Sunday Reading: The New York Times Review of 'Jihad Joe'

The New York Times has a review of my new book, Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam, by national security reporter Scott Shane. You can read the whole thing here. The money quote follows:

At a time when some politicians and pundits blur the line between Islam and terrorism, Berger, who knows this subject far better than the demagogues, sharply cautions against vilifying Muslim Americans. "Extreme and indiscriminate anti-Muslim rhetoric helps to validate the worldview of our enemies -- the premise that America's wars are indeed wars against Islam," Berger writes. "You cannot tell someone, 'You are my enemy,' and then blame them for believing you."

It is a timely warning from an expert who has not lost his ­perspective.

Check out the full review

Buy the book

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

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

The Jihadist Who Wasn't

When the FBI arrested Joseph Brice of Clarkston, Wash., on explosives charges last month, it seemed like a familiar story. An American citizen drawn into jihadist talk online, a reader of Al Qaeda's English language magazine "Inspire," seeking to carry out acts of terrorism on U.S. soil.

But it wasn't quite so simple. Investigators now believe that Brice was not inspired by Inspire. In fact, it appears he isn't a Muslim at all.

When the FBI interviewed Brice after his arrest, "he denied being a Muslim and said that he didn't go to a mosque," said David Gomez, Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge for Counterterrorism at the Seattle Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Although Brice represented himself as a Muslim with extremist beliefs online, the approach was designed to find an audience for his explosives expertise.

Brice, 20, first came to the attention of authorities in April 2010, when a homemade bomb he had designed exploded prematurely, resulting in severe injuries to his legs. The device was sophisticated in design, but a flaw in the detonator caused it to go off before Brice could reach a safe distance.

Brice wasn't charged at the time. For most people, such an experience might lead to second thoughts about bombmaking as a hobby. Brice got back on the horse and allegedly began discussing bombs online.

Investigators rate his bomb-making skills as extremely high, despite the accident. (Even legendary explosives genious Ramzi Yousef nearly blinded himself during a misfire.)

At one point, Brice frequented white supremacist Web sites, according to Gomerz. But by late 2010, he was posting videos on YouTube under the name StrengthofAllah, along with comments that appeared to show an orientation toward anti-Semitism and a radical interpretation of Islam.

Brice progressed to exploring jihadist forums, where he began to reach out to other users. In some of those conversations, Brice claimed he had converted to Islam after his injury.

Eventually, he offered his explosives expertise to someone he believed was associated with an Islamic terrorist movement. In reality, he was talking to an undercover FBI agent.

After the death of Osama bin Laden, Brice's overtures were deemed too dangerous to continue, and he was arrested May 9 on charges related to the IED that nearly cost him his legs. This week, federal prosecutors added a charge of material support for terrorism, based on his offer of assistance to the undercover agent. The charge does not require contact with a named terrorist organization.

From a law enforcement perspective, Brice's actual religion was not an issue, "because it's immaterial to the filing of the charges," Gomez said. "The facts are the facts, he did what he did. Motivation doesn't really come into play. It's not a crime in which we have to show motive."

Gomez, who worked for five years as an FBI profiler, believes Brice fits the mold of a serial bomber.

"He's not thinking about committing a crime. He's thinking this is what really gets me excited, this is what really stimulates me," Gomez said.

Nevertheless, the case agent who interviewed Brice said he did show signs of anti-Semitic and anti-government beliefs, although no evidence has emerged that would link him to a domestic terrorist network.

Brice's online foray into the world of Muslim extremism likely came in pursuit of an audience for his work, Gomez said, as well as the possibility of financial gain (at one point he discussed using explosives in a bank robbery with an online associate).

"The Internet now is unique," Gomez said. "It allows people to assume multiple identities, to get up on board and to do any number of criminal activities, from child sexual exploitation to presenting yourself as a bomb-making expert and wanting to sell your expertise. ... You can be anything you want to be sitting in front of a computer screen."

Overlap among diverse extremist movements is nothing new, but such links have historically been weak and infrequent, and based on common goals rather than the pretense of common interests.

With the advent of online forums, extremists have an unprecedented ability to find like-minded people and cluster in exclusive communities. But a counterweight to such community exclusivity is the universality of information, particularly expertise in explosives and other violent tactics.

Al Qaeda and its affiliated movements are especially aggressive about pushing out non-ideological tactical information, including English-language texts on improvised explosive techniques and detailed how-to videos. Brice also used AQAP's Inspire magazine to hone his impersonation of a jihadist terrorist.

Such forum shopping may be particularly relevant to the Pacific Northwest. Gomez and his fellow counterterrorism agents in Washington have been busy breaking a diverse assortment of domestic terrorism cases in recent months.

In January, a backpack bomb was found in Spokane on the route of a Martin Luther King Day parade. The FBI arrested Kevin Harpham, of Colville, Wash., a former member of the white supremacist National Alliance, although Gomez said Harpham is belived to have acted alone.

Earlier this month, Briana Waters pleaded guilty in Tacoma to arson and explosives charges in a 10-year-old case of eco-terrorism at the University of Washington, cutting a plea deal to cooperate in ongoing investigations of the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front.

And on Thursday, FBI agents arrested two Muslim men in Seattle who are accused of planning a gun attack on a military enlistees' processing office.

Gomez said the Seattle area is also home to a significant anarchist movement, as well as both historical and modern white supremacist movements, such as the Northwest Migration, which envisions the Pacific Northwest as the site for a future white separatist homeland.

People in Washington and Seattle are "extremely tolerant of a number of divergent views," Gomez said. "People feel comfortable up here talking about all their radical politics," resulting in greater visibility and possibly creating an environment more conducive to action. While the terrorist networks observed in Seattle have branches all over the country, he said, they tend to operate more covertly in places like Baltimore or Washington.

For much more about the history of American jihadism and its current incarnation, check out J.M. Berger's new book, Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam, on sale everywhere.

Jihad Joe was reviewed in the Sunday New York Times Book Review.

Journalists interested in discussing American jihadists and terrorists can contact Berger here.

For reviews and additional information about the book, click here.

Labels: American-Jihadists, American-Terrorists, Jihadist-Forums, Joseph-Brice, white-supremacists

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

New "Jihad Joe" Cases Develop On Both Coasts, Melaku, Abdul-Latif And Mujahidh

The Justice Department revealed details of three new "Jihad Joe" suspects today in coast-to-coast court filings and press releases.

Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif, 33, of Seattle, and Walli Mujahidh, 32, of Los Angeles, and Yonathan Melaku, 22, of Alexandria are all American citizens and all appear to fit the "individual jihad" terrorist model, acting independently and without contacting a formal terrorist network such as Al Qaeda.

Today's cases are notable as examples of radicalized American Muslims acting out with near total independence. Melaku in particular fits the lone wolf profile. In most of the previous "lone wolf" cases, foreign terrorists (or FBI agents posing as such) have played a significant role in motivating and training would-be attackers.

In both cases revealed today, firearms were an important part of the equation. There have been 17 deaths from clear cases of homegrown Islamic terrorism since September 11, and all of them were the result of gunfire.

In May, I wrote about this issue for the New York Daily News. Al Qaeda's English-language Inspire magazine has been focused on guns for some months, with articles encouraging lone shooters and tips on how to use and maintain assault rifles.

In June, American Al Qaeda member Adam Gadahn explicitly encouraged American Muslims to go buy weapons at gun shows and use them to shoot their fellow citizens, in an Al Qaeda video encouraging individual jihadists.

In the wake of bin Laden's death, federal authorities have closely monitored would-be individual jihadists who might carry out terrorist attacks without support from a formal terrorist network. Several American citizens have been arrested since May 1 for a variety of crimes related to Islamic extremism and terrorism.

For much more about American jihadists, check out my new book, Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam, on sale everywhere. Journalists interested in discussing this issue can contact me here. For reviews and additional information about the book, click here.

ABDUL-LATIF AND MUJAHIDH

Arrested late last night in Seattle, Abdul-Latif is an African-American convert born Joseph Anthony Davis. Also arrested was Walli Mujahidh, born Frederick Domingue Jr., from Los Angeles.

Abdul-Latif and Mujahidh were charged with terrorism and firearms-related crimes today after they purchased machine guns and a grenade in an FBI undercover sting. The guns were rendered unusable before the sale.

The two men allegedly planned to use the weapons in an assault on a military processing facility in Seattle, after initially discussing an assault on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, on Puget Sound. Abdul-Latif, a felon previously convicted of robbery and assault, faces additional charges for illegal firearms possession.

A person in the community reported Abdul-Latif to Seattle police after being approached to help with the attack, according to a Justice Department press release and a criminal complaint filed today. The police brought the FBI into the case, and the person who made the tip became a paid informant. The informant also has previous felony convictions. In early June, the two men were allegedly recorded in video and audio surveillance discussing the planned assault.

The targeted building, where the military processes new enlistees, includes a daycare center and civilian personnel on the premises, although Abdul-Latify specified he wanted to kill military targets and not civilians. Abdul-Latif and Mujahidh discussed reconnaissance and practice runs for the attack. Abdul-Latif carried out the surveillance, noting the placement of security cameras and a guard, whom he said would be killed "first" in the attack, according to the criminal complaint.

Abdul-Latif said he wanted to die as a martyr in the attack, which he characterized as revenge for wrongdoing by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. He later introduced the informant to Mujahidh, according to the complaint. Abdul-Latif described his admiration for Osama Bin Laden (at this point it was after bin Laden's death), as well as his admiration for the 2009 Fort Hood killing spree by Army Major Nidal Hasan.

"We're not only trying to kill people, we're trying to send a message," Abdul-Latif said in one surveillance recording. "We're trying to get something that's gonna be on CNN and all over the world."

The two men are charged with conspiracy to kill federal government personnel and violations pertaining to the grenades and guns, charges carrying the potential of life in prison. They were scheduled to appear in court this afternoon in Seattle.

Although the investigation is still at an early stage, it was not clear whether Abdul-Latif or Mujahidh were directly influenced by Inspire magazine or the recent Adam Gadahn video, or whether their primary inspiration was, as described in the complaint, Nidal Hasan's shooting spree.

YONATHAN MELAKU

An Ethiopian-American and Marine reservist facing indictment for grand larceny in a separate case, Melaku was arrested last week after he was seen behaving suspiciously at Arlington National Cemetery after hours. According to an affidavit released today, Melaku was carrying a backpack containing four five-pound baggies of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer often employed in the construction of improvised explosives, such as the truck bomb used in the Oklahoma City bombing.

Subsequent investigation revealed that Melaku was responsible for a series of shootings targeting military buildings last year. In at least one of those attacks, which only caused property damage, Melaku videotaped himself shouting "Allahu Akbar" while firing at the U.S. Marine Corps museum building. Forensics showed Melaku was carrying shell casings at the time of his arrest which are consistent with the other attacks.

A search revealed that Melaku's computer and at least one notebook contained extensive information on jihadist figures and procedures for building improvised explosives. Melaku had not been suspected in the attacks prior to his arrest last week.

The Defense Department initiated separation proceedings against Melaku on Tuesday.

Prior to 9/11, U.S. military personnel and military vets formed the backbone of the American jihadist movement, although that trend has significantly reversed in recent years.

However, while the overall trend has shifted toward a higher concentration of civilian jihadists, there are a number of examples of active and former military members who have been involved in jihadist terrorism, including Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter, and Hasan Akbar, who killed two fellow soldiers while serving in Iraq in 2003. Abdul-Latif, arrested today, was also reportedly a military veteran who served in the Navy during the 1990s.

OTHER POST-BIN LADEN CASES

Hundreds of American citizens have been arrested in relation to jihadist terrorism over the last 30 years, with more than 180 of those cases taking place after September 11. Several significant arrests have taken place since the death of Osama bin Laden on May 1, including:

Younus Abdullah Muhammad, the American co-founder of the radical Web site Revolution Muslim, was arrested in Morocco for extradition to the United States for his role in publicizing threats against the creators of "South Park" for an episode dealing with the controversy over depicting images of the Prophet Mohammed. Zach Chesser of Virginia was previously convicted of writing the threats and attempting to join the Al Shabab jihadist movement in Somalia.

Joseph Brice, a 20-year-old from Clarkston, Wash., was a skilled builder of improvised explosives who volunteered his services on jihadist online forums and eventually to an undercover FBI agent representing himself as a jihadist. Investigators are not ocnvinced Brice was a Muslim or ideologically committed to Islamic terrorist causes, but believe he may better fit the profile of a serial bomber. INTELWIRE will have more details about the Brice case later this week.

Three American citizens in Florida were arrested May 14 for raising money on behalf of Tehrik-e Taliban, the Pakistani group behind the attempted bombing of Times Square by American citizen Faisal Shahzad, includinjg Hafiz Muhammed Sher Ali Khan, 76, imam of the Miami Masjid; Hafiz Khan's son, Irfan Khan, 37, also of Miami, imam at the Jamaat Al-Mu’mineen Mosque in Margate, Fla.; and another son, Izhar Khan, 24, of North Lauderdale, Fla.

THE POST-BIN LADEN WAVE

In May, I spoke at George Washington University's Homeland Security Policy Institute (video) about Jihad Joe. In response to a question about the threat picture going forward, I said the period after bin Laden's death would represent a key test of the "individual" or "leaderless" jihad concept championed by American jihadist ideologues such as Anwar Awlaki and Adam Gadahn.

Despite the serious cases represented above, we have yet to see a numerically significant surge in actual or attempted attacks by lone wolves and individual jihadists. Melaku was actively pursuing individual jihad prior to bin Laden's death, and whatever Brice was up to, he was up to before bin Laden. The charges against Younus are also old. The Florida Taliban cell was active before bin Laden's death and at any rate does not qualify as a lone wolf operation.

The lack of activity so far is extremely encouraging , although I don't think we're quite out of the woods yet. While lone wolves often act with minimal preparation, they do tend to prepare. And the June Al Qaeda video release I mentioned above represents one of the most serious investments to date by Al Qaeda Central in the concept of individual jihad. The video release has already sparked some alarming conversations on the jihadist Internet forums. History does not offer any clear examples of terrorist attacks being conceived on the forums and graduating to execution, but there's a first time for everything.

For much more about the history of American jihadism and its current incarnation, check out my new book, Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam, on sale everywhere. Journalists interested in discussing this issue can contact me here. For reviews and additional information about the book, click here.

Labels: Adam-Gadahn, American-Jihadists, American-Terrorists, Anwar-Awlaki, Guns, Jihad-Joe, Joseph-Brice, Nidal-Malik-Hasan, Yonathan-Melaku, Younus-Abdullah-Mohammed

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Jihad Joe Review At Zenpundit: "A Book To Admire"

My new book, Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam, was reviewed by Charles Cameron at Zenpundit. Some excerpts:

Berger's work is detail-packed and focused, and a useful resource for that reason alone. But it is also and specifically the work of someone who has read and talked with and listened to the people he is writing about, and his work carries their voices embedded in his own commentary. It thus joins such works as Jessica Stern's Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill and Mark Juergensmeyer's similarly named and similarly excellent Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence. [...]

Berger neither condemns nor excuses: he sees, he asks, he researches, he reports. His observations of the current situation can thus be trusted to be driven by insight rather than ideology -- not the most common of stances, but one we very much need. [...]

Berger's is a book to read, certainly -- and more significantly perhaps, a book to admire.

Read the full review

Buy the book

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

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Forgeries On The Forums

Updated 1:40 p.m. ET

The system for distributing propaganda on jihadist Web forums has been remarkably robust for a long time now, but in the wake of Osama bin Laden's death, some cracks are beginning to show.

On June 9, a user on one of the more prominent forums posted a video purporting to be from Al Qaeda's As-Sahab media company announcing that Osama bin Laden's son, Hamza, had been selected to take over as emir of Al Qaeda.

The post was not formatted in manner customarily used by As-Sahab, and it included a banner graphic that did not match the usual format. The video itself was fairly unconvincing. It consisted of Arabic title cards and some previously released video of Hamza as a child, opening with a not-quite-right As-Sahab title sequence. In short, it was a pretty obvious fake.



I noted all of this, but didn't pay it much mind. The offending thread was deleted by forum administrators almost immediately, and that, it seemed, was that.

Except it wasn't. The thread kept popping up. On different forums, posted by different users. Each time, it was deleted by forum administrators, but still it kept coming back. A different video was posted on YouTube claiming that Hamza had been named emir.

All of this created confusion and paranoia on the forums, exacerbated by the fact that user accounts were apparently being hijacked to post the videos. Users from Shamikh, the top Al Qaeda-linked forum, would surface on Ansar, the No. 2 forum, complaining that they had been kicked off of Shamikh for posting unauthorized videos that they had no memory of posting.

The fun continued for some time, but finally tapered off toward the beginning of this week.

Then last night, a new apparent forgery appeared. This one was a purported video from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula titled "People of the Victorious Sect." This time, the post had a much more authentic look, formatted in the way official releases are usually formatted.



Users on the Hanein forum began complaining that the video file contained a virus. Once again, administrators rushed to delete the thread, which was cross-posted to several of the most visited forums as of this morning.

The video, obtained by Jihadology, looks to be a fake. Graphics for AQAP's Al-Malahem Media Foundation appear at the start of the video in AQAP's customary widescreen aspect ratio but letterboxed into a 4:3 file. The rest of the video is entirely in 4:3, unlike most of Al-Malahem's releases. Most, if not all, of the footage in the seven-minute clip is recycled from old As-Sahab videos.

The quality of the forgery generally resembles the quality of the Hamza forgery (i.e. sloppy), but this one is slightly improved. I'm showing the player in the screencaps below so you can see the issue with the aspect ratio.



Within minutes of my posting an earlier version of this story, a message appeared on the Al Jahad forum purporting to be from the Al Qaeda-linked distributor Al Fajr Media Center, which is responsible for posting Al Qaeda communiques to the forums. The message mentions both of the above examples and warns users of viruses and other potential threats from following the forgeries.

Of course, the Al Fajr message itself may very well be forged. It only appeared on Jahad and not on any of the other related forums to which I have access. That is, in itself unusual, and there were other irregular features to the post. If that message is also a forgery, this whole thing is approaching conspiracy-paranoia genius.

The one thing that is very clear from all this is that someone is targeting the forums. I don't know if it's an intelligence service or private hackers, and I don't know if the same party is responsible for both of the forgeries, although I have my suspicions on all of these counts.

What I do know is that jihadist forum users are receiving a couple of very clear messages, which they haven't heard before -- "You are not safe here" and "you can't trust your online friends."

There have been a handful of fakes and forgeries in the past, but the scale of this is very interesting and it's targeting a very vulnerable spot in the online jihadist architecture. It'll be very interesting to see how this plays out.

For more about the forums, check out buy J.M. Berger's new book, Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam, out now!

A couple of quick notes:

If you haven't taken the "What is Al Qaeda?" survey, I urge you to check it out. You may find it a bit complicated. That's OK. The point is to figure out exactly what we mean when we're talking about al Qaeda, and I think that's an important issue. We need more responses.

I had an article at Foreign Policy this week on how the ascension of Ayman Al-Zawahiri to Al Qaeda's throne affects his American lap-dog, Adam Gadahn. Check it out, along with the other really excellent contributions to FP's Zawahiri Era roundtable.

Labels: Al-Qaeda, Al-Qaeda-In-The-Arabian-Peninsula, Jihadist-Forums, Osama-Bin-Laden

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Berger on Foreign Policy: Zawahiri’s American Court Jester

I have a piece as part of Foreign Policy's roundtable on the start of the Zawahiri era of Al Qaeda.

Osama bin Laden liked having Americans in his entourage. Mohammed Loay Bayazid, a former resident of Kansas City, took notes at the meeting in which al-Qaeda was founded. Wadih El-Hage, formerly of Tucson, was one of the terror network's first members and eventually became bin Laden's personal assistant.

Now that Ayman al-Zawahiri has ascended to al-Qaeda's throne, he will likely bring along his own American courtier - Adam Gadahn, also known as Azzam the American, formerly of Orange County, California.

Click here to read the full story

For more about Gadahn, check out buy J.M. Berger's new book, Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam, out now!

Also be sure to check out the other, rather-more-impressive entries in the FP Roundtable:

William McCants: The al-Qaeda Zawahiri inherits

Leah Farrall: Al-Qaeda’s delayed announcement

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross: Zawahiri’s ascension won’t change al-Qaeda’s strategy

Labels: Adam-Gadahn, Al-Qaeda, American-Al-Qaeda, American-Jihadists, American-Terrorists, Ayman-Al-Zawahiri, Jihad-Joe, Osama-Bin-Laden

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Survey: What Is Al Qaeda?

What is Al Qaeda? This may seem like an easy question to some people, but I've come to believe it is not. While many of us have set definitions in our minds about what is or is not part of Al Qaeda, those definitions don't always agree.

Survey: What is Al Qaeda?

I believe this is more than a philosophical question. We're now in our 10th year of a global war on terrorism, and the definition of what we are warring against is less clear than ever, especially at the level of U.S. and Western policy.

These policies are powerful. They can rob someone of life, liberty or net worth with just the stroke of a government official's pen, using procedures that often lack accountability, transparency and/or hope of appeal. The question of how we target those policies, and against whom, is therefore extremely important.

Is there a consensus definition of Al Qaeda? Is there a consensus for which groups should be targeted as if they are part of Al Qaeda? Is there a consensus for which individuals are members of Al Qaeda, or what the phrase "member of Al Qaeda" even means?

I think it's extremely important that we try to understand the parameters of this issue, and whether all parties with an interest agree or disagree about where they draw the line. And we all have an interest in this, whether we're academics studying the issue, law enforcement or military officials fighting the war directly, or voters who care about the nation's policies.

Therefore, a poll. With a great deal of help from Clint Watts at SelectedWisdom.com, we've put together three questions which represent a first effort to collect data on how different parties define Al Qaeda. The questions are not entirely simple, and they may be frustrating, but the frustration is part of the issue here.

There is a fourth question about what part of this world you work in, which is also very important. I suspect we're going to see that people with different jobs and interests have definitions which differ in important ways.

I would like to encourage everyone to take a few minutes and respond, and forward the survey to anyone who has an interest in this subject. The more respondents we get, the more useful the poll will be. Once we have collected some data, I will have more to say on this subject. Thanks for your valuable time.

Click here to take the survey

Labels: Al-Qaeda

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Shadow of Ali Mohamed Hangs Over Nosair Appeal

The New York Times reports today that New York-area jihadist El Sayyid Nosair is appealing his sentence for terrorism-related conspiracy in the 1995 prosecution that brought down the "blind Sheikh" Omar Abdel Rahman.

The heart of Nosair's appeal revolves around Al Qaeda's mysterious spy, Ali Mohamed, who successfully infiltrated the U.S. Army during the 1980s, partially succeeded in infiltrating the FBI and was thwarted in a similar attempt against the CIA.

Nosair's argument, the kernel of which has been covered on this site and in my new book, Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam, is that prosecutors concealed Mohamed's location from the defense, which wanted to subpoena him as a witness.

First thing first: Mohamed's participation in the case would not have made a material difference in Nosair's verdict. His conviction was based on a raft of evidence pertaining to his assassination of radical rabbi Meir Kahane in November 1990 and his direction of other terrorist attempts from prison afterward.

Mohamed provided Nosair and others with training and support materials. Nosair's attorney wanted to argue that Mohamed (who was active duty Army at the time) was providing this support with the blessing of the U.S. government as training for the group to fight in Afghanistan alongside CIA-allied mujahideen.

The pertinence of this is pretty obviously flimsy, since Nosair never went to Afghanistan but instead worked on terrorist attacks in the greater New York area. Even if he had received training with government support, that wouldn't excuse his illegal actions any more than going through the police academy would excuse someone who later went on a shooting spree.

That said, the question of Mohamed's handling by federal officials, more broadly, has significant public interest outside of the context of Nosair.

Mohamed started acting as a double-agent informant for the FBI in 1991. He had been called back to the country by the FBI for questioning in the Nosair trial in late 1994 -- a very busy period for Al Qaeda and its affiliates, who were in the late stages of planning to bomb U.S. bound airliners (a plot soon to be disrupted) and in the early stages of the East African embassy bombing plot that would come to fruition in 1998. The details of Mohamed's relationship with the government is still murky.

The evidence suggests that some give and take took place during the Justice Department's 1994 meetings with Mohamed. In December 1994, according to court records, the lead prosecutor in the Nosair case, Andrew McCarthy, exchanged faxes with Mohamed concerning the subpoena issued by Nosair's attorney. McCarthy did not respond to my repeated requests for an interview about these faxes and other issues over the course of the last few years. The faxes may be explained by today's NYT report which states:

Far from keeping his whereabouts secret from the defense, the government has said in court papers that officials extracted an agreement from Mr. Mohamed, who met with the authorities in 1994, to be available for the trial, but that Mr. Nosair’s lawyers did not ask for help in securing his presence. “Mohamed simply was not suppressed,” prosecutors wrote.

I'd like to see exactly what those documents say, and they may turn up in the course of this case. I noted that while most of Nosair's filings in his appeal are available on PACER (and will eventually be posted here), none of the government's filings could be obtained as of this morning.

Finally, a note on the NYT's headline, it's not strictly accurate to refer to Nosair as a "convicted Al Qaeda agent." Even with a fairly loose definition of what it means to be an Al Qaeda agent (more on this in a day or two), it's a stretch to say Nosair was part of Al Qaeda in a meaningful sense -- based on the evidence as it currently stands. "Convicted Al Qaeda agent" also implies that he was convicted of being an Al Qaeda agent, which is flatly untrue. The story itself does not claim Nosair was a member or agent of Al Qaeda.

For much more about Ali Mohamed and Sayyid Nosair, buy J.M. Berger's new book, Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam, out now!

Labels: Al-Qaeda, Ali-Mohamed, American-Al-Qaeda, American-Terrorists, El-Sayyid-Nosair, Jihad-Joe

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Ayman Al Zawahiri Releases Video Eulogy For Osama bin Laden

Al Qaeda's former deputy leader, Ayman Al Zawahiri, issued a statement on the death of Osama bin Laden, praising his life but not explicitly addressing the question of who would succeed him as emir of Al Qaeda.

The video, in Arabic with no subtitles, was posted to jihadist forums this morning. According to Der Spiegel (German), Zawahiri called for support to Al Qaeda in Yemen and a jihad against the Syrian regime, as well as making vague threats of revenge.

Update: AP has a preliminary story on the video in English here.

Update 2: ABC seems to think Zawahiri came off as large and in charge of Al Qaeda in the video. The consensus on the forums and among the Twitterfolk I follow seems to be that this was not an inaugural address.

Zawahiri criticized the burial of bin Laden at sea, and urged Pakistanis to follow the Arab Spring and rise up against the government. This is not the first time we've heard him say that, although the Arab Spring frame of reference is now.

The video lasts just under half an hour. Production on the video was completed May 30, nine days before it was released. Zawahiri's speech was likely recorded earlier than that. The video was recorded in front of a plain backdrop, and Zawahiri wore a clip-on microphone.

A higher-quality screencap is here for use by media outlets. Mandatory credit to Intelwire when using the image.

Labels: Al-Qaeda, Ayman-Al-Zawahiri, Jihadist-Forums, Osama-Bin-Laden

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Jihad Joe Featured On Front Page Of Toronto's National Post

Jihad Joe was featured recently in a story by Toronto's National Post on controversial Islamic preacher Bilal Philips.

When Bilal Philips turned up in Frankfurt in April to address a demonstration organized by a local Muslim leader, German immigration police quickly expelled him for advocating the killing of homosexuals.

“Which is nonsense,” the 64-year-old Canadian Muslim preacher said in an interview this week during a visit to Toronto. “I was not advocating or calling on Germans to rise up and kill homosexuals.”

"Jihad Joe" includes never-before-revealed details about an Al Qaeda-linked program to recruit American military veterans as an "A-Team" to train and assist Bosnian mujahideen fighters, including the U.S. military policy that led to an Al Qaeda operative preaching to U.S. soldiers about Islam on a U.S. base with the approval of Army commanders during the Gulf War.

Read the full story

Buy the book

Labels: American-Al-Qaeda, American-Jihadists, Bilal-Philips, Bosnia, Jihad-Joe

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Tahawwur Rana Interrogation Video, Questions About David Headley, ISI

The clip above shows Canadian Tahawwur Rana being interrogated about his links to Chicago-based terrorist David Headley and the Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba with support from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI). During the interrogation Rana reveals that the ISI has been providing guns to militants in Kashmir.

For a transcript of the video, click here

For more about Headley and Rana, check out Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go To War In The Name Of Islam, the new book by J.M. Berger, on sale now.

Labels: David-Coleman-Headley, ISI, Mumbai, Tahawwur-Rana

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Surveillance Footage Shot By American Terrorist David Headley In Mumbai

The clip above consists of surveillance footage made by Chicago-based terrorist David Headley in Mumbai, India, where he was conducting surveillance for the Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba with support from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI). Headley's videos were used to carry out the 2008 Mumbai massacre. For more about Headley, check out Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go To War In The Name Of Islam, the new book by J.M. Berger, on sale now.

Labels: David-Coleman-Headley, ISI, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Mumbai

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Terry Nichols' Handwritten Notes And Letters Released

New documents released to Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the FBI detail a cell block battle of wits between convicted Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols and convicted-mobster-turned-FBI-informant Gregory Scarpa.

Nichols and Scarpa, both inmates on the infamous "Bomber's Row" cell block of the Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, exchanged notes in early 2005 discussing a wide variety of matters, including Nichols suspicions' about additional OKC conspirators, and the location of a bomb stash underneath Nichols' former home in Herington, Kansas, where he was living at the time of his arrest.

The new documents, heavily redacted, details Nichols growing suspicions that Scarpa was playing some kind of game with him, promising to help him get his story out the public while at the same time informing to the FBI about their conversations, which was essentially the case.

The new release also includes letters from Nichols to the FBI and Attorney General John Ashcroft claiming that gun dealer Roger Moore, a witness for the prosecution in the trials of both Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, was a knowing participant in the bombing. Nichols allegations are presented here due to their newsworthy nature and inclusion in the documents, but INTELWIRE makes no claim about their veracity.

Read the documents

Labels: FOIA, Jesse-Trentadue, Terry-Nichols

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The Inspire Paperboy Missed My Porch

Judging from the keywords bringing people to the site from Google, many of you are wondering where is the latest issue of Inspire Magazine from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula with its presumed cover story on the death of Osama bin Laden.

Like you, I'm waiting eagerly. Not because I love its content especially, but because I have a feature piece teed up to run when it comes out, which focuses on how the much-touted magazine is heavily derivative of jihadi media from years gone by.

Odds are that Anwar Awlaki's close call with a drone in early May has set things back. Perhaps the laptop with Samir Khan's pirated copy of Adobe Illustrator was destroyed in the strike. I suppose we'd have heard about it by now if Khan himself was attached to the destroyed laptop.

Anyway, you can follow me on Twitter or RSS, and I promise I will tell you as soon as it arrives.

Labels: Anwar-Awlaki, Drones, Inspire-Magazine, Samir-Khan

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Secrets of 9/11: Watch In HD Now

The Fox News Reporting special "Secrets of 9/11" can now be viewed in HD its entirety courtesy of Hulu.com. The program explores several unanswered questions concerning the September 11 attacks, including the role of Anwar Alwaki in assisting the hijackers. I am featured in the program discussing some of the research behind 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, on sale everywhere.

Labels: 9-11, 9-11-Commission, Adnan-Shukrijumah, Anwar-Awlaki, Omar-Abdel-Rahman

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Adam Gadahn Video Adds Emphasis To Al Qaeda's Growing Gun Fetish

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a column for the New York Daily News on Al Qaeda's increasing shift in emphasis from bomb-based attacks to guns.

Last night, American terrorist Adam Gadahn -- one of AQ's most prominent public faces -- put an exclamation point on the trend in a new video released online.

America is absolutely awash with easily obtainable firearms. You can go down to a gun show at the local convention center, and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle without a background check and most likely without having to show an identification card. So what are you waiting for?

All of this was said while the video displayed customers shopping at a legal gun store.

This is only the latest example of gun-love from Al Qaeda and its affiliates, as I explained in the NYDN column. There are compelling reasons to focus our terrorism prevention strategy on firearms-based attacks. First responders here in Boston recently drilled on their response to a Mumbai-style commando attack. We should also be considering strategies that relate to single-shooter scenarios of various kinds.

Finally, we should be considering some variation on the Lautenberg proposal to restrict people who are on terrorist watchlists from purchasing weapons legally. Except in cases where authorities are moving toward an arrest and need to keep a suspect on the hook, it's hard to see how people deemed too dangerous to get on an airplane can be considered safe to buy guns.

For much more about the history of jihadist terrorism on U.S. soil, including the sole American citizen known to have traveled to join Al Qaeda in Iraq, buy J.M. Berger's new book, Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam, out now!

Labels: Adam-Gadahn, Al-Qaeda, Terrorist-Communiques

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