Of all the jihadis we’ve seen in recent years, Abu Mus’ab al-Zarqawi must rank as one of the most violent. Nicknamed “the slaughtering sheikh” (al-shaykh al-dhabbah) by fellow militants, he is widely held responsible for killing hundreds of Shiites in Iraq and personally beheading the American hostage Nicolas Berg. It would therefore be interesting to [...]
Archive for the ‘AQ in Iraq’ Category
A Portrait of the Terrorist as a Young Man
Posted: 18th July 2010 by Joas Wagemakers in AQ in Iraq, AQ Leadership, Jordan, Palestinian Territories, terrorism6
Al-Baghdadi Speaks
Posted: 12th May 2009 by Thomas Hegghammer in AQ in Iraq, Iraq, Islamic State of IraqA quick addendum to Truls’s post about Abu Umar al-Baghdadi: The Islamic State in Iraq has now broken the silence over al-Baghadi’s alleged capture. It released a brief statement this morning dismissing the reported arrest and denying any knowledge of the man depicted on the photograph circulating in the media. Shortly afterwards, Furqan media released [...]
Emirate of Confusion
Posted: 8th May 2009 by Truls Tønnessen in AQ in Iraq, Iraq, Islamic State of IraqEditor’s note: I am delighted to introduce a new contributor, Truls Tønnessen, who is a FFI research fellow as well as a PhD candidate in History at the University of Oslo. He works on jihadism in Iraq and will be covering Iraq for Jihadica. The alleged arrest of the emir of al-Qaida led Islamic [...]
Back
Posted: 26th March 2009 by Thomas Hegghammer in AQ in Iraq, Bin Laden, China, Islamic State of Iraq, Jihadi media, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, propaganda, Somalia, Yemen, ZawahiriI have been busy the past two weeks, but the jihadis have been busier. Bin Ladin has issued two audio statements, one proposing practical steps to liberate Palestine and the other about the treacherous government in Somalia. Al-Zawahiri warned against the forthcoming Crusader attack on Sudan, while Mustafa Abu al-Yazid has addressed the people of [...]
More Fitna in Cyberspace: Mihdar vs al-Maqdisi
Posted: 7th February 2009 by Brynjar Lia in AQ in Iraq, Jihadi mediaIs another chapter in the history of cyber-jihadi infighting about to be written these days? The latest controversy is a series of attacks by the webforum Madad al-Suyuf on Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, perhaps the most influential salafi-jihadi clerics alive. That the cyber-Jihadis quarrel with one another should come as no surprise. Despite calls for unity [...]
Pathetic Psy-ops
Posted: 5th February 2009 by Thomas Hegghammer in Algeria, AQ in Iraq, Conspiracy Theories, propaganda, Saudi Arabia, Western mediaThe British tabloid The Sun reported yesterday that al-Qaeda leaders rape male recruits to shame them into becoming suicide bombers. Let me start by congratulating the journalist on being able to fit the four words “al-Qaida”, “gay”, “rape” and “horror” in one and the same headline in the world’s largest English-language newspaper. I would not [...]
“The Painful Truth: Al-Qaeda is Losing the War in Iraq”
Posted: 1st October 2008 by Will McCants in AQ in Iraq, Islamic State of IraqTags: al-Qaeda in Iraq, Iraq, Islamic State of Iraq
That’s the title of a post by hamzacom on the Faloja forum. In it, he draws an analogy with Afghanistan just after the U.S. invasion. It was a time of defeat for the mujahids but now they are resurging. The same will happen in Iraq. Other forum members are predictably annoyed by hamzacom’s pessimistic title. [...]
Maqdisi Composes Elegy for Zarqawi
Posted: 25th September 2008 by Will McCants in AQ in Iraq, AQ Leadership, PoetryTags: Maqdisi, Poetry, Zarqawi
Zarqawi’s spiritual mentor, Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, composed an elegy for his deceased disciple soon after his death. Although the two fell out over Zarqawi’s brutal tactics in Iraq, Maqdisi still has a soft spot for him. The elegy, “The Dove Cried and the Swords Wept,” is recited by Maqdisi and has been released online for [...]
Zawahiri the XO
Posted: 11th September 2008 by Will McCants in AQ in Iraq, AQ Leadership, Bin Laden, Iraq, Islamic State of Iraq, Jihadi media, Recruitment, tactics, ZawahiriTags: Abu Ayyub al-Masri, al-Qaeda Central, al-Qaeda in Iraq, Bin Laden, Islamic State of Iraq, Zawahiri
The US military has given CNN letters that Zawahiri wrote in March 2008 to senior al-Qaeda commanders in Iraq (hat tip SK). Much of the content has been filtered through an MNFI spokesman so it’s hard to use CNN’s summary to assess al-Qaeda’s fortunes in Iraq. Nevertheless, since the summary fits with the bleak picture [...]