Recently in Al-Qaeda Category

And the defense attorneys want Osama bin Laden's name excluded from the proceedings, even though Mustafa Kamel Mustafa was an al-Qaeda operative. How did a preacher of Islam get the crazy idea that Islam mandated killing unbelievers? Doesn't he know it's a peaceful religion, and that only greasy Islamophobes think otherwise?

"US defends arrest of Egyptian Islamic preacher, says bin Laden’s name belongs in NY trial," from the Associated Press, April 28:

NEW YORK — Osama bin Laden’s name should not be banned from the terrorism trial of an Egyptian Islamic preacher despite claims by defense lawyers that it would be prejudicial toward their client, the government has told a federal judge.

Federal prosecutors said in court papers filed Friday in U.S. District Court that references to the deceased founder of al-Qaida will not be prejudicial or inflammatory and are important to explaining the case against Mustafa Kamel Mustafa to the jury.

They noted that Mustafa is charged with conspiring to provide or providing material support to al-Qaida and said the fact that bin Laden was the leader of the group at the time “is plainly relevant.”

Mustafa was extradited to the U.S. from Great Britain in October to face charges that he conspired with Seattle men to set up a terrorist training camp at a ranch in Bly, Ore.

The government plans to prove the camp, which never opened, was to be used for training in military tactics, weapons, assassinations, hand-to-hand combat and explosives.

Mustafa also is charged with helping to abduct two American tourists and 14 other people in Yemen in 1998. He has pleaded not guilty. The trial is scheduled for March.

In papers filed earlier this month, defense lawyers asked the trial judge to exclude bin Laden’s name, saying it would be “irrelevant and inflammatory” to Mustafa.

“Bin Laden’s leadership of al-Qaida is irrelevant to the charges, and its inclusion in the indictment is highly prejudicial to Mr. Mustafa,” the lawyers said. “The danger of unfair prejudice is overwhelming in this case, because of the toxic impact the mere mention of Osama bin Laden would likely have on a jury.”

But prosecutors offered multiple reasons why the mention of bin Laden was important. They noted that one of two men Mustafa is accused of sending from London to the United States to help establish the Oregon training camp had sent a letter to bin Laden saying in part: “We love you here” and “I ask God to help you here, and support you to fulfill His desire.”

The government said the letter would support its argument that the efforts to create the training camp were carried out in support of al-Qaida.

“Even though the letter does not make mention of al-Qaida by name, because bin Laden was the leader of al-Qaida, such expressions of loyalty to bin Laden are indistinguishable from expressions of loyalty to al-Qaida,” it said....

This has been known from the beginning, but now it has been officially confirmed. "Exclusive: Government doc shows how closely Boston Marathon bombers followed al Qaeda plans," by Richard Esposito for NBC News, April 26 (thanks to Anne Crockett):

A detailed analysis of the bombs used at the Boston Marathon and during a firefight between the suspects and law enforcement shows how closely the bombmakers followed instructions from the digital al Qaeda magazine “Inspire,” according to a government document obtained by NBC News.

The unclassified report from the Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center found that the pipe bombs allegedly thrown from a car by Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev during last Friday’s chase through Watertown, Mass., resembled the design described in “How to Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom,” an article in the first issue of the English-language magazine. At least one of the Watertown bombs used an elbow pipe wrapped in black tape, as discussed in “Inspire.”

“The use of elbow pipes specifically is unique,” states the report, “and rare in other extremist and anarchist literature.”

“How to Build a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom” also provided instructions on how to build bombs with kitchen pressure cookers. The bombs detonated at the marathon on April 15 were constructed from pressure cookers, as was a bomb authorities say the suspects threw at police during the Watertown shootout. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, a 26-year-old immigrant of Chechen origin, was killed during the confrontation.

According to the TEDAC analysis, the pressure-cooker bombs also match the “Inspire” designs in their use of spherical shrapnel and gunpowder from fireworks, as well as the possible use of Christmas tree lights as an initiator.

The pipe bombs also used fireworks and spherical shrapnel. Both types of devices apparently used glue to secure the shrapnel, as described in “Inspire.” NBC is not disclosing details that could aid in the construction of a bomb.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who survived the Watertown shootout and was captured last Friday night, has told investigators that he and his brother Tamerlan got bombmaking instructions from “Inspire,” according to law enforcement officials. The TEDAC document, however, notes while the elements of the Boston bombs “use similar components to those described in several issues of ‘Inspire,’” they also diverge from the “Inspire” designs, with different triggers and power sources. A fusing system that used parts from a toy car, say the investigators, does not seem traceable to the magazine.

“Inspire” magazine was launched by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, al Qaeda’s Yemeni affiliate, in July 2010, and aimed at fomenting jihad among U.S. and other Western Muslims. The publication included messages from radical U.S.–born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and Osama bin Laden, and was edited by U.S.-raised jihadi Samir Khan, a one-time basement blogger in North Carolina who relocated to Yemen. It contained articles on “open source” jihad, urging Westerners to mount “lone wolf” attacks using methods ranging from home-made bombs and forest fires to vehicular homicide....

Yes, get rid of guns, and al-Qaeda will wither away. After all, when have they ever used any weapon other than guns? Of course, the murderer may not be an al-Qaeda member; he may be a lone jihadi killer, or even (conceivably) a non-Muslim who is attracted by al-Qaeda as the "strong horse." But if so, clamping down on gun ownership won't solve the problem, either. "Gunman kills three in 'random' shooting," from The Local, April 25 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Three people were killed in the south of France on Thursday when a gunman opened fire apparently at random in the southern town of Istres. French President François Hollande has sent his Interior Minister to the scene of the shooting.

A gunman opened fire with a Kalashnikov rifle in the southern French town of Istres on Thursday killing three people.

A 55-year-old woman was also left slightly injured after a bullet grazed her ear and police found a Kalashnikov automatic rifle in a ditch near the scene in the small town near Marseille, police sources said.

"Everything points to him having dumped it there after the shooting," one said, adding that the suspect was known to police for hoarding military weapons and had a history of psychiatric problems.

One of the victims, a man thought to be in his sixties, was shot dead at the wheel of his car, the other two were male pedestrians, both local men aged 35 and 45 respectively.

A witness to the incident described how the 19-year-old suspect had walked around with his rifle poised "as if he was out hunting" and might easily have killed more people.

"When a car drove up to him, he raised his rifle and pointed it at the driver. Luckily there was no one on the roundabout ahead and the driver did not stop. That saved his life."

The shooter was arrested not far from the scene at a roundabout on the road towards Romaniquette beach, near the city of Marseilles.

According to early reports in the French media the gunman opened fire at around 2pm in the middle of a busy street for reasons that are still unclear. He apparently aimed his weapon at people standing outside their homes.

Some reports in the French media suggest he had a history of mental illness but RTL radio station reported the man had claimed to belong to terrorist organisation Al Qaeda.

French President François Hollande, currently on a trade boosting mission to China, was immediately told of the killings.

He asked Interior Minister Manuel Valls to head to Istres.

Valls described the killing as a very worrying example of France's gun crime problem.

"It seems as if this person has opened fire with a very powerful weapon, a Kalashnikov," Valls said.

"It is clearly very worrying. It once again raises the problem of the number of weapons in circulation."...

Of course. Guns are the problem, not al-Qaeda. And certainly not the jihad doctrine.

They were moderates until they became "Islamists." Chiheb Esseghaier was a grad student. No doubt those around him assumed that he abhorred and condemned violence done in the name of Islam.

"Suspects charged in Via train terror plot have al-Qaida ties: RCMP," from The Canadian Press, April 22:

TORONTO, Canada – Two Canadian residents were charged Monday for allegedly planning to attack a Via Rail passenger train in what the RCMP is calling the first known al-Qaida directed plot in this country.

Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, of Montreal, and Raed Jaser, 35, of Toronto, were arrested Monday morning.

Police said the suspects had been watching trains and railways in the Greater Toronto Area and were conspiring to derail a passenger train. They wouldn’t say how the suspects allegedly planned to attack, but said the plot had the “direction and guidance” from al-Qaida elements in Iran.

“This is the first known al-Qaida planned attack that we’ve experienced in Canada,” said Supt. Doug Best....

Assad is a scoundrel, but he is right about this. "Assad says West will pay for backing al Qaeda in Syria," by Mariam Karouny and Dominic Evans for Reuters, April 17:

President Bashar Assad accused the West on Wednesday of supporting al Qaeda militants in Syria's civil war and warned they would turn against their backers and strike "in the heart of Europe and the United States."

Assad also launched his strongest criticism yet of neighboring Jordan for allowing thousands of fighters to cross the border to join a conflict he insisted his forces would win and save Syria from destruction.

"We have no choice but victory. If we don't win, Syria will be finished and I don't think this is a choice for any citizen in Syria," the defiant president said in a television interview.

Assad's forces have been fighting back across the country against rebels who have taken control of much of rural Syria and seized a provincial capital in March for the first time in two years of fighting.

The conflict started with mainly peaceful demonstrations but descended into a civil war in which the United Nations says at least 70,000 people have been killed. Islamist militants have emerged as the most potent of the anti-Assad rebels.

Drawing parallels with Western support for anti-Soviet fighters in Afghanistan in the 1980s, some of whom later formed the al Qaeda organization which attacked the United States in September 2011, Assad said Washington and Europe would regret supporting rebels in Syria.

"The West paid heavily for funding al Qaeda in its early stages in Afghanistan. Today it is supporting it in Syria, Libya and other places, and will pay a heavy price later in the heart of Europe and the United States," he told al-Ikhbariya channel.

"The truth is, what is happening is that we are mainly facing extremist forces," Assad added.

He was speaking a week after Syria's rebel al-Nusra Front, one of the most effective rebel forces battling his troops, formally pledged allegiance to al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri....

And if that state were headed by a caliph, according to Islamic law he'd have the responsibility to wage offensive jihad on a regular basis. "Al-Qaida leader urges Muslims to unite in struggle," by Maamoun Youssef for the Associated Press, April 7 (thanks to Kenneth):

CAIRO (AP) -- Al-Qaida's leader has urged Muslims in Arab Spring countries to unite to institute an Islamic state, while warning France that its intervention in Mali will be bogged down.

"I warn France that it will meet in Mali, with God's permission, the same fate America met in Iraq and Afghanistan," Ayman Al-Zawahri said in a 103-minute audio message posted on militant websites late Saturday.

France launched a military operation in Mali last January after being asked to intervene by the country's interim president. Since then, French and Malian troops have liberated main towns in the north, but remnants of an al-Qaida cell remain active there in some of the vast, rural areas.

In the recording, al-Zawahri urged Muslims to liberate their lands from oppressive regimes and foreign troops, apply Islamic law, halt the plundering of Muslim wealth, support rebellious Muslims and oppressed people worldwide, and establish the Islamic Caliphate, or religious state.

The audio was produced by al-Qaida's media arm, As-Sahab, and was presented alongside video footage showing Iranian revolutionary guards captured in Syria, and other events in the Middle East.

The al-Qaida leader praised the mujahedeen, or holy warriors, in Syria, urging them to step up their fight against the regime of President Bashar Assad. But he also warned them against letting the country fall under the influence of the United States, the Arab League, the United Nations and Israel should they gain control of it.

"(They) want to steal your sacrifices and your jihad to give them to their supporters in Washington, Moscow and Tel Aviv."...

Kidnapping infidels and releasing them for ransom or killing them -- whichever is more advantageous for the Muslims -- is fully sanctioned in Islamic law: "As for the captives, the amir [ruler] has the choice of taking the most beneficial action of four possibilities: the first to put them to death by cutting their necks; the second, to enslave them and apply the laws of slavery regarding their sale and manumission; the third, to ransom them in exchange for goods or prisoners; and fourth, to show favor to them and pardon them. Allah, may he be exalted, says, 'When you encounter those [infidels] who deny [the Truth=Islam] then strike [their] necks' (Qur'an sura 47, verse 4)" — Abu’l-Hasan al-Mawardi, al-Ahkam as-Sultaniyyah (The Laws of Islamic Governance), trans. by Dr. Asadullah Yate, (London), Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd., 1996, p. 192.

"Mali: French Hostage 'Beheaded By Al Qaeda,'" from Sky News, March 20 (thanks to Kenneth):

Al Qaeda says it has beheaded a French hostage in reprisal for France's military intervention in Mali, according to reports.

Its North African arm claimed responsibility, Mauritania's ANI news agency reported, citing a commander for the group.

A French foreign office spokesman said they were trying to verify the report of the killing of Philippe Verdon, adding that "we don't know at the moment" whether it is reliable.

In a telephone call to the news agency, the group spokesman said Mr Verdon had been beheaded on March 10 "in response to the French military intervention in the north of Mali", ANI reported.

The AQIM commander described Mr Verdon as a French spy and said France's President Francois Hollande "bore the responsibility for the remaining hostages"....

No, Al-Qaeda does.

This will come in handy in France. "Al Qaeda releases guide on how to torch cars and make bombs as it names 11 public figures it wants 'dead or alive' in latest edition of its glossy magazine," by Leon Watson for the Daily Mail, March 2:

Al Qaeda has released the latest edition of its English-language propaganda magazine advising would-be militants on how to torch parked cars and cause traffic accidents.

The Islamist movement's most active branch Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, published the tenth edition of its glossy quarterly called Inspire on militant websites this month.

Along with tips on terrorism, it also warns France to pull back from Mali and lists 11 public figures in the West, including author Salman Rushdie, who it says are 'wanted dead or alive for crimes against Islam' and carries articles commemorating 'martyrs' who have died for its cause.

AQAP, based in the impoverished, lawless state of Yemen, has previously plotted to bring down international airliners.

It is seen by Western governments as a danger to oil-producing Gulf states and major crude shipment routes.

In a section entitled 'open source jihad', the magazine gives tips on how to set fire to parked cars, including advice such as 'don't get petrol on yourself', and suggests spilling oil on road bends to cause crashes.

An editorial in the magazine warned France to end its military intervention in Mali, citing the U.S. experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq, which it said made 'them bite their fingertips in regret'.

That's a Qur'anic reference: "The Day that the wrong-doer will bite at his hands, he will say, 'Oh! would that I had taken a (straight) path with the Messenger!'" -- Qur'an 25:27

The magazine also called on militants to attack 11 public figures in the West, including Rushdie, whose 1988 novel The Satanic Verses was seen by many Muslims as blasphemous.

Among others are Dutch politician Geert Wilders and Canadian-Somalian activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali, both strong critics of Islam, and U.S. pastor Terry Jones, who staged a public burning of copies of the Koran.

In a prominent feature, titled 'No Parking! Are There Any Safe Parking Lots Out There,' an author identified as Ibnul Irhab lays out step-by-step procedures for lighting multiple cars in the same, vacant parking lot ablaze, turning it into a massive explosion.

'The West should taste some burning. They should pay for bombarding and burning our Muslim brothers and sisters’ homes and our Holy (Koran). For burning down forests, plantations and houses, please refer to Issue 9,' the author writes.

'All you need is cooking oil, this tip-sheet says, to wreak havoc on a curvy highway.

'Today we have something new for you, VEHICLES. Vehicle are easy to torch. And the easy part is, vehicles need to be parked somewhere, right? How safe is that somewhere, especially in deserted areas? How much more safe will the West feel parking their vehicles, when they know they’re up for a TORCHING.'

Irhab's specific instructions for carrying out the horrific plot include, 'find a deserted parked car,' 'avoid CCTV cameras or areas where people can see you' and, of course, 'pour the petrol on the vehicle(s), do not forget the tires. You can pour a line away from the vehicle.'

Another terrifying feature titled 'Causing Road Accidents,' by an author identified only by the alias AQ Chef, outlines how, 'following simple instructions,' you, too, 'can carry out a lethal ambush.'

'There is no retaliation face to face, just place and vanish,' states the article, which painstakingly reveals how to grease windy roads with oil so thoroughly that cars slip off it and crash.

AQAP has continued to publish the magazine four times a year, even after one of its main writers, 26-year-old Samir Khan, from North Carolina, was killed in a September 2011 drone strike in Yemen along with fellow contributor Anwar al-Awlaki.

Several people in the U.S. and UK jailed for terrorist-related offences has been found in possession of the magazine.

In December a young graduate whose brothers are serving prison sentences for planning a terrorist attack on the London Stock Exchange, was jailed for downloading Al-Qaeda it to her mobile phone.

Ruksana Begum, 22, who has a first-class degree in accountancy, had two editions of Inspire, including articles such as 'Targeting the populations of countries that are at war with the Muslims'.

Ms Begum's brothers, Gurukanth Desai, 30, and Abdul Miah, 25, were sentenced to 12 and 16 years respectively in February last year for their part in the plot.

In October, the foreign student arrested over an attempt to blow-up the New York Federal Reserve cited the publication as inspiration for his deadly plans.

Quazi Nafis, 21, reportedly learned how to make a bomb from an article in Inspire.

One issue specifies how to create a remote-controlled bomb with a list of ingredients and parts followed by a photographic manual.

Another issue suggested that a good way to forward the jihadist mission would be to mow down pedestrians in a pick-up truck.

Handgun training and tips on being an 'urban assassin' are also included in the easily accessible terrorist magazine online.

The first American to be charged with treason since World War II urges his coreligionists to bleed the West dry economically and militarily. Gadahn's best allies are the learned analysts in Washington who eagerly do just that, pouring out America's blood and treasure to aid those who have vowed to destroy us in (among others) Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and now Syria.

"In Exclusive Interview In Inspire X, American Al-Qaeda Operative Adam Gadahn Tells 'Governments Of The Crusader West' To Withdraw From Islamic Lands; Says Arab Spring, Economic Crisis Signs Of Their Dwindling Power, Muslims' Ascendancy," from MEMRI, March 1:

On February 28, 2013, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released issue X of its English-language online magazine Inspire. The latest issue contains an "Inspire Exclusive" titled "To the Governments of the Crusader West" by U.S.-born Al-Qaeda operative Adam Gadahn....

"To The Government Of The Crusader West:

"Today, you have an excellent opportunity to begin to prove that you are serious when you talk about turning over a new leaf and changing Western policy towards the Islamic world, by pulling out your planes, tanks, and troops, calling off your proxies, agents, 'jackals' and 'economic hit men,' and [by] leaving the Muslims alone to rule themselves by themselves, free from the 'global governance' of your supranational organizations and institutions....

"Let us make it our priority during this stage to focus on direct engagement at home and abroad with America and its NATO partners, particularly France and Britain. The enemies' economic and military hemorrhage must not stop until the day comes when the people of the West are forced to make a choice: either the continuation of the Crusade
 against the Muslims and the continuation of their backing of Israel, or the continuation of viable governments and basic public services. The recent 
budget cuts and austerity measures in France and Britain, 
and the $16+ trillion debt 
crisis in America are signs that 
that day isn't far away (Allah
 willing), while the Arab uprisings show that the American 
empire is at an unprecedented
stage of weakness and decline, so let's continue to bleed the
head of unbelief dry, and let's beware of all attempts to divert us from our strategic objective or draw us into any battles of lower priority, particularly in light of the new realities in the region.

"Finally, To Those Calling To Islam And Jihad In General, And Those Working In Jihadi Media, [And] On The Internet In Particular:

"This is your day, so rise to the challenge and become a part of history in the making. We mustn't miss this golden opportunity to bring the message of tawheed and jihad to a region and a world emerging from under the dark shroud of dictatorships and police states, and we must make every effort to reach out to Muslims both through new media like Facebook and Twitter, as well as the traditional broadcast and print media preferred by the older generations; and we should fully acquaint ourselves with both the people to whom we are reaching out, as well as the methodology and cause to which we are inviting them, so that we are able to hone our methods, refine our techniques, and spread our message in an intelligent and educated fashion accessible to all sectors, sections, levels and factions of the ummah.

"And our final prayer is that all praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds."

It's all part of their fulfilling Allah's call to jihad, they say. I am sure that Honest Ibe Hooper and Ahmed Rehab of Hamas-linked CAIR are in deep communication with the editors of this magazine as we speak, explaining to them that they're getting jihad all wrong, wrong, wrong, and inspiring "Islamophobia."

"Inspire X "Open Source Jihad" Calls To Assassinate Top U.S., British, And French Heads Of State And Politicians," from MEMRI, March 1:

On February 28, 2013, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released issue X of its English-language online magazine, Inspire. The "Open Source Jihad" section of the magazine features a new segment titled "You Ask, We Answer" in which an Al-Qaeda "consultant" answers queries pertaining to lone-wolf attacks.

Following are segments from the open source jihad "consultancy" section:[1]

Question: "I Want To Assassinate The U.S. President, The French President, The British PM, Or Their Ministers."

Answer: "...It is easy, if you ask Allah and be true to Him. These people have many weak points, especially during ceremonies, parties, and election campaigns. Bare in mind, they come to and leave from these parties. Therefore, there must be some means of transport, which is a chance for surveillance or even action.

"If you think you are unable, then you have easy targets like [G.W.] Bush, Bill Clinton, Colin Powell, or Condoleezza Rice. Of course, you can also kill Sarkozy and Tony Blair. It is now easy to reach these guys, especially [now] that they aren't in office anymore."

Inspire continues by providing "tips" to those seeking to assassinate VIPs. For example, it recommends that the martial arts fighting style ninjutsu be used "for lower profile figure assassination." It also calls upon Muslim men to better utilize their time and undergo the necessary physical preparations to become the soldiers the Muslim ummah needs.

Question: "I Want To Carry Out A Big Jihad Operation To Support The Religion. Guide Me."

In its answer, Inspire congratulates the inquirer on his great determination, and reiterates that jihad is a form of 'ibadah (worship), like any other type of worship. It also emphasizes the importance of preoccupying the enemy by conducting such operations in his own "backyard," and thereby "driving him crazy". Therefore, it says: "These small operations of today are the stepping stone of tomorrow's victory... Rely on Allah, and answer His call: Jihad."

Inspire Calls On Experienced Doctors To "Create A Lethal Poison... [And] Manufacture Anthrax"; Asks Journalists To Act As AQAP's Eyes In The Field By Spying On The Enemy

Answering one query from an "experienced doctor" who asks for advice on how he can wage jihad, Inspire writes: "Create a lethal poison (gaseous), manufacture anthrax, and give the mujahideen medical advice in their blogs – or you can contact us directly."

Answering a similar query from "an active journalist," Inspire says that journalism is a "useful profession to the mujahideen," as journalists' wide knowledge of current affairs, along with their "access to many areas as a media personnel," can provide AQAP with valuable intelligence about the enemy, adding that journalists themselves can exploit their positions to execute attacks themselves.

Ah. Maybe that would explain Christiane Amanpour, Niraj Warikoo, Kari Huus, Bob Smietana, Michael Kruse, and all the rest of them.

Yet no Muslim organization in the U.S. or the West has any program to prevent converts from misunderstanding the Religion of Peace in this way. "New report details al-Qaida membership in the US," by Hilary Leila Krieger for the Jerusalem Post, February 27 (thanks to David):

WASHINGTON – More than half of all al-Qaida operatives and their affiliates in the United States who have committed terrorist offenses are US citizens and a third were born in America, according to a new report profiling the groups’ American adherents.

The 720-page, telephone book-sized volume produced by the Henry Jackson Society and presented at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Tuesday, carefully examines the 171 cases of al- Qaida members or those inspired by the organization who have been convicted in US courts or participated in suicide attacks against the US homeland between 1997 and 2011.

The study found that 95 percent of the terrorist offenses were committed by men, 57% of whom were under the age of 30. New York was seen as a hub for their activity, with more – 14% – residing there than elsewhere and with large number of those living elsewhere trafficking through.

Nearly a quarter of the operatives were converts to Islam, with over half of those born in the US having converted.

And those who converted, all of whom did so from Christianity as far as could be ascertained, were far more likely to have carried out offenses (as opposed to having participated only in training or incitement) than others.

The group researched were fairly well-educated and employed. More than half had attended some form of college, and a quarter had done some higher study. In addition, more than half, or 57%, were in school or had a job at the time they were charged or committed their attacks.

Report co-author Robin Simcox described the operatives as “US citizens who are mostly educated, mostly employed, who haven’t been marginalized by the system. They’ve mostly passed through the system.”

However, he and Michael Hayden, the former Central Intelligence Agency director who wrote the report’s forward, suggested that more personal experiences of social dislocation could be a major factor in who ended up being radicalized.

“I’m willing to accept the possibility that this has a lot more to do with the Crips and the Bloods than it does with the Koran,” Hayden said. “Maybe this is just one expression in a post-industrial society of how young people... deal with alienation.”...

Yeah, sure, that's it. Joining al-Qaeda is just like joining the Crips or the Bloods, and stems from the same motivations. Nothing to do with the Qur'an. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Note how al-Qaeda couches its appeal strictly in Islamic terms, and makes use of the established Islamic legal concept that jihad warfare becomes obligatory on every Muslim when a Muslim land is considered to have been attacked. Instead of confronting the theological content of al-Qaeda's appeal and explaining why it is wrong on islamic grounds, so that more Muslims from the West don't end up joining this supposedly false jihad, "moderate" groups in the U.S. such as Hamas-linked CAIR are spending huge amounts of money on an ad campaign designed to convince people that jihad is just getting in your exercise and making friends. Well, Muhammad said it: "war is deceit"!

"Qaeda urges jihad against France in Mali: SITE," from AFP, February 12 (thanks to Lookmann):

AFP - Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has called for jihad, or holy war, to thwart France's military intervention in Mali against Islamist rebels, SITE Intelligence agency reported on Tuesday.

"Supporting the Muslims in Mali is a duty for every capable Muslim with life and money, everyone according to their ability," the Sharia Committee of the extremist group said in a statement reported by US-based SITE, which monitors extremist Internet forums.

AQAP, which has been labelled the most dangerous branch of the global jihadist network, said France's "Crusader campaign against Islam" has no justification and a "declaration of aggression against Islam and its people."

It said jihad is "more obligatory on the people who are closer" to the fight, in an apparent reference to North African nations and those living in countries helping France.

"Helping the disbelievers against Muslims in any form is apostasy from the religion," it added....

The "heart of the land of non-belief"? You'd almost get the impression that their hatred of the U.S. and Europe has something to do with Islam. But I am sure that Abdul Cader Asmal and Omid Safi are working hard to set them straight.

"U.S. faces new Al Qaeda threat as terror group's 'strike map' is revealed," by Simon Tomlinson for the Daily Mail, January 31:

Al Qaeda has issued a new threat to carry out 'earth-shattering, shocking and terrifying' attacks on the U.S. and Europe, it emerged today.

In a posting on a jihadist website, the terror group said the 'coming strikes' would target the 'heart of the land of non-belief' as well as countries aiding France in its crackdown on rebels in Mali.

The unidentified writer claimed the attacks would be 'group and lone-wolf operations, in addition to the use of booby-trapped vehicles'.

U.S. officials say they are taking the threat seriously.

The message, posted on the Ansar al Mujahideen network on Sunday, carried the headline: 'Map of Al Qaeda and its future strikes'.

'The answer for it, in short: The coming strikes by al Qaeda, with God’s Might, will be in the heart of the land of nonbelief, America, and in France, Denmark, other countries in Europe, in the countries that helped and are helping France, and in other places that shall be named by al Qaeda at other times.'

The message, translated by The Washington Times, says the attacks will be 'strong, serious, alarming, earth-shattering, shocking and terrifying.'

All attacks would be recorded and published, it added.

It goes on to warn France and those supporting its assault on Al Qaeda insurgents in Mali that they are facing a 'long war of attrition'....

Good thing al-Qaeda is on the ropes, as Obama assures us. Imagine what they'd be able to accomplish if they were strong, confident, and advancing. "Algeria gas pipeline attack kills two guards," by Alex Spillius in the Telegraph, January 28 (thanks to Alan of England):

Two security guards protecting a gas pipeline were killed and seven others wounded in an attack southwest of the Algerian capital, as Islamist terrorists once again targeted the country’s vital oil and gas industry.

Militants from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb launched a series of homemade rockets late on Sunday night towards a pipeline that runs north from the Sahara desert’s Hassi R’Mel field.

The largest in Algeria and the second largest gas field in the world, most of its product passes through coastal cities and on to southern Europe.

Army units were alerted and searched for the attackers in vain around Ain Chikh, on the southern edge of the Kabylie mountain region that has become the last hideout of al-Qaeda’s branch in northern Algeria. The frequency of terrorist attacks has dropped in Algeria’s populated north in the past few years, though in August 2011 militants showed their ability to target local security forces with a suicide bombing of the military academy....

Fabius wants Western countries to fund the rebels in order to keep the jihadists at bay. However, he offers no means to distinguish the rebels who are not jihadists from those who are. And "Islamic militants have been the most organized fighters battling government troops." So France is essentially urging funding of the people it is fighting in Mali. "Al-Qaida-linked group claims deadly Syria blast," by Barbara Surk for the Associated Press, January 28 (thanks to Maxwell):

BEIRUT (AP) — An al-Qaida-linked group fighting alongside Syrian rebels claimed responsibility Monday for a suicide car bombing that reportedly killed dozens of President Bashar Assad's loyalists last week.

In Paris, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius pleaded for countries to honor their pledges of funding and other aid to the Syrian opposition to keep the country out of the hands of Islamist militant groups.

"If we don't give the means to the Syrian people to go achieve their freedom, there is a risk, and we all know it exists, that massacres and antagonisms amplify, and that extremism and terrorism prevail.

"Chaos is not tomorrow, it is today, and we need to end it. We need to end it in a peaceful way and that means increased and concrete support to the Syrian National Coalition."

Islamic militants have been the most organized fighters battling government troops in the 22-month-old conflict in which more than 60,000 people have been killed. Their growing prominence has fueled fears that Muslim radicals might try to hijack the revolt, and has contributed to the West's hesitance to equip the opposition with sophisticated weapons.

Jabhat al-Nusra, which the U.S. says has ties to al-Qaida and has declared a terrorist organization, said in a statement posted online that one of its suicide bombers detonated a car bomb last Monday at the headquarters of a pro-government militia in the central province of Hama. It said the bomber drove a truck packed with explosives to the militia's complex in the town of Salamiya and blew himself up "to give the tyrannical regime a taste" of violence it has been inflicting on the Syrian people.

Activists said at least 42 people, mostly pro-Assad militiamen, were killed in the blast. The government did not say how many people were killed, although state-run SANA news agency published photographs of what it said was a funeral procession for the blast's victims on Wednesday. In one of the photographs, a dozen men are seen standing behind 11 caskets, wrapped into a Syrian flag.

Jabhat al-Nusra has previously targeted government institutions in Damascus with suicide bombers and has led successful attacks on military bases and strategic territory in the country's north....

In France, Fabius pleaded for countries to keep their promises of financial aid to the Syrian opposition or risk compromising the legitimacy of the Syrian National Coalition in the eyes of the people fighting the Assad regime.

The opposition coalition was formed in November. More than 100 countries have back the umbrella group, decreeing it the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people. France was the first to confer such recognition.

"We have to give the Syrian people a clear signal: We are at your side," Fabius told representatives of some 50 nations....

And al-Qaeda's.

This is nothing new. Jihadists have used drugs to fund their efforts for years. Years ago, in his study of the Taliban, journalist Ahmed Rashid reported: “Abdul Rashid, the head of the Taliban’s anti-drugs control force in Kandahar, spelt out the nature of his unique job. He is authorized to impose a strict ban on the growing of hashish, ‘because it is consumed by Afghans and Muslims.’ But, Rashid tells me without a hint of sarcasm, ‘Opium is permissible because it is consumed by kafirs [unbelievers] in the West and not by Muslims or Afghans.’” This seems to have been a common view among the Taliban. Another Taliban named Khaled asked, “Who cares if heroin is wreaking havoc in the West? It doesn’t matter; they aren’t Muslims.”

"Revealed: how Saharan caravans of cocaine help to fund al-Qaeda in terrorists' North African domain," by Colin Freeman in the Telegraph, January 26 (thanks to David):

Like everywhere else that has fallen under Islamist rule in northern Mali, the city of Gao on the edge of the Sahara is not a place where vice is tolerated. Drinking and dancing are banned, the city's two nightclubs have been burned down, and the only thing that passes for street entertainment is watching citizens being flogged in public for smoking.

Such all-encompassing piety, though, comes to a halt outside the high walls of the gaudy new villas on Gao's outskirts, which stand out amid the shanty towns overlooking the sand dunes.

Nicknamed "Cocainebougou" - which translates as "cocaine town" - the strip of mansions is home to the elite of the city's ancient smuggling community, which has trafficked goods across the Sahara since the 11 century, when Gao was better known than nearby Timbuktu.

Unlike their ancestors' cargoes of spices, salts and silks, the contraband that Gao's smugglers bring in today from Colombia is deemed strictly "haram", or forbidden, by Islam.

Yet the city's ever-zealous Islamist morality police have a good reason for turning a blind eye. For it is thanks to the trans-Saharan cocaine trade that Islamist groups like al-Qaeda have become a power in the region, building up formidable war chests to buy both arms and recruits.

"Cocainebougou is full of very rich traffickers, all with gleaming new SUVs," said one former resident of Gao, who asked not to be named. "But they and the Islamists have a very close relationship."

The cocaine trade first exploded in this region five years ago, as Latino cartels, faced with a saturated market in the US, sought new routes to get their product to Europe's borders. First the drug is shipped or flown across the Atlantic to lawless, corrupt coastal states like Guinea Bissau, then it is moved thousands of miles across the Sahara to Algeria, Morocco and Libya.

Already, the influx of drug cash into such a poor region has had a disastrously corrosive effect. In Guinea Bissau, for example, the cartels' limitless funds have bought up so many police, politicians and soldiers that it has been dubbed Africa's first "narco-state", with a military coup last April blamed on in-fighting over drug trade proceeds.

But while Britain and other Western nations have committed vast resources to fighting a similar narco-terror axis in the Taliban-controlled poppy fields of Afghanistan, the threat directly beneath Europe's belly has had rather less attention. The entire region has only a handful of Western counter-narcotics agents assigned to it, while many local police forces, such as in Guinea Bissau, lack even the cash to put petrol in their cars.

Now, though, the trade's potential to wreak far wider havoc has become horrifyingly clear, in helping to bankroll the al-Qaeda movements behind both the Islamist take-over of northern Mali and the murder of western workers at the Algerian gas facility earlier this month.

Among its most prominent beneficiaries is none other than Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the one-eyed jihadist and smuggler who has claimed responsibility for the mass hostage-taking in al-Qaeda's name.

Nicknamed the Marlboro Man for his lucrative cigarette smuggling empire, Belmokhtar, who helped found Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, is thought to have diversified into drugs a few years ago, earning himself the moniker of "le narco-Islamiste" on the smuggling routes between Mali and his native Algeria.

More widely, AQIM is thought to levy "taxes" on other drug smugglers in return for safe passage, earning the group a direct subsidy from the cocaine that ends up in the clubs, bars and crack dens of Britain. As the US State Department puts it, AQIM provides "protection and permissions for traffickers moving product through areas they control".

As someone who boasts of fighting jihad in Afghanistan while just a teenager, Belmokhtar seems to have had no problem accommodating a sideline in "haram" contraband into his puritanical Islamic vision. As drugs are seen as a largely Western vice, jiihadists can argue that enabling them to flood into Europe is all part of a plan to weaken and corrupt the enemy....

"It is becoming clear that al Qaeda is spreading in the Sahara."

"We achieved our central goal ... or have come very close to achieving our central goal, which is to de-capacitate al Qaeda, to dismantle them, to make sure that they can't attack us again." -- Barack Obama, January 11, 2013

"As Muslim terrorists threaten attacks in Benghazi, Westerners flee," from Asia News, January 25 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

Benghazi (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and Australia have urged their citizens to leave the Libyan city of Benghazi due to a "specific, imminent threat to Westerners", linked to French action in Mali and the danger of new kidnappings by Muslim extremists.

According to British diplomatic sources, Islamists have threatened to carry out attacks against Western targets like the one on the US consulate on 11 September 2011 in which US Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed.

Over the past two years since the anti-Gaddafi war, Benghazi has been one of the main recruiting centres for Islamic extremists and al-Qaeda fighters.

A senior Algerian officer claimed that the organisers of the Benghazi consulate attack are the same who seized the gas Tigantourine field in (in In Amenas, south-eastern Algeria) that left 38 hostages and 29 Muslim extremists dead.

The group recruited by Mokhtar Belmokhtar included several Egyptian jihadists active in Libya.

Sources in Algiers said that Mohamed-Lamine Bouchneb, the militant leading the attack at the site, had purchased arms for the assault in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

The kidnappers gathered, undisturbed, at the southern Libyan town of Ghat, just across the border from Algeria, before their attack.

It is becoming clear that al Qaeda is spreading in the Sahara. On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke to Congress about the events in Benghazi, warning that Jihadist groups have formed a complex alliance in North Africa with southern Libya and Mali as their main bases.

Indeed, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the veteran militant who claimed overall responsibility for the Tigantourine attack, is believed to be based in Mali.

US State Department officials have said that some members of Ansar al-Shariah, the group that carried out the attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi, had connections to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, one of the militant groups now holding northern Mali.

We just saw Westerners among those who carried out the jihad massacres at the Algerian gas plant. So apparently recruitment efforts like those of these men sometimes pay off. We have seen again and again in accounts of jihad recruitment that recruiters like Ocak and Lodin appeal to their targets on Islamic grounds, quoting the Qur'an, invoking Muhammad's example, and trying to awaken in them a sense of Islamic duty. Yet this is the one element of the appeal that non-Muslim counterterror analysts are forbidden to examine.

"2 convicted of al-Qaida membership in Germany," from the Associated Press, January 25 (thanks to Lookmann):

BERLIN (AP) — A German and an Austrian have been convicted of membership in al-Qaida and sentenced to several years in prison.

Yusuf Ocak, 27, from Luebeck, Germany, was also convicted of being a founding member of the German Taliban Mujahideen and was sentenced to 9 years in prison. Maqsood Lodin, 23, an Austrian of Afghan background, was sentenced to 6 years 9 months.

Both can appeal.

The pair met in July 2010 in Pakistan's Waziristan region and were assigned by al-Qaida to collect money and recruit members for the terrorist group in Europe upon returning there in the spring of 2011. Ocak also posted a threat video on the internet in 2009....

This means that they were hired at the plant and assumed to be "moderates" who would have no problem working for a Western-affiliated firm. No one even made any attempt to determine whether or not they were "extremists," as imperfect as any such attempt would necessarily have been. To have made such an attempt would have been "Islamophobic."

More on this story. "Islamist raid on gas plant was inside job, 2 Canadians among militants: Algeria," from PTI, January 22 (thanks to Twostellas):

The hostage-taking at a remote Algerian gas plant was carried out by 30 militants from across the northern swath of Africa and two from Canada, authorities said. The militants, who wore military uniforms and knew the layout, included explosives experts who rigged it with bombs and a leader whose final order was to kill all the captives.

The operation also had help with inside knowledge, a former driver at the plant, Algeria’s Prime Minister said yesterday.

In all, 38 workers and 29 militants died, the Algerian Pime [sic] Minister said yesterday, offering the Government’s first detailed account of four days of chaos that ended with a bloody military raid he defended as the only way possible to end the standoff. Five foreigners are still missing.

“You may have heard the last words of the terrorist chief,” Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal told presspersons. “He gave the order for all the foreigners to be killed, so there was a mass execution, many hostages were killed by a bullet to the head.”

Yesterday’s account offered the first Algerian Government narrative of the standoff, from the moment of the attempted bus hijacking on Wednesday to the moment when the attackers prepared Saturday to detonate bombs across the sprawling complex. That’s when Algerian special forces moved in for the second and final time.

All but one of the dead victims, an Algerian security guard, were foreigners. The dead hostages included seven Japanese workers, six Filipinos, three energy workers each from the US and Britain, two from Romania and one worker from France.

The Prime Minister said three attackers were captured but did not specify their nationalities or their conditions or say where they were being held.

He said the Islamists included a former driver at the complex from Niger and that the militants “knew the facility’s layout by heart.” The vast complex is deep in the Sahara, 800 miles south of Algiers, with a network of roads and walkways for the hundreds of workers who keep it running.

The attackers wore military uniforms, according to state television, bolstering similar accounts by former hostages that the attackers didn’t just shoot their way in.

“Our attention was drawn by a car. It was at the gate heading toward the production facility. Four attackers stepped out of a car that had flashing lights on top of it,” one of the former hostages, Liviu Floria, a 45-year-old mechanic from Romania, told The Associated Press.

The militants had said during the standoff that their band included people from Canada, and hostages who had escaped recalled hearing at least one of the militants speaking English with a North American accent.

Kidnapping infidels and releasing them for ransom is big business -- and it's fully sanctioned in Islamic law: "As for the captives, the amir [ruler] has the choice of taking the most beneficial action of four possibilities: the first to put them to death by cutting their necks; the second, to enslave them and apply the laws of slavery regarding their sale and manumission; the third, to ransom them in exchange for goods or prisoners; and fourth, to show favor to them and pardon them. Allah, may he be exalted, says, 'When you encounter those [infidels] who deny [the Truth=Islam] then strike [their] necks' (Qur'an sura 47, verse 4)" — Abu’l-Hasan al-Mawardi, al-Ahkam as-Sultaniyyah (The Laws of Islamic Governance), trans. by Dr. Asadullah Yate, (London), Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd., 1996, p. 192.

"Islamists willing to pay tens of thousands for westerner kidnappings," by Lyndsey Smith and Michael Sandelson in The Foreigner, January 22 (thanks to Twostellas):

Extremists offered criminals some USD 45,000 bounties for kidnapping western nationals in the area surrounding Mali and Algeria. Ransom demands could have recently included Statoil employees, reports suggest.

A ‘Wikileaked’ document shows that Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) were among those offering bounties.

Mokthar Belmokhtar, the man behind the recent attack on Statoil’s In Aménas gas plant, which Algerian authorities now say left 37 foreign personnel from eight countries dead, is reported to have belonged to AQIM up until December 2012.

The same document also reports that Belmokhtar allegedly gave specific instructions these kidnap-for-ransoms should not included [sic] American citizens “for fear of retribution from the [US] government.”

“AQIM had offered a bounty of approximately $45,000 to any traffickers and bandits in northern Mali who kidnapped non-American Westerners,” shows the US State Department security report, which Aftenposten links to.

According to Martin Ewi, Pretoria-based senior Institute for Security Studies researcher, “they [terror groups active in West Africa also] probably had a perception that the Western countries would be more willing to negotiate and pay,” [sic]

Mr Ewi has written several articles on these groups, Aftenposten reports. The Norwegian daily does not specifically mention Statoil, apart from in its headline.

At the same time, Mr Ewi believes the In Aménas kidnappers wanted to take hostages to another place to negotiate with the various nationals’ countries’ authorities.

“They have earmarked certain countries that they expect would pay,” he says.

Another Aftenposten-published classified US official document claims the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combats (GSPC) abductors were able to make USD 6.5 million from “kidnapping 32 foreigners” in collaboration with Belmokhtar.