All Blog Posts from Internet Terror Monitor

American al Qaeda figure Adam Gadahn accused U.S. President Barack Obama of standing behind the killing of Muslims in Palestine, Afghanistan and Pakistan in a new videotape produced by the terrorist group’s media arm As Sahab.

“O’ nation of Islam, you have seen the truth about Obama in the Gaza Holocaust which he approved of, and in Muslim Palestine which he wants to turn Jewish and in Afghanistan and in the tribal areas which he bombed and is still bombing,” Gadahn said.

He also criticized Obama’s plan to send more troops to Afghanistan, saying it was going to result in “increasing the spilling of Muslim blood.”

Like al Qaeda leader’s Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahri, Gadahn urged his audience not to fall for Obama’s talk about his respect for Islam, warning them that this was just an attempt to steer Muslims away from jihad.

Gadahn described Obama’s remarks during his visit to Turkey, which included saying that the U.S. was not at war with Islam, as “deceptive, false and sugar-coated words of endearment” intended to “divert the eyes of the world in general and Muslims in particular from the ugly and continuous crimes of the crusaders in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and other lands of Islam.”

Read full post…

CBS News obtained a new audio statement by al Qaeda’s leader in Afghanistan Mostafa Abul Yazid, which appears to be a private message directed towards al Qaeda supporters in Turkey to ask for financial support.

“We, your brothers in Afghanistan, are sending you our greetings and would like to present you with some recommendations,” Abul Yazid said. He advised his interlocutor to treat Turkish Muslims well and be kind to them.

After a small introduction about financial support being a duty as jihad itself, Abul Yazid explains that the Afghani al Qaeda group was lacking “a lot of funds” and said this was the reason for the slowdown in operations these days. He points out that the militants are unable to carry out attacks because they have no money to do it with. Abu Yazid claims that the situation is so bad, that there are many men who want to carry out suicide operations, but “ we can’t equip them because of the shortage in funds.”

It is not clear when this tape was recorded, but it seems to be over six months old, as Abul Yazid refers to former U.S. President George W. Bush as being still in office.

Other al Qaeda leaders had urged supporters to donate money to al Qaeda in the past, like al Qaeda’s number two Ayman al Zawahri, who once asked Saudi supporters for financial support. Al Zawahri’s message was intercepted by the Saudi authorities in 2007.

Al Qaeda’s leader Osama bin Laden’s latest audio statement, parts of which were aired by the Arab news network al Jazeera on Wednesday, focused on the situation in Pakistan and criticizing the government of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.

The timing of the release of the statement, a day before U.S. President Barack Obama’s much-anticipated speech to Muslims out of Cairo, and Bin Laden’s attacks on Obama in the audio seemed to suggest al Qaeda’s leader’s statement was intended as a pre-reaction to the speech.

Read full post…

In a new audio statement aired by the al Jazeera Arab news channel on Wednesday, al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden accused President Barack Obama and his administration of “panting new seeds of hatred and vengeance towards America” by supporting the military operations against militants in Pakistan.

“The number of these seeds equates that of those who have suffered and been made homeless in the Swat valley and the tribal areas in northern and southern Waziristan, as well as those who sympathize with them,” he added.

Al Qaeda’s leader compared President Obama’s policies to those of his predecessor President George W. Bush and said they created “more enmity towards Muslims” and “paved the way for new long wars.”

“Let the American people prepare to continue harvesting what their White House leaders grow, in the years and decades to come,” he added.

Bin Laden’s statement comes a day after al Qaeda’s number two Ayman al Zawahri said President Obama was not welcomed in Egypt, where he is expected to address Muslims on Thursday.

Bin Laden also accused Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari of receiving his orders from President Obama and claimed one million Muslims, including elderly people, women and children, had to flee their homes because of the operations in the valley.

Al Qaeda No. 2, Ayman Zawahiri said in a new audiotape today that President Obama is not welcome in Egypt. Commenting on Obama's upcoming visit to Cairo, Zawahiri said that President Obama's message to the Muslim World has already been delivered. "Obama's message to the Muslim World was delivered when he visited the Wailing wall, with the Jewish skullcap on his head…when he performed the Jewish prayers despite claiming that he is Christian," Zawahiri said, reminding his audience of Obama's pledge before the AIPAC conference to make Jerusalem the undivided capital of Israel.

A group called “Martyr Zarqawi Media Brigades in Jerusalem” has released pictures from its print shop where books of al Qaeda and other jihadi leaders were being printed for distribution in the Gaza strip.

Pictures showed large quantities of a book by Abu Hamza al Muhajir, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.

The Iraqi Baath party denied in an Internet statement having any links to al Qaeda following rumors that some of the brutal operations undertaken by the group were carried out in cooperation with the Baath party.

“Our party has never had any relation with what’s known as al Qaeda, not before the occupation nor after,” the statement said. “As a matter of fact, many of our men and cadres have been victims of assassinations and kidnappings carried out by this group because of their rejection of the sectarian ideology that was introduced to Iraq upon the advent of the occupation,” it added.

The Party also criticized the way al-Qaeda has been doing business in Iraq, saying that they were criminal gangs, working in collaboration with the American, Zionist and Iranian intelligence present in Iraq.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's media house released a new video about the assassination of Major Mohammed Ben Rabeesh al-Kaalan, head of the Security Directorate in Marib province last October. The 10-minute video produced by Sada al Malahem was entitled “Rabeesh and the Just Punishment" and opens with an introduction that shed some light on al Kaalan and the reason why al Qaeda decided to kill him.

The group claims in the video that al Kaalan was a bitter enemy of the militants and a strong ally to the "apostates." He collaborated closely with the U.S. embassy in Sanaa, they claim, and used to “regulary receive the U.S. ambassador to Yemen in his home.”

The group blamed the man for the death of former al Qaeda leader Abu Ali al Harthi, a good friend of al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, and one of the men behind the attack on USS Cole in 2000.

Al Harthi was killed back in 2002 in a U.S. drone attack on al Qaeda positions in Maarib desert, 160 kms northern the Yemeni capital. The group also held al Kaalan responsible for the killing of four militants killed by Yemeni security forces in 2007.

The video finally shows pictures of the booby-trapped package that was sent to al Kaalan in October 2008. The pictures show that it was designed to explode when the box was opened. Al Kaalan opened it on the morning of October 20th and was killed by the explosion.

The group warned other Yemenis collaborating either with the Yemeni President Ali Saleh's regime or with the U.S., that they would meet the same fate if they conspired against the militants.

The second issue of an English online magazine was released by Al Fursan Media. The 74-page publication, called Jihad Recollections, included articles on politics, the economy, religions, biographies, strategies and social, technological and health issues.

In addition to light features, like one on the latest mobile phones, it included an English version of all al Qaeda and other militant groups’ propaganda released on the Internet.

This issues’ main story was entitled “Obamaturk: The Secular Phenomenon” and dealt with U.S. President Barack Obama’s speech before the Turkish Parliament last month. It compared the U.S. president to the founder of modern Turkey Kemal Ataturk, who according to the author, “dismantled the greatest nation God has ever let exist on earth.”

There were also articles on the latest tape by Adam Ghadan, western reactions to the appearance of Abu Mansour al Amrki in Somali militants’ video, tributes to the “architect of global jihad” Abu Mus’ab al Suri and al Qaeda figure Abu Laith al Libi.

The Egyptian Islamist group al Jamaa al Islamiyya urged al Qaeda to put aside the group’s long-standing differences with the United States and make good use of President Obama’s efforts to begin a new era that would bring back the values of justice, tolerance, and would give people back their rights. The group called on al Qaeda to open dialogue channels with the U.S. President, who according to the statement, could be “today’s friend.”

The group also said it looked forward to Obama’s visit to Egypt, and hailed the efforts he undertook in the first 100 days of his presidency. “We value the efforts he exerted in the past 100 days, to end this false "clashes of civilizations" saga that President Bush has created for no reason and which harmed the United States more than any other parties.”

The group also invited President Obama to learn more about the group’s experience in Egypt and about the recent ideological revisions adopted by its leadership. The statement also urged President Obama to release the group’s spiritual leader, Omar Abdel Rahman, a blind cleric serving a life sentence for his role in the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing.