know, we are constantly working, as I said, to -- to minimize the risk that they could actually go from those kind of extremist and violent extremist beliefs into violent action.

MALVEAUX: But certainly, Madam Secretary, there's a way of measuring which -- which organization, which group, which individual is -- is most prepared and perhaps the most potentially threatening to the United States?

NAPOLITANO: Well, I -- I'm not sure. I think that's a -- you know, I think that's a question the media might ask.

I'm not sure that's quite the way that law enforcement would respond. Because if we are attacked internationally, it doesn't give any comfort if I say, yes, well, internationally, it was ranked number two or -- or the reverse.

Labels: Al-Qaeda, Analysis, DHS, Domestic-Extremism, Janet-Napolitano, Weblog

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Oklahoma City Bombing: Still Digging

It's the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, and in some ways, the public understanding of the worst domestic terrorist attack in history has not progressed significantly since the first anniversary.

Serious questions remain about McVeigh's co-conspirators -- whether he had any, and who they might have been -- and those questions are not just a fringe pursuit. A growing body of documentary evidence points to the possibility of a wider conspiracy, including FOIA documents obtained exclusively by INTELWIRE.

Significant advances in understanding the case have also been made thanks to the efforts of Jesse Trentadue. 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 (link, graphic content warning).

Trentadue believes his brother was killed by authorities because he was mistaken for Richard Guthrie, one of McVeigh's suspected co-conspirators, which led him to seek more information on the bombing from the FBI through FOIA.

Here's a quick guide to just a few of INTELWIRE's exclusive reports on the Oklahoma City bombing. There will be more stories to come.

PATCON: The FBI's Secret Plan To Infiltrate The Militia Movement

1991 FBI Memo Warned Of Truck Bomb Inspired By 'Turner Diaries'

Terry Nichols Claims Midwest Bank Robber Link To Timothy McVeigh

OKC Witness Linked To CIA

Richard Lee Guthrie's Suicide

Richard Lee Guthrie, ATF Investigative Files

Documents Tighten Net Around Additional OKBOMB Conspirators

The Jesse Trentadue Files

Did Terry Nichols and Ramzi Yousef Meet?

Informants, Middle Eastern Suspects, And More

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

Labels: Andreas-Strassmeir, OKBOMB, Oklahoma-City-Bombing, Richard-Lee-Guthrie

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

More Threats Against South Park, This Time With The Authority of Anwar Awlaki

The folks at RevolutionMuslim are at it again. Anwar Awlaki is the star of the latest assault on South Park, the Comedy Central satire which last week spotlighted the controversy over depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

RM uploaded a video again condemning the the broadcast (earlier story), before it switches into a lecture by Yemeni-American cleric and U.S. target Anwar Awlaki, explaining a general religious justification for killing those who insult Mohammed, citing a hadith that states Mohammed ordered the murder of a Jew who wrote a poem mocking him.

"[H]arming Allah and his messenger is a reason to encourage Muslims to kill whoever does that," according to Awlaki.

During the lecture, photos of the South Park creators were shown, as well as images of Salman Rushdie and anti-Islam commentators Geert Wilders, Aayan Hirsi Ali and others. The video also repeats the image posted last week of the murdered corpse of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh.

The video is currently hosted on YouTube, despite that site's policy disallowing threats and intimidation.

The speech is not specific to South Park, nor is there any indication that it was recorded for this purpose. I didn't immediately recognize this story from among Awlaki's previous lectures. The story is cited in the Constants of Jihad, but the audio quality here is different and Awlaki is considerably more exercised in the RM post than he is during the Constants lecture series. If I find it later, I will update this post.

UPDATE: The Awlaki audio is from a 2008 recording titled "The Dust Will Never Settle Down."

Related posts:

INTELWIRE Exclusive: U.S. Granted Millions to Al Qaeda-Linked Charity

American Jihadists Warn South Park Creators Of 'Likely' Death

Labels: Abu-Talha-Al-Amreeki, American-Jihadists, Revolution-Muslim, South-Park, Zach-Chesser

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Exclusive: State Department Cables on Benazir Bhutto Assassination

The U.N. this week released a 70-page report on the 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto in the midst of her campaign to reclaim the post of president of Pakistan. The report excoriated the Pakistani government for its failed investigation and particularly a failure to investigate the possibility that elements within the Pakistani officials were involved in the killing -- a possibility the report faced squarely. According to the report:

The Commission believes that the failure of the police to investigate effectively Ms. Bhutto’s assassination was deliberate. These officials, in part fearing intelligence agencies’ involvement, were unsure of how vigorously they ought to pursue actions, which they knew, as professionals, they should have taken.

These concerns are notably not reflected in a flurry of State Department cables issued after the assassination and exclusively obtained by INTELWIRE through the Freedom of Information Act. These documents point clearly to U.S. concerns for stability in Pakistan and toward continued cooperation with the Pakistani government in the U.S. war on terrorism, but they offer no scrutiny or consideration of the culpability of the Pakistani government itself.

State Department Cables on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto
(Warning -- this is a very large PDF)

UN Report on Bhutto Assassination

Labels: Benazir-Bhutto, INTELFILES, INTELWIRE-Exclusive

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

American Jihadists 'Warn' South Park Creators Of Death For Offending Muslims

A Web site run by Americans who support Al Qaeda and other jihadist movements has "warned" South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone that by airing a cartoon image of the Prophet Mohammed "they will probably end up like Theo Van Gogh," the Dutch filmmaker assassinated for offending Islam with a film critical of some Muslims' practices regarding women.

The site featured a photograph of Van Gogh with his throat cut and a dagger in his chest. It also linked to information published elsewhere about where the television creators live.

South Park's 200th episode dealt with the Mohammed image taboo directly. It wasn't clear whether a caricature of Mohammed will appear in the next episode.

"We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show," wrote the site's blogger under the nom de guerre Abu Talha Al Amreekee. "This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them."

The site, RevolutionMuslim.com, frequently posts material supporting and celebrating terrorists and jihadists around the world including Yemeni-American cleric Anwar Awlaki and Al Qaeda head Osama bin Laden.

Labels: Abu-Talha-Al-Amreeki, American-Jihadists, Cartoon-Controversy, Revolution-Muslim, South-Park, Theo-Van-Gogh, Zach-Chesser

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Exclusive: U.S. Gave Millions To Charity Linked To Al Qaeda, Anwar Awlaki

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.

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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.

The complete letter can be viewed on the NEFA Foundation Web site, which states, "Despite recent statements from CSSW's head office in Yemen strongly denying any link to al-Awlaki or the affiliate group in Kansas he helped manage, Mr. Rose's letter appears to paint a sharply contrasting picture." The letter states:

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. For the full text of comments from CSSW's Al-Haddi, click here.

Labels: Abdul-Majid-Zindani, American-Al-Qaeda, American-Jihadists, American-Terrorists, Anwar-Aulaqi, Anwar-Awlaki, Charitable-Society-for-Social-Welfare, INTELWIRE-Exclusive, Weblog, Yemen

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

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TODAY'S TERRORISM HEADLINES

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From around the Web:



Follow this continuously updated news feed on Twitter.

Labels: Headlines

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

A Significant Discussion About Takfir

According to Al Sharq Al Awsat, a group of senior Saudi clerics is discussing a proposal to criminalize "takfiri" fatwas which claim that people taking part in certain kinds of activity are not to be considered Muslims.

While a positive development, there is an important loophole -- the proposed rule would only prohibit takfiri fatwas from "non-official institutions." Sorry, Ahmadiyyas! Apparently takfir is OK when it's coming from the Saudi establishment.

The definition of what is an "official" institution is also in play. There are a lot of Islamic institutions outside of Saudi Arabia which rely on Saudi financial support, and not all of them are exemplars of tolerance and brotherly love. Would all of these institutions be covered by this ban, or would it just apply within the kingdom?

Furthermore, the stated motive for this proposal is not exactly pristine from an Islamic standpoint. A source explained to Al Sharq that the non-official takfiri fatwa phenomenon "diminishes the prestige of the state, as well as impacting on external relations between Saudi Arabia and the rest of the world." That sounds like nationalism, which is a no-no under the Saudi interpretation of Islam, and it also sounds like a politically expedient decision rather than a principled stand.

And what is the penalty for issuing a non-official takfiri fatwa? Will the Saudis declare takfir against offenders? And doesn't that undercut the whole point of this exercise?

Whether for good -- in that it diminishes the strength of the takfiri movement -- or for ill -- in that it highlights the hypocrisy of the Saudi establishment for all Muslims to see -- this discussion is worth watching. If a ruling emerges, there will almost certainly be repercussions. Beware the law of unintended consequences.

In other takfiri news, Dr. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, a prominent Islamic scholar with one foot in the east and one in the west, has issued a fatwa against terrorism which states that terrorists who are "burning the Muslims are debarred from the fold of Islam."

Will those who live by the sword of takfir also die by it? This seems a little dicey to me. Also take note that the takfir in this case applies only to terrorists who kill Muslims. The fatwa does prohibit terrorism against non-Muslim targets, but no penalty is specified.

Labels: Analysis, Saudi-Arabia, Takfir, Weblog

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

A Portrait Emerges Of Guardians Of The Free Republic

The Guardians of the Free Republic made headlines last week by sending a letter to at least 30 governors around the U.S. demanding that they step down from office.

An audio of an Internet (and apparently amateur satellite) radio broadcast posted on the Guardians' Web site provided some insight into the group's thinking. The broadcast's host identified himself as Dr. Sam Kennedy, a highly visible member of the sovereign citzens movement who is identified on the Guardians Web site as a spokesman for the organization's "Elders."

The audio began with a lengthy series of dedications, including "to the members of the tea parties, to the Glenn Becks and Jesse Venturas who seek change, but only possess a small portion of the story." Other dedicatees included Ron Paul, the Japanese Americans who were interned by the U.S. government during World War II, as well as Native Americans and African-Americans (who Kennedy vaguely implied were being victimized by the welfare system).

The main content of the broadcast is a fairly standard sovereign citizen outlook, citing what the group believes to be a legal framework for dissolving the federal government.

But there are a few unusual remarks.

At one point, Kennedy says, "The era of the Cylons is over" (a reference to the robotic villains of Battlestar Galactica). Shortly after, he invokes "The Matrix," telling listeners, "You are an army of Neos. You have been awakened." At one point, Kennedy describes Social Security numbers as "the mark of the beast."

"They will subject us to ridicule as rightwing nut jobs and Christian fundamentalists, and all the other knee-jerk evils that they use as lightning rods to gather the people in hysteria towards their own enslavement," Kennedy says.

Kennedy also makes an improbable-sounding claim about his group's support of a faction within the U.S. military:

Folks, about a year ago, high ranking members of the military, as I’ve mentioned before, made us a truly remarkable offer. If we would undertake certain specific steps, they will recognize our lawful authority as the one, true, only de jure government of the people.

And they will follow our orders. They are tired of taking dangerous orders, or orders that bring their colleagues, friends and their military family into harm’s way around the world for reasons they are aware are to enrich the pocketbooks of the banking cartel terrorist families of the planet.

They are tired of taking orders from a corporate CEO who has no legitimate place in governing the United States of America. And I don’t mean the United States federal corporation. I mean the United States of America, united under, under the sovereign people.

So we took that challenge. And we crafted most carefully and meticulously the “Restore America Plan,” which will accomplish all of our goals quickly, calmly, gently and without bloodshed violence, retribution or civil war, with no malice in our hearts or in our actions for anyone.

The assurance that the Guardians are non-violent is repeated several times, with Kennedy saying the movement will "follow the lead of Mandela and Gandhi, and Martin Luther King."

He also indicates a need for secrecy:

Folks, the orders have already been written. The plan is laid out. We won’t be able to discuss them with specificity on this far too public forum, but uh, you can already tell by what I’ve said that this has been methodically worked out.

Labels: Guardians-of-the-Free-Republic

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

The Growing Aafia Siddiqi Problem

For most Americans, the story of Aafia Siddiqui was a flash in the pan. An American-educated scientist allegedly linked to Al Qaeda, she was placed on an FBI "wanted" list in 2003, arrested in Pakistan in 2008, tried and convicted in 2010 on charges of attempted murder and assault stemming from an incident when U.S. law enforcement officials showed up to question her after she was detained by authorities in Afghanistan. She grabbed an unsecured rifle and started shooting.

The trial did little to shed light on her alleged terrorist ties and complicating matters further, she showed significant signs of mental illness (first reported on INTELWIRE). Based on all the evidence, I'm inclined to think the mental illness is real and not a legal defense gambit.

Since news of her arrest became public, "Doctor Aafia" has become a cause celebre in her native Pakistan. The Pakistani government repeatedly went through the motions of attempting to intervene on her behalf with the United States, without success, but the efforts amplified the status of her case. Meanwhile, the Pakistani press has advanced an escalating series of stories about Siddiqui's arrest and interrogation, including thus-far unsubstantiated allegations that she was arrested long before 2008 and kept in a secret CIA prison.

Last week, Siddiqui's mother and sister told a Pakistani news outlet a lurid story about Siddiqui having been tortured and sexually abused while in U.S. custody, including a claim that she was stripped naked and forced to step on the Quran. The story is getting a lot of traction in the Pakistani media.

I don't find these tales particularly credible, particularly the latest and most-shocking allegations which are provided by Siddiqui's family but are not clearly sourced (i.e., we don't know how they know this). The family's claims include an extravagant and also-undocumented claim that all of this torture was videotaped. Some of the claims were attributed to Siddiqui herself, and as noted above, there is some reason to question her mental state.

"I am not making this up," said Siddiqui's mother, Ismat.

But my opinion isn't what counts here. Mainstream Pakistanis do find these claims credible, as do a growing number of people in the wider Muslim world and beyond. Thus far, the US has not done much to counter the emerging narrative in a country that is a vital front in the war against Al Qaeda, and whose pro-U.S. Zardari administration is getting weaker by the day.

It is probably too late to put the genie back in the bottle -- stories like this don't go away even when debunked, and those who do not trust the United States are not likely to trust the documentation provided by the United States.

But a swift and thorough disclosure of U.S. documents on the Siddiqui case might help limit the damage this story is doing to U.S. standing in the region. A brush fire left to burn unattended is certain to spread.

Labels: Aafia-Siddiqui, American-Jihadists, Analysis, Weblog

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink