As is the case for many others, the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks has made me reflect on their impact over the past decade. To this end, Michelle Shephard‘s Decade of Fear has been indispensable. A very personal account of her journalistic efforts to chronicle the war on terrorism over the past decade, Michelle weaves the weft [...]
Archive for the ‘Bin Laden’ Category
Decade of Fear
Posted: 11th September 2011 by Will McCants in al-Qaida on the Arabian Peninsula, AQ Central, AQ Leadership, Bin Laden, Pakistan, Recruitment2
Like most others, I knew this day would come but I still can’t believe it’s here. And to come at such a momentous time in Middle Eastern history, with the Arab Spring and the end of our combat presence in Iraq. I’ve been pleasantly surprised that the stock thinking about the implications of Bin Laden’s [...]
A Note on Usama Bin Ladin’s 1998 Declaration of War: al-Kisa’i vs. al-Kasani
Posted: 24th February 2011 by Sayeed Rahman in AQ Leadership, Bin Laden, Islamic jurisprudence[Editor's note: I am very pleased to introduce a new guest contributor, Sayeed Rahman, a Yale PhD and a fellow with the Truman National Security Project.] A number of translations analyze and annotate Usama Bin Ladin’s 1998 statement declaring war against the United States and her allies (see here, here, here, here and here). The original Arabic source for [...]
Al-Qaida and the German Elections
Posted: 25th September 2009 by Thomas Hegghammer in Bin Laden, Germany, StrategyUsama Bin Ladin has just released a new audio statement to the European peoples. It is relatively short (under 5 minutes) and basically tells the Europeans to get out of Afghanistan. The statement is subtitled in German and is clearly timed to coincide with the German elections this coming Sunday. Bin Ladin’s statement comes in [...]
British soldiers found an Aston Villa tattoo on the body of a dead Taliban fighter in Afghanistan, British newspapers reported earlier this week. Of course, for Birmingham City supporters, this is reason enough to deploy nuclear weapons against the Taliban. It’s more unclear what this means for Taliban-al-Qaida relations, given that Bin Ladin is an [...]
Why is al-Sahab Called al-Sahab?
Posted: 15th June 2009 by Thomas Hegghammer in Bin Laden, Jihadi media, propagandaThis excellent question was raised in a comment to an earlier Jihadica piece. Since it probably interests a wider audience, I figured I should devote a separate post to it. Most readers probably know that the word sahab means “clouds” and that it emerged as the name of al-Qaida’s media production company around 2002. But [...]
Bin Ladin in Trouble?
Posted: 3rd June 2009 by Thomas Hegghammer in AQ Leadership, Bin Laden, ZawahiriThis morning al-Jazeera aired segments of a Bin Ladin audiotape which most international media are reading in the context of Obama’s Middle East tour, which started today. This is despite the fact that the statement seems to say nothing at all about the President’s tour, but talks instead about the Swat campaign in Pakistan. Bin [...]
On 15 May 2009, the Jihadi Brigades of Internet Incursion, which appear to be a part of the Shumukh Forums, announced a successful “incursion” of over 250,000 email addresses. Their announcement stated: We bring good news to the Islamic Ummah of the continuation of the electronic jihadi media raids in support of the truth in [...]
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 [...]
Bin Laden And Zawahiri Not Sharing Talking Points
Posted: 14th January 2009 by Will McCants in AQ Leadership, Bin Laden, Hamas, Israel, Palestinian Territories, ZawahiriIt’s interesting to compare Bin Laden’s new statement on Gaza with Zawahiri’s of last week. Of course the overarching message–jihad now!–is the same. But unlike Zawahiri, Bin Laden doesn’t mock Obama, he doesn’t echo Zawahiri’s call for demonstrations in Egypt (Bin Laden says demonstrations are useless), and he takes a slightly more conciliatory view of [...]