Usama 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 [...]
Archive for the ‘Strategy’ Category
Al-Qaida and the German Elections
Posted: 25th September 2009 by Thomas Hegghammer in Bin Laden, Germany, Strategy5
So we all managed to survive a new celebration of 9/11. But why should Al-Qaida commemorate 9/11 in the first place? I am not referring to the heavy debates that raged among its leadership about the strategic relevance of striking US territory and that Vahid Brown documented in his landmark study Cracks in the foundation. [...]
Visions of Afghan and Somali Emirates
Posted: 27th August 2009 by Scott Sanford in Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, propaganda, Somalia, StrategyOn 25 August 2009, the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) published a plea by Dr. John Boutros for Muslims to aid the jihadi cause. He stated, “Do not mourn because the Islamic Caliphate is imminent… Trust me, the US is one or two thrusts” away from crumpling. However, in order to make this happen Muslims [...]
Hijazi Comments on New AFPAK Strategy
Posted: 16th August 2009 by Scott Sanford in Afghanistan, Pakistan, StrategyOn 28 July 2009 the popular jihadi blogger Akram Hijazi initiated a series of articles under the title, “The Power of God in the Great Empires.” He titled the first installment “The American Strategy in Afghanistan,” the second “Dismembering the Strategy,” the third “Strategic Crisis and NATO’s Humiliations,” and the fourth, which is the last [...]
The Non-Strategic “Special Strategic Study”
Posted: 22nd July 2009 by Scott Sanford in Islamic War Doctrine, Nuclear, propaganda, Strategy, WMDThe “Falluja Think Tank” recently published the “Special Strategic Study of the Global Battle and the Jihadi Movement’s Place in It.” Like Thomas, I had high expectations, but was disappointed in the end because the study amounted to little more than general summaries of U.S. and jihadi history. However, the author did state that divine [...]
The Posts That Never Were
Posted: 13th July 2009 by Thomas Hegghammer in Afghanistan, France, Islamic State of Iraq, Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, Pakistan, Somalia, Strategy, USAApologies for the slow publication pace here at Jihadica, but deadlines and an upcoming house move mean I can only dream about serious blogging these days. This does not mean forums are quiet. Every morning this past week I found things on the forums that deserved commentary. In a dream world, here’s what I would [...]
Obama is more Dangerous than Bush
Posted: 29th June 2009 by Thomas Hegghammer in Afghanistan, Obama, Saudi Arabia, Strategy, USAThis is the title of the main story in the July issue of al-Sumud, the Arabic-language magazine of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The 56-page magazine has several articles devoted to Obama and the Cairo speech, and the front page features a particularly unflattering picture of the US president. But it is the lead article [...]
“The Iran Crisis and Its Effects on the Global Jihad”
Posted: 23rd June 2009 by Scott Sanford in Iran, StrategyHow will the Iran debacle affect al-Qaida? This was the question raised yesterday in a short strategic study titled “The Iran Crisis and Its Effects on the Global Jihad by Abu al-Fadl Madi (أبو الفضل ماضي), a Falluja forum member with so-called “great writer” status. He briefly outlined the situation in Iran claiming that the [...]
Weekend Reading: “The Second Foreign Fighter Glut”
Posted: 29th May 2009 by Scott Sanford in propaganda, Recruitment, Strategy, terrorism, Western AnalystsLongtime Jihadica friend Clint Watts recently published an article at the Small Wars Journal titled, “Countering Terrorism from the Second Foreign Fighter Glut.” This article is the third in a series he has authored using data from the Sinjar records (Part 1 and Part 2 of the series). He concluded, “The key to success for [...]
Jihadists Study Jihadi Studies
Posted: 29th April 2009 by Thomas Hegghammer in propaganda, Strategy, Western Analysts, Western booksAt the risk of seeming omphaloskeptic, I will add a few more observations about jihadists citing western scholars, because this phenomenon taking larger proportions than I expected. Since my last post on the subject, both the Militant Ideology Atlas and the RAND study mentioned by al-Maqdisi have been posted on al-Maqdisi’s own website, Minbar al-Tawhid [...]