Jamaat-Al-Muslimeen: Radical But Disciplined Message On Jihad

I have an article in the new issue of the CTC Sentinel, discussing the Baltimore-based jihadist group Jamaat Al Muslimeen.

As concerns about homegrown terrorism mount, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials are increasingly focused on initiatives targeting radicalization in an effort to preempt violence. In congressional testimony in early February, DHS officials touted interagency and “whole government” efforts to counterprogram against radical narratives. Such efforts open the door to a complex problem-set that defies traditional policing. A case study on the challenges ahead can be found in Jamaat al Muslimeen (JaM), an Islamic organization in Baltimore, Maryland with a decades-long track record of extremist rhetoric.

Although JaM explicitly discourages acts of violence by Muslims in the United States, it advances a number of ideological points closely linked to violent radicalism, while excusing virtually all Muslims convicted of terrorism as victims of government persecution.

Read the article here

For much more about American jihadists, pre-order today and receive a discount on "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, by INTELWIRE's J.M. Berger. Click here to see the table of contents.

Labels: American-Jihadists, Jamaat-Al-Muslimeeen, Jihad-Joe

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A Glimpse At Khalid Aldawsari's Blog

Khalid Ali Aldawsari, 20, of Lubbock, Texas, was arrested Wednesday for plotting to build a bomb which authorities believe may have been intended for use against the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush.

The latest in a series of jihadists with an online presence, Aldawsari kept a blog in both English and Arabic. In some ways, it is typical blog content including discussion of music and movies such as "The Taking of Pelham 123" and zombie movies. But over time, the blog moves into stranger territory.

The very first post on Aldawsari's blog, from 2008, features a photograph of a woman in a low-cut top. The text is addressed to "Anna." (Florian Flade of the Jih@d blog identifies her as Italian actress and model named Anna Valle). Aldawsari wrote:

Anna if there is just one great moon you will be my stars and rare moons. Anna, you are my universe which is the perfection with out human beings. Sometimes we choose an impossible love to share pains. Anna all of my pains I share them alone in silence dawns.

Aldawsari wrote repeatedly of women and apparently a series of unrequited attractions. One entry from 2009 read:

First of all, I want to convey to myself and to the whole world that I will get you. I have experienced so many hard situations and I won in all of them because I believe there is no impossible in love.

Another entry in May 2009 recounted meeting a language partner at school with whom he discussed religion.

I am falling in love of her .....
She is goregeous that I cann't forget her just right away ...

I am asking Allah the great to covert her to Islam and marry me.

Several more references to the language tutor follow, after which she disappears from the blog without explanation.

Over time, Aldawsari began posting in Arabic. In these posts, he discussed his religious inclinations and the situation of the Palestinians, arguing in June 2009 for the legitimacy of jihad in Palestine and the unacceptability of a peace process with Israel. This post represents a sharp turn toward militancy compared to the previous content, which was largely oriented toward love and longing, albeit tinged with strong religious overtones. The posting was prompted by something Aldawsari saw, although he did not specify what.

After Aldawsari arrived in Lubbock, Texas, to continue his studies in August 2009, his posts became shorter. In October, he wrote in Arabic that he intended to author a book called "Certainty in the Teachings of Religion."

In November, Aldawsari's content turned stranger and less comprehensible. In English he wrote:

The life is being strange and more stranger because there is no more strange things in this life; it is the knowledge of reality where everything tangible, but when it is about love, nothing of these can explain it in brief or in paraphrase; it is something behind the known; it is something that our feelings struggle from just describe it; it is the hardest when we talk about the hard, and it is the easiest when we talk about joy, but it is known for everybody, love isn't impossible. However, sometimes with all of the work, with the senses, with ambition, emotions, imagination, and everything; you will just be a prisoner of dreams. There was a wise man who said his wisdom in these words, "Your word could be audible if you have spoken to alive, but your listeners are dead .... And if you have puffed into a fire it will lit, .. but you are puffing into the ash. "

Aldawsari stopped posting until March 2011, coming back with a militant post in Arabic touching on several key jihadist talking points, including the violation of Muslim lands and lives, the rape of Muslim women, taboos about discussing terrorism and finally asking God to make him a martyr:

"You who created mankind and who is knowledgeable of what is in the womb, grant me martyrdom for Your sake and make Jihad easy for me only in Your path, for You have no partner, and make me reside in the high heaven eternally forever, and shield me in Your shadow on the day when there is no shadow, but Yours. My God, You are the one who responds to supplication.

The remaining posts are a mix of religiously informed poetry and an increasing number of comments on the seizure of Muslim lands and homes, the rape of Muslim women and the killing of civilians. Posts stop again in August 2010, and one final post in February 2011 read:

"I met April in the dawn, and it was a great memory to remember and celebrate the 24th anniversary"

Labels: Khalid-Ali-Aldawsari

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New OKBOMB Documents Show Threats To Nichols' Family After FBI Reopened Investigation in 2005

The family of convicted Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols was threatened after the FBI began looking into new investigative leads in 1995, according to new documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

The documents also detail the FBI's sparring with U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, who sought to interview Nichols as part of a probe into additional, unindicted conspirators in the bombing, as well as summarizing Nichols' comments during the interview, including a claim that Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was connected to Middle Eastern terrorists. However, Nichols did not provide specifics to support that allegation, according to the documents.

The documents were obtained by Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue.

June 17, 2005 memorandum

The interview with Nichols was conducted with Nichols separated from his visitors by a bulletproof window. The window had holes drilled in it for conversation and an intercom system was also available.

The congressman's request to make an audio recording of the interview was refused. Rohrabacher asked to bring a reporter from MSNBC to witness the interview, which was also refused.

June 23 memorandum

June 24 memorandum

Rohrabacher's interview request coincided with a renewed investigation into the Oklahoma City bombing, due to the discovery of unexploded ordinance at Nichols' former home in Herington, Kansas (story).

The tip about the explosives was first reported by Gregory Scarpa Jr., a mobster who shared a prison block with Nichols. It was confirmed on subsequent investigation. Nichols subsequently confirmed the information to the FBI.

Nichols had expressed concerns about putting his family in danger by discussing the Oklahoma City bombing and the role of alleged additional conspirators.

Just days after the FBI began making inquiries about the new information from Nichols, the FBI in Newark received a phone call, the details of which have been redacted from the documents but which appears to pertain to a "threat to Nichols' family."

The next day, the FBI sent an urgent message to all field offices where Nichols' family members notifying them of information which has also been redacted from the documents.

With an active investigation underway, the FBI was concerned about the impending Rohrabacher interview, but the primary concern seemed to be the prospect that Nichols might identify "John Doe #2," an early suspect in the OKC bombing whom the FBI sought initially but later dismissed as a dead end.

The FBI's Domestic Terrorism Operations Unit "expressed concern regarding John Doe #2's name surfacing during the Congressman's interview." The FBI then re-interviewed Nichols, before Rohrabacher's visit, pressing him for information "specifically pertaining to John Doe #2."

According to the documents, if Nichols did not provide that specific information, the FBI said it would no longer interview him. It's not clear why the agents would be so specifically focused on John Doe #2, when it had previously ruled out the relevance of the suspect and when other possible co-conspirators who did not match the John Doe #2 description had been specifically named by Nichols.

Meanwhile, a grand jury investigation -- about which all information has been redacted -- was being conducted in the same time frame. An unidentified individual testified before the grand jury on June 6, 2006, with an unspecified connection to the case.

The FBI repeatedly canceled dates scheduled for Rohrabacher's visit with Nichols and denied Rohrabacher's repeated requests to make an audio recording of the interview. Meanwhile, the FBI tried to get Rohrabacher to reveal his questions in advance.

June 28 memorandum

During the actual interview, which finally took place June 27, 2005, the FBI observed the interview through a closed-circuit camera in another room. The interview was recorded on video, but without audio. An FBI agent was placed in the room to take notes of the interview, the only record permitted.

Nichols objected to the FBI's presence in the room. Rohrabacher asked the agent to leave, but the special agent in charge on the scene told him the FBI would terminate the interview if the agent was not permitted to remain. The agent eventually returned to the interview, which resumed:

Nichols advised Congressman Rohrabacher that he had no direct or "first-hand" knowledge of "foreign invoivement" in the Oklahoma City bombing. Nichols stated that Timothy McVeigh mentioned "Middle Eastern" people (no further information), and their connection to terrorism (no further information) several times. According to Nichols, McVeigh mentioned this in reference to serving in the U.S. Army during Operation Desert Storm and not in connection to the Oklahoma City bombing. Nichols believed there was an "Arab" connection to the Oklahoma City bombing, but could not articulate the reasons for his belief. Nichols advised McVeigh "talked to Muslims"
before the the Oklahoma City bombing.

Nichols told Rohrabacher he did not meet World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef in the Philippines during a visit when both men were in the country in late 1994, but that he had met him subsequently in prison. Both men are housed at the Supermax facility in Florence, Colo.

Nichols claimed that McVeigh had mentioned "Andy the German" prior to the bombing, a reference to Andreas Strassmeier, a German neo-Nazi who has long been suspected of links to the case and has been mentioned as a possible "John Doe #2." When asked directly about John Doe #2, however, Nichols said he didn't know who that was. Nchols told Rohrabacher he knew of at least two other people involved in the bombing, but only identified one.

Nichols passed notes to Rohrabacher during the interview. The FBI tied to get the documents away from Rohrabacher after the interview, but the congressman declined and told the special agent in charge he would send copies after his staff had reviewed them.

Jesse Trentadue sued the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act for documents related to the Oklahoma City bombing 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: Jesse-Trentadue, OKBOMB, Oklahoma-City-Bombing, Terry-Nichols

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U.S. Propaganda Video From 1980s Cheers Kids Being Indoctrinated In Jihad

The State Department made several documentaries about the jihad against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan during the 1980s. This clip, from "We Are Afghanistan," made in 1984, extols the virtues of children being indoctrinated for a life of jihad.

Ironically, some of these children are now likely adults in an Afghanistan wracked with insurgents targeting U.S. forces.

Many of the dozens of American jihadists who fought the Soviets researched the U.S. government's position on the mujahideen before going to Afghanistan. For more about these American jihadists, check out "Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go To War In The Name Of Islam" by J.M. Berger. To pre-order the book, click here.

For more videos related to terrorism, check out the new INTELWIRE YouTube channel. There will be additional content relating to American jihadists as the book's release date grows nearer.

Labels: Afghanistan, American-Jihadists, Jihad-Joe, Soviet-Union, State-Department

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Mapping Awlaki's Current Social Network And Influence On Radical Actors

Click on image for full-size picture.

The image above is a map of Anwar Awlaki's current social and inspirational connections to terrorism, an effort to illustrate some of his reach and influence. For a map of Awlaki's connections to the September 11 plot and Al Qaeda, click here.

The blue figures on the left are terrorism suspects who have been explicitly inspired by Awlaki to a greater or lesser extent. The data about "inspiration" is incomplete, but all of the people linked here were followers of Awlaki's work to a greater or lesser extent. I've only included the best-documented cases here, so this list is only a sampling of Awlaki's influence on radical actors.

The green figures are so-called "lone wolves" who were in direct contact with Awlaki and in some cases taking explicit instructions from him.

Figures in red are Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula members to whom Awlaki has been clearly attached. Abu Basir al-Wuhayshi, AQAP's emir, has pledged to revenge Awlaki's death should the United States succeed in its stated intention to kill the Yemeni-American cleric.

Samir Khan is the editor of AQAP's Inspire Magazine, in which position he closely works with Awlaki. Omar Abdulmutallab, the Christmas Day attempted bomber who set his underwear on fire in 2009, is listed here as part of AQAP because he was trained and equipped by them and was specifically directed by Awlaki. His bomb was designed by AQAP explosives expert Ibrahim al-Asiri, who also apparently designed the UPS cargo bombs deployed by AQAP in 2010, a plot which appears to have been tightly linked to Awlaki.

As you can see, Awlaki's disciples are largely independent from each other, although there is some measurable interconnection among various individuals, sometimes one or two people removed. One of Awlaki's strengths is that he can direct attacks through both organizational and "lone wolf" approaches.

So he's dangerously unpredictable, but on the bright side, he hasn't shown a real aptitude for planning terrorist attacks as of yet. Most attacks associated with him have been failures. His biggest success, Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, received indoctrination from Awlaki that almost certainly contributed to his radicalization, but the best reports we have to date indicate Awlaki did not make any tactical/operation contribution to Hasan's attack.

Labels: American-Al-Qaeda, American-Terrorists, Anwar-Awlaki, Jihad-Joe, Nidal-Malik-Hasan, Revolution-Muslim, Samir-Khan, Zach-Chesser

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FBI Lab Took Nearly Three Years To Analyze Terry Nichols Bomb Cache

The FBI Laboratory took 34 months to check for fingerprints on a cache of explosives hidden by Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols, according to new documents released by the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act.

The cache of explosives was discovered in 2005 in connection with a threat that they would be used in an act of domestic terrorism and a claim that the fingerprints might point to an unindicted co-conspirator in the Oklahoma City bombing.

The documents were obtained by Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue.

On March 5, 2005, the FBI received information from an asset concerning explosives that had been hidden in Terry Nichols' home in Herington, Kansas, since the time of the Oklahoma City bombing, without being discovered by investigators (click here for more on how the tip came about).

The tip, which was received by the Kansas City FBI field office, indicated that the material was slated for use in an "impending act of domestic violence." The tip was specific about the type of explosives stored at the house and their location.

According to the report, Nichols told fellow prisoners that the material also bore the fingerprints of Roger Moore, an Arkansas gun dealer and friend of Timothy McVeigh whom investigators had previously discounted as a suspect. Moore's name is redacted from the document, but Nichols previously confirmed this detail in a letter.

Moore, who testified against McVeigh and Nichols, claimed that Nichols had robbed his home prior to the bombing. According to the FBI report, Nichols claimed Moore had provided explosives for use in the bombing. According to the report, Nichols also claimed to believe Moore was an FBI informant who had forewarned the FBI about the bombing.

Read the March 14, 2005 report about the tip

It took more than two weeks from the report being filed for the FBI to investigate whether live explosives were hidden on the site for use in a domestic terrorism attack. On April 2, 2005, agents from the Kansas City field office discovered that there was in fact a substantial cache of explosives still hidden in Nichols' former home, which had somehow been missed during the original investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing.

Items found in the house included almost 70 Kinestik explosives (used in the design of the Oklahoma City bomb), hundreds of detonators of various types, detonator components and accessories, flares, bomb fuses, tear gas grenades, and books on improvised explosives and manufacturing poison.

April 8, 2005, inventory of Nichols house search

April 2005, photos of items retrieved in Nichols search

April 2005, sketch of former Nichols home

Nichols had claimed that Moore's fingerprints would be found on the explosives. It took almost three years for the FBI lab to report on whether it found any fingerprints.

In a report dated Feb. 21, 2008, the FBI Laboratory stated that it had not found useful prints on the explosives. However, it did find fingerprints that did not belong to Terry Nichols on one of the books. The name of the person to whom the fingerprints belonged has been redacted from the lab report.

Request to FBI Lab for fingerprint analysis, May 5, 2005

FBI Lab Receipt of Evidence, May 13, 2005

FBI Lab Receipt of Evidence, July 1, 2005

On April 24, 2008, the FBI Lab destroyed the explosives which Nichols had hoped would yield the fingerprints of Roger Moore. The FBI Lab confirmed the destruction of the evidence months later. Explosives are routinely disposed of after they are no longer required for evidentiary purposes.

FBI Lab Report on Disposition of Evidence, October 10, 2008

Jesse Trentadue sued the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act for documents related to the Oklahoma City bombing 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: OKBOMB, Oklahoma-City-Bombing, Terry-Nichols, Timothy-McVeigh

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Mapping Awlaki's 9/11 Social Network

A map of Anwar Awlaki's social network prior to September 11. Click for full-size image.

Following up on yesterday's post looking at Anwar Awlaki's movements relative to newly revealed 9/11 suspects, I wanted to briefly discuss Awlaki's relationship to the previously known 9/11 hijackers. The social network map above may be helpful in understanding these relationships. For a map of Awlaki's current social network, click here.

When the 9/11 Commission Report came out, a lot of attention focused on Omar Al Bayoumi, an apparent Saudi government agent, who met two of the hijackers -- Khalid Al Mihdhar and Nawaf Al Hazmi -- in Los Angeles, then helped them get an apartment. Several of Bayoumi's associates helped with English lessons and logistical needs while they were there.

What I discovered in FBI source documents, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, and in the National Archives collection of internal Commission documents, was that Bayoumi's associates, and Bayoumi himself, were all also connected to Anwar Awlaki and in most cases considered themselves to be his followers.

Furthermore, Eyad Rababah, a follower of Awlaki on the East Coast with no connection to Bayoumi, gave the same kind of assistance to some of the same hijackers, including at least Al Mihdhar and Hani Hanjour.

Beyond these considerations, Bayoumi was not known to be connected to Al Qaeda, and his connection to the Saudi government was nebulous. In contrast, Awalki had contact with a number of Al Qaeda-linked figures and Al Qaeda members.

According to 9/11 documents obtained by INTELWIRE, Awlaki was connected to Ziyad Khalil, an Al Qaeda facilitator who helped purchase satellite phones for Osama bin Laden during the 1990s. Awlaki described Abdul Majid Zindani, a close associate of bin Laden, as one of his mentors. Prior to September 11, Awlaki also worked for a charity founded by Zindani.

Finally, the phone number of Awlaki's Dar Al Hijrah mosque in Virginia was found among the belongings of Ramzi Binalshibh, an Al Qaeda facilitator who helped arrange logistical assistance for some of the hijackers who were not being helped by Awlaki. According to 9/11 documents, Awlaki, Al-Mihdhar and Binalshibh may all have been in Yemen during the same period of summer 2000.

In sum, while the case for Awlaki's role in 9/11 remains frustratingly circumstantial, it is far stronger than the case for Bayoumi.

For more on Awlaki and his possible role in September 11, 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 from the 1970s to the present.

Labels: 9-11, 9-11-Commission, Abdul-Majid-Zindani, Anwar-Awlaki, Jihad-Joe, Khalid-Al-Mihdhar, Nawaf-Al-Hazmi

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New 9/11 Suspects In California, New Questions About Awlaki's Role

New questions about the role of Yemeni-American cleric Anwar Awlaki in the September 11 attacks have emerged in the wake of a Wikileaks cable naming previously unknown Al Qaeda operatives who may have been intended as a fifth team of hijackers.

According to the cable, first reported by The Telegraph newspaper, Meshal Alhajri, Fahad Abdulla and Ali Alfehaid were Qatari citizens who flew into New York on Aug. 15, 2001. According to the cable, "They visited the World Trade Centre, the Statue of Liberty, the White House and various areas in Virginia."

The men flew to Los Angeles, where their behavior aroused suspicions. On Sept. 10, 2001, they booked seats on American Airlines Flight 144, bound for Washington. The plane used in that flight was designated American Flight 77 the next day, when it was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon. But instead of boarding the flight, they booked another trip to Doha, Qatar, leaving the country before the attack.

Two of the hijackers on Flight 77, Nawaf Al-Hazmi and Khalid Al-Mihdhar had a close relationship with Anwar Awlaki, a Yemeni-American cleric who is today affiliated with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. As many as two other hijackers may have met with Awalki in Virginia.

Awlaki has long been suspected of playing a role in the September 11 hijacking. Several of his disciples in San Diego and Virginia assisted the hijackers with rides, lodging and in obtaining IDs, as detailed in my forthcoming book, Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go To War In The Name Of Islam. An FBI agent interviewed by the 9/11 Commission said "if anyone had knowledge of the plot, it was Awlaki."

Although suspicion has long focused on Omar Al-Bayoumi, a Saudi government facilitator who initially met Al-Hazmi and Al-Mihdhar in Los Angeles, virtually everyone who helped the hijackers -- including Bayoumi himself -- was also linked to Awlaki. And at least one disciple of Awlaki's on the East Coast, who did not know Bayoumi, also assisted some of the hijackers.

According to the Wikileaks cable, the Qatari suspects were assisted by Mohamed Ali Mohamed Mansoori, "who is [as of February 2010] under investigation by the FBI for his possible involvement in the 11 September 2001 attacks. He is suspected of aiding people who entered the US before the attacks to conduct surveillance of possible targets and providing other support to the hijackers."

Mansoori was a resident of Los Angeles and Irvine, California, through at least 2001.

Awlaki was in Virginia around the time the Qataris visited the state, and he was in Southern California when the Qataris were there, just prior to September 11.

Awlaki told a reporter for the Copley News Service in 2001 that he had attended an event in Irvine, California, just days before September 11. Irvine is about 40 miles from Los Angeles, where the Qataris were staying, but more than 80 miles from San Diego, where Awlaki caught his flight to Washington.

The event Awlaki attended was a September 9, 2001, benefit dinner for Jamil Al-Amin, at the Muslim Students Union of the University of California, Irvine. Also attending the event were Muzammil Siddiqi, then-President of ISNA, who worked for the Muslim World League during the 1970s. Both Siddiqui and Awlaki had lectured in separate panels at ISNA's national convention near Chicago just days earlier (click for video).

Also attending the benefit was Maher Hathout, founder of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Jamil Al-Amin is an American Muslim activist convicted in 2002 of killing a police officer.

Just after the Qataris left the country, Awlaki flew from San Diego to Washington, arriving at Reagan International Airport on the morning of September 11, shortly after the hijackers he had assisted departed from Dulles on their suicide mission. [Joe Cantlupe and Dana Wilkie, "Former San Diego Islamic spiritual leader defends mosque," Copley News Service, Sept. 28, 2001]

Awlaki was also reportedly in Yemen during the summer of 2000, around the same time as hijacker Khalid Al-Mihdhar and Al Qaeda facilitator Ramzi Al Binalshibh, who assisted a group of hijackers not believed to be connected to Awlaki.

More INTELWIRE Exclusive Documents On Awlaki

The Commission was informed about the Qatari suspects, but former commission director Philip Zelikow told the New York Daily News that the lead "had not panned out." Families of the 9/11 victims expressed outrage to the Daily News today about the withholding of this information from the public.

Labels: 9-11, 9-11-Commission, American-Al-Qaeda, American-Terrorists, Anwar-Awlaki, Wikileaks

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink