Mubarak: The Early Days

Hosni Mubarak was Anwar Sadat's "very active alter-ego," according to a secret State Department assessment just days after Sadat's assassination and Mubarak's rise to the presidency of Egypt.

The diplomatic cable, obtained by INTELWIRE through the Freedom of Information Act, offers a glimpse of the promise U.S. policymakers once saw in the Egyptian president, who now faces the final act of his 30-year presidency.

"Sadat has groomed him for six years to instill in him the requisite political skills for just such an evenuality," the cable states.

"Mubarak is popular with the Air Force and other armed services," the cable says. "The armed forces are led by men personally loyal to him."

The cable outlines Mubarak's leadership qualities in words that that now seem ironic.

"Mubarak is a tough, determined leader who, we are confident, will not permit the situation to drift dangerously or allow events to escape his control."

Full text of cable

Labels: Anwar-Sadat, Egypt, Hosni-Mubarak

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Intelwire Sourcebook on Islamic Extremism Offered As Free Download

Due to a high level of interest, I'm making the Intelwire Sourcebook on Islamic Extremism in Egypt available as a download. If you want to print or copy pages, you'll still have to order the hard copy.

If you appreciate the download, consider a small donation to the upkeep of the site using the Paypal button below. The book's normal cover price is $24.95.

Or you can order the hard copy by clicking here. Another Sourcebook, The Sadat Assassination, may be of interest in light of recent events.

Labels: Egypt, Egyptian-Islamic-Jihad, Islamic-Group, Muslim-Brotherhood

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Exclusive: State Department History of Muslim Brotherhood, Egyptian Extremism

Given everything that's going on in Egypt, here are a couple of State Department documents which you might be interesting:

2001: History of the Muslim Brotherhood

This is a pretty good overview of the Muslim Brotherhood's development through 2001, as well as a glimpse at the pre-9/11 American attitude toward the group.

1989: Guide to Egyptian Gama'aat

This is an older document looking at the major Islamist and extremist organizations and figures in Egypt as of 1988. Don't be surprised to see some of these figures emerging in an effort to claim elder statesman status (just for for instance, Wadgy Ghoneim has issued a statement on YouTube).

Due to a high level of interest, I'm making the Intelwire Sourcebook on Islamic Extremism in Egypt available as a download. If you want to print or copy pages, you'll still have to order the hard copy.

If you appreciate the download, consider a small donation to the upkeep of the site using the Paypal button below. The book's normal cover price is $24.95.

Or you can order the hard copy by clicking here. Another Sourcebook, The Sadat Assassination, may be of interest in light of recent events.

Labels: Egypt, Egyptian-Islamic-Jihad, Islamic-Group, Muslim-Brotherhood

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Live video from Cairo protests

Click here for live stream of protests ongoing in downtown Cairo. Thanks to Blogs of War for the link.

Labels: Egypt, Tunisia

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

JTTF's Tommy Corrigan Needs Your Help; Bone Marrow Testing Dates

I first met Tommy Corrigan in 2008, when I was working on a documentary about American jihadists who were supporting the war in Bosnia. Since then, he has picked up the phone for me many times, answering a series of increasingly obscure questions that would test the patience of most people.

But then, he's detail-oriented. Many of you already know his name. Corrigan is a former detective with the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force. He played a crucial role investigating the World Trade Center bombing and its aftermath, including a plot to blow up New York City landmarks that was thwarted thanks to the JTTF's efforts. He spent years after investigating Al Qaeda until he retired to open a pub on Long Island.

Corrigan and friend Matt Curran are in need of bone marrow transplants. The Marrow Registry is holding two testing sessions in New York and Long Island to look for compatible donors.

The test is fast and painless, but it can help save a life. If you're in the New York area, please stop by one of these locations to be added to the registry:

Saturday, February 12, 2011
11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
East Quogue Firehouse
465 Main Street
East Quogue, NY 11942
Flyer

Tuesday, February 15, 2011
2:00 pm – 8:00 p.m.
Cornerstone Tavern
961 2nd Avenue (corner of 51st & 2nd Ave)
New York, NY 10022
Flyer

Please post, tweet, retweet, resave, copy or steal this information and the PDFs linked above and spread them as far as the Internet will allow.

Labels: JTTF, Tommy-Corrigan

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Measuring Awlaki's Influence

Joshua Foust commented today on Jihadology about this recent piece in Foreign Policy about Anwar Awlaki. You should read them first, although you'll probably get the gist if you plunge right in.

Foust raises a number of good points in his post, which questions the first article's thesis that Awlaki is "the most persuasive supporter of jihad for Muslims in the West," claiming it is impossible to show evidence of ideology's role in jihadism. Here's what I think is the key statement in Foust's commentary:

We react to our environment, we respond to peer pressures, to community norms and signals, to physical and social constraints on behavior, and so on. Ideology can, potentially, be one of those contributing factors — as a means of signaling and of establishing justification for certain behaviors. But to say that ideology causes behavior is difficult if not impossible to prove — not only can we never get inside someone’s head to say, conclusively, why they did something, but we know, from neuroscience, that people cannot explain their own behavior consistently. And still, you’re left with the lingering question of why this specific person reacted against ideology while the thousands of others who were exposed to it did not.

At best, ideology is a woefully incomplete explanation for why terrorists chose to commit terror. But to argue that it is so important requires a standard of evidence that is, in practical terms, impossible to achieve.

Persuasion, especially as an absolute, is not clearly quantifiable. People are extremely complicated and most bring pre-existing conditions to their decisions, as Foust points out here and as I explore in (shameless plug alert) my forthcoming book on American jihadists.

But I don't think we have to throw up our hands and surrender on the question of trying to understand or prioritize the role of ideology, or at least of ideologues, in shaping the behavior of jihadists (among other demographics).

"Influence" might be the better word. We see evidence of influence when we see that a person has a hard drive or iPod full of Awlaki lectures. That doesn't mean Awlaki is the sole reason for that person's behavior but it does mean that person has been consuming Awlaki's content.

If influence is too fuzzy, then we can further reduce the question to presence -- does Awlaki have a presence in the person's media consumption?

When you frame the question this way (and it's more than a semantic distinction), there is plenty of hard evidence to look at.

For American jihadists specifically, Western jihadists more generally, and now Arabic-speaking jihadists, Awlaki has an overwhelming presence and/or influence, as documented by the repeated appearance of his material on the hard drives of people arrested for terrorism offenses, the posting of his material on jihadist Web forums and its prominence, and the posting and re-posting and analysis of his material on pro-jihad blogs.

Terrorism suspects who kept copies of Awlaki's work lying around include Zach Chesser, Faisal Shahzad, "Jihad Jane" and her comrades in arms, Roshonara Choudhry, the Fort Dix Six, Samir Khan, Emerson Begolly, Paul and Nadia Rockwood, and many, many more. Some, such as underwear bomber Umar Abdulmutallab, Chesser and Choudhry, specifically said Awlaki influenced them. Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan reached out to Awlaki asking fo advice about the morality of his actions.

Ideologically, I think many would agree that Awlaki is not a trailblazer. He hasn't introduced anything particularly new or sophisticated to the genre. Most of his jihad-oriented work consists of condensing, translating and explaining the work of others, but also in making older works relevant to modern-day consumers.

There is a robust (and much-needed) debate in the terrorism studies community about exactly how important Awlaki is and why. Most observers would agree that Awlaki benefited greatly from inflated statements about his importance in 2009 and 2010, and he has clearly become more important in the last year because of U.S. government attention -- in the form of the "kill order" issued by the Obama administration. But none of that negates Awlaki's presence among jihadists.

Ultimately, Awlaki clearly commands a significant audience among jihadists, and it's hard to argue that he doesn't wield significant influence with this audience. Awlaki is not always be the trigger-man, as Foust might put it, but he clearly did serve in something like that role for Abdulmutallab and Hasan.

If virtually every Western jihadist is listening to Awlaki's lectures obsessively, then something significant is going on. Call it influence, persuasion or presence, but Awlaki is an increasingly important part of the jihadist movement, and there's plenty of evidence to support that notion.

AFTERTHOUGHT: With all the evidence we do have about Awlaki's presence, what we lack is a basis for comparison. We know Awlaki is on the hard drives of terrorists because the Justice Department tells us so. What they don't tell us (consistently) is what else those hard drives contain. Adam Gadahn videos? Abdullah El Faisal audios? Abu Mansour Al Amrikee? Omar Bakree Muhammad?

What about Yousef Qaradawi? Don't forget Awlaki's corpus of work is dominated by non-jihadist material which would be of interest to converts. Which lectures are they finding on these computers?

One would hope that the continual identification of Awlaki is due to the volume, content and frequency of his work appearing on drives, but certainly it's possible that a comparative study would show us something surprising. Hey, FBI, I'd sure be interested in seeing something like that!

Labels: American-Jihadists, American-Terrorists, Anwar-Awlaki, Jihad-Jane, Jihad-Joe, Nidal-Malik-Hasan, Umar-Farouk-Abdulmutallab, Zach-Chesser

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Table Of Contents For "Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go To War In The Name Of Islam"

In response to a request from a follower on Twitter, I'm posting the table of contents for my forthcoming book, "Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go To War In The Name Of Islam," the first comprehensive look at the phenomenon of American jihadists from the 1970s to the present.

The TOC and hopefully some preview information will be available on Amazon.com, hopefully soon. The book is scheduled to be released in April/May 2011. Pre-orders are available now and are very much appreciated. The more people who order in advance, the better I will be able to promote the book. And if you order now, you can lock in a 35% discount off the cover price, which will likely go away as the release date gets closer.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction: The “New” Problem

1. The Early Years (1960s through 1988)

2. Al Qaeda’s Americans (1988 to 1992)

3. The Death Dealers (1990 to 1993)

4. Project Bosnia (1992 to 1995)

5. Rebuilding the Network (1993 to 2001)

6. War on America (1991 to 1999)

7. The Rise of Anwar Awlaki (through 2001)

8. Scenes from September 11 (2001)

9. The Descent of Anwar Awlaki (2001 to present)

10. A Diverse Threat (2001 to present)

11. The Keyboard and the Sword (2001 to present)

12. The Future of American Jihad (2011 to ?)

Acknowledgments
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index
About the Author

Labels: American-Al-Qaeda, American-Jihadists, American-Terrorists, J-M-Berger, Jihad-Joe

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Jesse Trentadue Presses FBI on Secret Files In OKC Bombing

Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue has filed new evidence of secret FBI filing practices in his Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the bureau seeking files related to the Oklahoma City bombing.

Trentadue this week filed exhibits pertaining to FBI procedures for filing documents while keeping them out of legal disclosure processes such as FOIA or discovery. The exhibits were provided to INTELWIRE by Trentadue.

Affidavit of Richard Ojeda

Ojeda was an FBI agent from 1989 to 1999 who worked on the Oklahoma City bombing. According to Ojeda, when FBI agents interviewed subjects, they were trained to "be careful what we put into" written records such as FD-302 forms, since such records were "likely to be turned over to the defense in discovery."

According to Ojeda's affidavit, some information for FD-302 files would be omitted from the main report, but included in an insert "which we knew would generally not be discoverable in court."

"The FBI also kept 'zero files' which were reports containing information that the FBI would not generally want disclosed to the defense and which were kept in a separate case file." Ojeda indicated that he believed information about the Oklahoma City case had been improperly withheld from defense attorneys.

Memorandum and Order, National Lawyers Guild et. al. v. FBI et. al.

The unpublished 1980 court ruling found that the FBI maintained what were called "June Files," which held "the results of electronic surveillance and other secretive methods of acquiring sensitive information."

Trentadue sued the FBI after his brother, Kenneth, was found dead in a federal prison cell soon after the bombing. Trentadue won a wrongful death suit against the Bureau of Prisons for covering up key details of his brother's death, which the Bureau claimed was a suicide.

Trentadue believes his brother was murdered in prison in a case of mistaken identity due to his resemblance to a suspected accomplice in the bombing, Richard Guthrie, who was also found dead in prison under similar circumstances in 1996.

Labels: FOIA, Jesse-Trentadue, OKBOMB, Oklahoma-City-Bombing

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Awlaki Breaks Silence In New Issue Of Inspire, Builds Links To History Of Jihad

SUMMARY: American cleric and Al Qaeda leader Anwar Awlaki today issued his first communication since November. The statement is a religious ruling allowing Muslims to steal money from non-Muslims if the proceeds are used for jihad.

Awlaki's statement was published in the latest issue of Inspire Magazine, an English-language online publication that aims to radicalize Western Muslims. The magazine also features an article from American citizen jihadist Samir Khan, who produces the magazine on behalf of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a Yemen-based branch of the terrorist network.

The magazine suggests that American Muslims blow up apartment buildings using a technique designed by September 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

Click here for a large image suitable for broadcast. Mandatory credit for INTELWIRE.

ANALYSIS: Anwar Awlaki reappeared this morning for the first time since November with the cover story of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's Inspire Magazine, Issue 4. The new issue of Inspire reaches into the past, using past jihadist precedents in ways both subtle and overt to highlight AQAP's ideological and operational linkages to major figures such as Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Omar Abdel Rahman and Abdullah Azzam.

The latest issue features Awlaki's "ruling on dispossessing the disbelievers' wealth," which revives at some length an argument used by Omar Abdel Rahman and other jihadist clerics in the West during the 1980s and early 1990s to justify bank robberies if the proceeds are used for jihad. The ruling -- which authorizes taking infidels' money by "force or deception" -- could also be used to justify credit card fraud and other scams.

The article is a departure from AQAP's previously announced jihad to cripple Western economies in that Awlaki is primarily concerned with whether Muslims can use funds seized from non-Muslims rather than simply waging war against their economies.

Inspire's regular feature on homemade terrorist attacks includes an interesting article that revives a scheme invented by Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and assigned to American Al Qaeda member Jose Padilla -- blowing up buildings by renting an apartment and filling it with combustible gas.

An article by American Al Qaeda member Samir Khan delves into the jihadist justifications of Abdullah Azzam, the father of the modern global jihad movement. Twenty years after his death, Azzam is still one of the most influential figures in jihad.

Khan's piece reviews several of Azzam's key themes, including the defense of historically Muslim lands under attack or occupation, but also expands this idea with Omar Abdel Rahman's definition of inadequate Muslim leaders as apostates who should be considered occupiers.

Khan also cites -- in his article and elsewhere in the magazine -- injunctions against spying on Muslims, which must be a sore subject for AQAP after its UPS bombing was thwarted by a Saudi turncoat.

Interestingly, Khan dials back on takfirism, arguing that takfir (excommunication from Islam, punishable by death) is not applicable to individual sinners but only to Muslim rulers who permit major sin under their rule. Another article in Inspire, discussing recent AQAP actions against the Shi'a Houthi movement in Yemen, takes great pains to specify which sects have been targeted and to specifically exclude members of the Zaydi Shi'a sect, in an apparent effort to avoid the appearance of all-out sectarian war most famously promulgated by Abu Musab Zarqawi in Iraq.

The issue also shed some light on the operational security around Khan and Awlaki, asking readers to bundle news stories into PDFs and compressed archives and e-mail them to Inspire's editors because, "due to security reasons, we do not log on to the net frequently." It's useful to know that attachments are Inspire's best friends.

For more about American jihadists, including Awlaki and Samir Khan, check out my new book, "Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go To War In The Name Of Islam," the first comprehensive look at the phenomenon of American jihadists from the 1970s to the present. The book is scheduled to be released in April/May 2011. Pre-orders are available now. For information about review copies or for media interviews on American jihadists, contact me here.

Labels: Abdullah-Azzam, Al-Qaeda-In-The-Arabian-Peninsula, Anwar-Awlaki, AQAP, Inspire-Magazine, Omar-Abdel-Rahman, Samir-Khan

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Embassy Bombing Documents Offer Window Into Al Qaeda Operations

A flood of new details concerning Al Qaeda's operations in Afghanistan and Somalia during the 1990s were revealed Friday, when prosecutors unveiled a series of previously secret documents in the trial of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Guantanamo detainee convicted of conspiracy in Al Qaeda's bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

The documents, meant to support the maximum sentence for Ghailani, contain detailed transcripts of three interrogations:

A 1999 Justice Department interrogation of Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, in South Africa, where he had been detained by immigration officials. Mohamed was later convicted for his role in the embassy bombings. Interrogation of Khalfan Mohamed, Oct. 9, 1999 (PDF)

A 1998 Justice Department interrogation of Mohamed Sadiq Odeh, another convicted operative in the embassy bombings. Interrogation of Mohammed Odeh, Aug. 31, 1998 (PDF)

A summary of a Justice Department interrogation of Ghailani after he was captured and imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay. The summary is dated December 2008. Interrogation of Ahmed Ghailani, Dec. 12, 2008 (PDF)

Some of the more interesting details found in these interrogations include substantial information about Al Qaeda's operations in Somalia, more broadly in Africa and in Afghanistan. Some of the material below has been previously reported. These items only scratch the surface of the information contained in these documents, which includes a great deal of data on the logistics of the embassy bombings. Readers are encouraged to review the documents and discuss them with me on Twitter.

Odeh was ordered to Somalia by Saif Al Adel, one of the most senior surviving members of Al Qaeda still active in the organization and one of the most important figures in Al Qaeda's Somalia operations. The orders originated with Osama bin Laden. Al Qaeda focused on one tribe, the Um Rehan, which was most ideologically compatible. (Much of this information came out during the first embassy bombings trial.)

Khalfan Mohamed went to Somalia twice in 1997 on behalf of Al Qaeda. He helped train members of Al Ittihad, a Somali Islamic group led by Hassan Dahir Aweys, who later helped found the Islamic Courts Union and is now a member of Al Shabab. Odeh also reported interacting with Al Ittihad.

According to Odeh, "Sheikh Hassan" (possibly Aweys) asked Al Qaeda's military commander, Mohammed Atef, aka Abu Hafs, for help. Atef brought five Al Qaeda trainers to Somalia and temporarily took over the operation from Saif Al Adel. Odeh reported that his group exchanged fire with UN officials during this period.

In June or July of 1998, a few months after bin Laden issued a fatwa declaring war on America, Sheikh Hassan from Somalia requested a meeting with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. It was not clear if the meeting ever took place, given the close proximity of the request to the embassy bombings.

A number of Al Qaeda members questioned the fatwa against America, worrying that Al Qaeda had become isolated from its former allies by 1998, but their loyalty to bin Laden outweighed their objections.

Odeh explained that Al Qaeda's core membership was small (he put the number at 150), but that the "friends of Al Qaeda" worked in close tandem with the organization without being sworn members.

During interrogation, Ghailani described meeting or interacting with a number of key players in the September 11 attacks, including several hijackers, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Ramzi Binalshibh and Zacarias Moussoui. The information here is mostly incidental, interesting but not necessarily significant.

New information about American Al Qaeda members also emerged in the transcripts.

A previously undocumented American jihadist, "Sulieman America [sic]," described by Khalfan Mohamed as a being tall and thin with curly brown hair and a medium complexion. The name is probably correctly transcribed as Suleiman Al Amriki. Suleiman attended basic training at Al Qaeda's Markaz Fath training camp in Afghanistan, then later received advanced training in the assembly of improvised explosives. Suleiman left the camp in 1995.

Abu Suleiman is one alias used by Ihab Ali, an Egyptian and naturalized U.S. citizen who lived in Florida and worked with Wadih El Hage and Ali Mohamed, two of the most American U.S. Al Qaeda members. It's not clear if this Abu Suleiman was Ihab Ali. Ali is in U.S. custody under unclear circumstances, much like Ali Mohamed, who pleaded guilty under a plea deal but was never sentenced.

Odeh reported that American citizen Al Qaeda member Wadih El Hage was visited by an Egyptian named "Nawi" who also lived in America. That person is almost certainly Ihab Ali, who also used the alias Nawawi. Odeh said Nawi was responsible for facilitating travel for Al Qaeda members. In an intriguing aside, Odeh said Nawi "was once jailed in Peshawar but was taken out of jail by an American."

Odeh also mentioned two American Al Qaeda trainers, "Abu Osama" and "Abdul Malek." From the aliases and descriptions, it's clear he is referring to known Al Qaeda members Ali Mohamed and Christopher Paul.

Labels: Ahmad-Khalfan-Ghailani, Al-Qaeda, Ali-Mohamed, American-Al-Qaeda, East-African-Embassy-Bombings, Ihab-Ali, Jihad-Joe, Khalfan-Mohamed, Mohammed-Sadeek-Odeh, Osama-Bin-Laden

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

A Look Into The Troubled Mind Of Jihadist Emerson Begolly

Prosecutors this week filed a raft of documents to support the detention of Emerson Begolly, a Western Pennsylvania jihadist arrested January 4. Begolly bit two FBI agents who were arresting him, drawing blood. The biting was a diversion as he attempted to draw a loaded 9-millimeter concealed on his person.

Exhibits in support of detention of Emerson Begolly (PDF)

Begolly, who used the online handle "Abu Nancy" (a reference to his "imaginary daughter," Nancy), disclosed a lot of interesting information about himself in chats with an online associate. They discussed "lone wolf" attacks such as loading a car with propane tanks and crashing it into a wall. His chat partner claimed to be stockpiling weapons and supplies for a "special project." A YouTube user with the same handle as the other person subscribes to a number of Islamic and jihadist-oriented channels.

Another of Begolly's chat partners claimed to have been in communication with Colleen Larose, aka Jihad Jane, who was indicted for taking part in a plot to kill Dutch cartoonist Lars Vilks for depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

Like many would-be jihadists, Begolly had a fetishized view of women, relating at one point a dream in which he saw one of the "houri" who await Islamic martyrs in heaven. "She said she will marry me if I am shaheed (a martyr)," Begolly wrote.

While he was having these dreams, "Abu Nancy" wrote, he was sleeping with a loaded AK-47 next to his bed. He told his online friend that when "they" found his martyred corpse, it would have a "smile a mile wide" and "a bulge in my pants."

His chat partner speculated that Adam Gadahn, Anwar Awlaki and Osama bin Laden "surely yearn" for the houris as much they did. (I'm sure he's right about one out of three.) The two then took part in an interesting conversation in which they tried to justify why the three Al Qaeda figureheads had not taken part in martyrdom operations themselves. The discussion (on page 23 of the PDF linked below) is fodder for those working on deradicalization and narrative-adjustment.

Another relevant comment in this vein: "If America were not at war with Islam, I would not hate it."

Begolly is also an interesting case study in the confluence of fringe right-wing thinking and radical Islam. He repeatedly states in chat that he hates Mexicans. In one transcript, he says his father is "presumably" a member of a militia that "thinks Obama wants to kill white people." Begolly said that if the FBI tried to arrest him he would "make Waco look like a tea party."

Begolly also discussed killing children in the name of jihad. "Please don't think I'm a psychopath," he wrote, "but would you object to a child or unarmed non-combatant [as a target]?" His chat partner felt there were causes which would justify killing children, such as the release of Muslim prisoners, suggesting that it would be acceptable to take hostages at a school and exchange the children for prisoners. "And I would not call you a psychopath for doing as you believe is right and proper."

For more about American jihadists, check out my new book, "Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go To War In The Name Of Islam," the first comprehensive look at the phenomenon of American jihadists from the 1970s to the present. The book is scheduled to be released in April/May 2011. Pre-orders are available now. For information about review copies or for media interviews on American jihadists, contact me here.

Labels: American-Jihadists, American-Terrorists, Anwar-Awlaki, Colleen-LaRose, Emerson-Begolly, Jihad-Jane, Jihad-Joe

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Online Jihadist Who Threatened Sweden Seen On New Majahden English Forum; Some Thoughts on Awlaki's Appeal

Al Majahden's new English-language forum rolled out last week, and so far, it's nothing special. Thus far, the forum's public areas feature numerous "how-to" pieces on bomb-building, online security and firearms, but none of this material rises above the low-hanging fruit of the open-source universe.

There are also several old videos from Al Qaeda and the forum's 80-some users (as of Wednesday night) have posted and commented on a number of fairly predictable news items and comments on their interpretations of Islamic law. Very few of the members have posted much of anything, let along anything of interest. Overall, the effort scans as pretty amateur.

One apparent celebrity has signed up, however. One user of the new forum uses the handle Abu Suleiman al-Nasser. A poster on the Al Shamikh (Shumukh)forum by the same name was responsible for posting several prominent threats in the name of Al Qaeda after the Stockholm suicide bombing in December. Al-Nasser's postings on the Sweden attack were notable for including details about the bomber before they were widely reported in the media.

In addition the material listed above, there's a section devoted to the lectures of Anwar Awlaki, which currently includes only one post. What's interesting here is that the posted lecture is one of Awlaki's older works on the lives of the prophets of Islam. Not his declaration of jihad against the U.S., not his interview with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, but one of his inspirational, non-jihadist works.

Awlaki's appeal -- and a big part of the danger he presents -- is that he boasts a body of work which is overwhelmingly mainstream. A very large number of English-speaking Muslims loved his work before he openly embraced jihadism, and many still do. Awlaki has more to offer his audiences than politics and war, as opposed to someone like Aymwan Al-Zawahiri, whose work is single-minded.

There is a significant but fairly small demographic interested in nothing-but-violence. There is a much larger demographic interested in inspirational stories about the history of Islam, which are Awlaki's specialty. Some of those stories are simply what they appear to be. Others are laced with precursors to jihadist ideology. Awlaki is no Osama bin Laden, but he casts a wider net.

Labels: Abu-Suleiman-al-Nasser, Al-Majahden, American-Al-Qaeda, American-Jihadists, American-Terrorists, Anwar-Awlaki, Jihad-Joe, Stockholm-Bombing

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Intelwire Daily Brief

INTELWIRE has launched the INTELWIRE Daily Brief at http://intelwiredailybrief.com/. The Daily Brief is a moderated, crowd-sourced round-up of the most important terrorism and security news on any given day.

The Brief is presented through paper.li, which is still in alpha testing, so the system will be improved over time.

Drawn primarily from headlines selected daily by INTELWIRE's J.M. Berger, the Daily Brief offers a look at key stories from the war on terror and other international and domestic security issues from news outlets around the world. It publishes between 10 and 11 a.m. Eastern time most days.

You can join more than 1,000 people following INTELWIRE on Twitter for an even more comprehensive selection of news and analysis from J.M. Berger, including exclusive documents and imagery related to the news of the day.

Don't forget you can pre-order J.M. Berger's new book, "Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go To War In The Name Of Islam," the first comprehensive look at the phenomenon of American jihadists and American terrorists. It's a story that starts in 1979 with never-before-revealed details of the Americans who took part in the Siege of Mecca, and continues through the present day, covering Anwar Awlaki, Nidal Hassan, Zach Chesser and many more. The scope of Americans taking part in jihad -- how many and for how many years -- has never been fully explored until now.

Labels: American-Al-Qaeda, American-Jihadists, American-Terrorists, Intelwire-Daily-Brief, INTELWIRE-Exclusive, J-M-Berger, Jihad-Joe

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go To War In The Name Of Islam

I am pleased to officially announce my forthcoming book, "Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam," coming in hardcover from Potomac Books in April. Pre-orders are available through Amazon.com, where you can lock in a significant discount if you order now.

My approach to this topic was multifaceted. I was aiming to write a non-partisan, non-ideological book that would appeal to people who are well-versed in jihadism and terrorism while remaining accessible and interesting to people who might be approaching this subject for the first time.

The book is an overview of the phenomenon of American jihadists, hundreds of whom have taken part in jihadist activities here and abroad since 1979. While the number of American jihadists has likely increased in the last few years, I think many readers will be surprised at just how many Americans were taking part in such activities prior to September 11 through individual efforts and as part of elaborate global networks.

Although the book covers a lot of ground as a historical narrative, it also contains an investigative component, with some important stories reported for the first time, as well as expanded versions of stories first reported here on Intelwire.

For more details, check out the listing on Amazon. I will be available throughout the winter and spring to discuss this topic with the media.

Reporters and major mainstream media outlets interested in obtaining review copies should get in touch with me here. The supply of review copies will likely be limited, so I can't guarantee everyone who wants a copy will get one, but I will do my best. My colleagues and I are also developing a documentary to accompany the book. More details on that as they become available.

Source documents and multimedia content cited in the book will be posted to INTELWIRE and a dedicated site devoted to the book, which will debut toward March or April.

Stay tuned!

Book Description

They are Americans, and they are mujahideen. Hundreds of men from every imaginable background have walked away from the traditional American dream to volunteer for battle in the name of Islam. Some have taken part in foreign wars that aligned with U.S. interests while others have carried out violence against Western interests abroad, fought against the U.S. military, and even plotted terrorist attacks on American soil. This story plays out over decades and continents: from the Americans who took part in the siege of Mecca in 1979 through conflicts in Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Bosnia, and continuing today in Afghanistan and Somalia.

Investigative journalist J. M. Berger profiles numerous fighters, including some who joined al Qaeda and others who chose a different path. In these pages he portrays, among others, Abdullah Rashid, who fought the Soviets in Afghanistan; Mohammed Loay Bayazid, who was present at the founding of al Qaeda; Ismail Royer, who fought in Bosnia and Kashmir, then returned to run training camps in the United States; Adam Gadahn, a California Jew who is now al Qaeda’s chief spokesman; and Anwar Awlaki, the Yemeni-American imam with links to 9/11 who is now considered one of the biggest threats to America’s security.

About the Author

J.M. Berger is an investigative journalist working on television documentaries about al Qaeda and the global foreign fighter (mujahideen) phenomenon. Berger recently completed work on a documentary about America’s role in the Bosnian civil war, which premiered on European television in 2010. His previous work includes the 2006 National Geographic documentary Triple Cross, about an American al Qaeda operative who infiltrated the Army and FBI. He runs the investigative journalism website Intelwire.com from his office in the greater Boston area.

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Labels: American-Al-Qaeda, American-Jihadists, American-Terrorists, INTELWIRE-Exclusive, J-M-Berger, Jihad-Joe

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