Monday 10 June 2013

 
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Inquiry & Analysis|977| June 10, 2013

'Inspire' Magazine Issue XI - First Issue Released Via Twitter - Review And Analysis: AQAP Praises Use Of Twitter, Reiterates Strategies Of Lone Wolf Jihad, Bringing Down U.S. Economy

By: Steven Stalinsky and R. Sosnow*

MEMRI | MEMRI TV | JIHAD AND TERRORISM THREAT MONITOR | SOUTH ASIA STUDIES PROJECT

 
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The following report is a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.

Introduction

On May 30, 2013, jihad supporters on Twitter disseminated links to Issue XI of Inspire, the English-language jihadi magazine produced by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The issue includes threats to the American people by the group's military commander Qassim Al-Rimi; and in it, AQAP attempts to capitalize on the Boston and London attacks to incite further attacks.
Most of the articles in this issue of the magazine focus on the Boston Marathon bombing. Inspire's publishers clearly believe that they deserve credit for providing the Tsarnaev brothers with the motivation and operational know-how for the attack. More importantly, in this issue, AQAP continues to incite Muslims in the West to carry out similar attacks, by emulating the brothers as well as the perpetrators of the May 22 Woolwich murder and attacks. Thus, featuring prominently in this issue is a message from Al-Rimi warning the American people that these attacks will continue, and that their government is helpless to stop them.
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Cover image
Following the publication of Issue XI, on June 2, an audio warning by Al-Rimi was posted online; in it, he stated that that the Boston bombings revealed the fragility of security, urged Muslims to defend their religion, and said that making bombs such as the ones used in Boston was within "everyone's reach."
For The First Time – Magazine Released Via Twitter – Circumventing Problems Of Release On Jihadi Forums
In contrast to all previous issues of Inspire, which were published on Al-Qaeda-affiliated jihadi forums, this issue was published via Twitter, with a link for downloading it tweeted by a number of Twitter accounts.
This Twitter release circumvented the main problem that had plagued the publication of previous issues of Inspire – that is, subsequent and intermittent removal of the jihadi forums. Twitter is referred to and praised, and tweets are cited, multiple times in Issue XI – further evidence that jihadis are becoming increasingly dependent upon it.
The first to tweet a viable link was a Twitter account belonging to one "Muhammad Al-Shammary," @muhammad115599, who wrote that he had received an email with the English and Arabic versions of the magazine, and then tweeted the password for the link.
However, before Al-Shammary tweeted links, the first to break the news of the issue's release was Yemeni journalist 'Abd Al-Razzaq Al-Jamal, who is associated with AQAP; he posted excerpts and images from it on his Facebook page. He also posted on his page links to both the English and Arabic versions of the magazine, but they did not lead anywhere; he attributed this to power outages in Yemen, where he lives.
It should be noted that Al-Jamal is featured, and his Twitter account is quoted, in Issue XI: "America violates sovereignty of nations. They carry out Extrajudicial killings. Above that, they exploit children in their lowly intelligence services. Then people talk about America as a state of law. America recruits children below the age of ten. They did this in the targeting of Sheikh Adnan Al-Qadhy."
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Al-Jamal, in "Jihad Talk" section, page 3
Issue XI – A "Special Issue"
Issue XI is termed a "Special Issue"; the only other Inspire issue termed "special" was No. III, published November 2010. The cover image (see above) is of a masked man in conversation with Western-looking youths – one of them, in a red hooded sweatshirt, is reminiscent of alleged Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Setting the tone of this issue is its opening "Letter from the Editor" praising the Boston Marathon bombers: "Americans, you should understand this simple equation: As you kill you will be killed. The war is yet to cease, it has barely started. Yesterday it was Baghdad, today it is Boston. The question of 'who and why' should be kept aside. You should be asking, 'Where is next?' The act of the two great brothers, Tamerlan and Dzokhar, is but the true image reflected by the bloody deeds of your hands, reflected by the oppressive policies of your downtrodding regimes."
It is noteworthy that some of the articles in this issue concern very recent events, including the May 22, 2013 beheading of a British soldier in Woolwich and the May 20 Oklahoma tornado: "Subhanallah! This pic is not of Hiroshima! The Oklahoma tornado took lives, destroyed properties, and still nations, Muslims and others alike, celebrated and prayed for more to strike America. They love to see America in calamities!"
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Photo from "Newsflash" on Oklahoma tornado, page 4
Bringing Down The U.S. Economy And Twitter's Role In Cyber Jihad
Other overarching themes in Issue XI include the claim that the U.S. economy's is unable to continue to fund its war on terrorism because of Al-Qaeda, which is causing it to spend billions in vain; and praise for Twitter for the role it plays in cyber jihad.
Inspire Issue XI Provides Details For Readers And Lone-Wolf Hopefuls To Directly Communicate With Al-Qaeda – Via Yahoo Email Addresses
Like other issues of Inspire, Issue XI provides email addresses and encryption details for readers to contact Al-Qaeda, beginning on page 1; the addresses are inscont@yhaoo.com andpirezine@yahoo.com. Also as in other issues, one of the final pages includes a section titled "How To Communicate With Us," which notes: "If you are interested in contributing to this magazine with any skills – be it writing, research, editing, or advice – or have any questions for us, you can contact us at any of the email addresses below. We strongly encourage everyone to use the Asrar al-Mujahideen program to get in touch with us as was explained in our first issue. Please take special precautions when using the program in order to avoid detection from the intelligence services." It then provides encryption information and again lists email addresses for readers to contact the magazine.
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Page 38
The following is a review of the main articles in Issue XI of Inspire.

AQTWEETS: Tweeted "Comments On The Boston Operation"

Directly underlining the importance of Twitter to AQAP efforts, Issue XI features, on pages 32-33, a section titled "Comments on the Boston Operation collected by Al-Malahem Media from the mujahideen in the Arabian Peninsula," which includes 10 tweets on the Boston Marathon bombing.
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Abu Omar: "I wish I was u #Tamerlan, u made a mother whose son has bn killed by US 2smyl, I ask Allah to join us in Jannah."
Abu Sameer Al-Amriki:  "We are drainin these kuffar's economy, no money no war no cry. Hope they increase the intelligence budget, wow! mo #taxes ! Thats all folks :)"
Isaac X:  "Pressure cooker is well named by Jose Martinez, the #Marathon cooker raised Obama's blood pressure, oh! he became overcooked by Boston steam."
Abul Kheir Al-'Adany: "They say the bros arent AlQaeda, they are lone wolves. That z wat ALQ wants, the #jihad project to be da ummah's prjct, I blve we are winning."
Abu Ali Al-Muhajir: "1. The finishline is the new mirage in town, only it has more smoke and #shrapnel . 2. Quit killing innocents muslims or just quit Racing"
Suleiman Khan: "I'm happy the 2nd anniversary of Sheikh Usama's martyrdom came while Americans mourn for the casualties of the blessed #Boston Bombing."
Enemy of Tyrants: "#Boston Bombings: Good planning, even better is turning the plan into action, and the best thing is that the operation exceeded expectations"
Abu Shamel: "Allahu Akbar, I feel so happy, only 2 soldiers of Allah defeated America, its army & #intel America can never stop the decree of Allah."
Abu Zaid: "In other marathons the winners wear metallic medals, in this #marathon even the supporters got their metallic share ;)"
Ismael As-Swabry: "Tips: dnt win a #marathon (no 1 shoots the tail) avoid crowded places (probably ther is a chef ) cheer behind a wall (shrapnel dnt pierce walls)"

"The Inevitable" – Article On "Blessed Boston Bombings (BBB)" And The "Absolute Success On All Levels" Of This "Lone Jihad Operation"

An article on page 20 titled "The Inevitable," by Abu Ziyad Al-Muhajir, who also published an article in the previous issue of Inspire, is devoted to what the author terms "the Blessed Boston Bombings (BBB)." He writes: "April 15 is Tax Day in America. Last April taxes were returned in different forms; lives, blood and limbs, as a direct result of killing, injuring, torturing and jailing of millions of Muslim children, women and men, old and young, all around the Muslim world.
"The Blessed Boston Bombings (BBB) have been an absolute success on all levels and domains. These heroic bombings have exposed many hidden shortcomings of the American security and intelligence system. They have also proved that the legendary acclaimed power of the enemy's intelligence is nothing but a big lie indeed.
"By tracking the course Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev – may Allah reward them – ran along on April 15 until they crossed their own finish line at 2:50 pm (ET), we can confidently say that the real worthy winners of the Boston Marathon were the Tsarnaev mujahideen Brothers.
"When we talk about the Boston operation, we need to shed light on one element; the factor of success. Because it is important to all Muslims generally and the mujahideen in particular to know how brilliant the Tsarnaev were in planning and accomplishing these jihadi attacks. Surely, this comes after they've asked Allah for help and relied on Him."
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Title image of "The Inevitable," page 20
Praising the Boston bombers's choice of location, he continues: "The Tsarnaev mujahideen's choice of Boston as a target for the bombings was very appropriate indeed. Why? Because it is relatively out of the enemy's attention as a potential target to the mujahideen, unlike New York for example, which is under an intensive security surveillance since September 11. Boston is also some hours away from Washington DC, this makes an attack on its soil a menace to the American capital and its residents.
"The BBB hit Copley Square the substantial heart of Boston center, whereby many hotels are around. MIT is in the neighborhood, Fenway Park the home ballpark of the Boston Red Sox baseball club is not far, also Boston University and Boston College are located near the blasts."
Praising the timing of the attack, he notes: "Last April 15 coincided with Patriots' Day, a civic holiday in Massachusetts. All this means the Tsarnaevs brothers planned smartly to strike at a crowded time to guarantee maximum killing and injuring. This timing is significant in Lone Jihad operations.
"It is worth mentioning that the mujahideen detonated their IEDs in the middle of the race; 9000 runners were still on the course. Usually by this time the security forces have lost their vigilance due to exhaustion. That of course makes it easier to place the IEDs in the most appropriate location biidhnillah."

"An Eye For An Eye" – Article On Woolwich Beheading Of British Soldier

Further evidence of the rushed publication of Issue XI was an article on the May 22 beheading of a British soldier in Woolwich on May 22, 2013. The article, "An Eye For An Eye" by one Muhammad As-San'ani (i.e. from San'a, Yemen) on page 24, quotes one of the attackers:
"Let the world hop on its toes, but let us, you and me, sit down and listen to what Adebolajo (aka 'Mujahid') and Adebowale said: 'We swear by Almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you. The only reasons we have done this is because Muslims are dying every day. (Killing) this British soldier is an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth. We apologize that women had to see this today, but in our lands, our women have to see the same. You people will never be safe. Remove your government. They don't care about you.'"
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Title image of "Eye for an Eye," page 24
As-San'ani goes on to warn that there are "many" Western Muslims like the Boston Marathon bombers and like those behind the U.K. attack who are ready to carry out further attacks and are also willing to carry out a wave of vengeance and payback: "The Western nations will pay a dear price, and the media will have turmoils and turmoils. And thereupon only, the world will constantly stand on its toes."

Cover Story: "Who & Why" – A Critique Of President Obama's Counterterrorism Policy

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In the cover story "Who & Why," author Abu Abdillah Almoravid praises the Boston Marathon bombings, calling it an "intelligence failure" by President Obama and stating that one of the Tsarnaev brothers was on a watch list: "When one looks at the terrific Boston Marathon operation and its aftermath, including the accusation of the two brothers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, he understands how a single lone jihad operation can force America to stand on one foot and live in a terrified state, full of fear and rare restlessness."
Like others in this issue, this author too quotes Osama bin Laden.
Almoravid gloated over the fact that immediately following the bombing, when speculation as to the perpetrators ranged from white supremacists to Muslims, Inspire magazine remained the center of discussion: "Another string leads us to the trend of the event and its indications; Intelligence officials, analysts and the mainstream media say that the explosives used in the operation match the recipe published by the Jihadi Magazine 'Inspire' in the 'Open Source Jihad' section."
Almoravid then goes on to enumerate the oft-repeated Al-Qaeda grievances with the U.S., among them its support for Israel and its actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then, focusing on drones, he wrote: "The unmanned drones harvest hundreds of innocent lives in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. This is enough to inflame the situation and arouse anger. Unmanned drones direct 'Hellfire' missiles in accordance with the 'temptation and desire' of the CIA without observing war ethics, morals, not even the 'American law' - which could not protect its citizens like it did with the media personnel Samir Khan, the preacher Anwar Al-Awlaki and his son 'Abdur-Rahman (may Allah accept their martyrdom). All this together with Extrajudicial Executions and Assassinations are out of the domain of law. The turmoil in the U.S. in regard to the drone issue, moreover in Congress, is enough to prove that the American people have realized that its danger is not threatening the security of the Muslim nation alone, but also the security of the American citizen. If we note down all that has been and is still being carried out by America against the Muslim nations, we will run out of pages."
Ridiculing President Obama, Almoravid said that he should apologize to the Muslims: "After this, it is upon President Obama to announce another failure once again. In the aftermath of Umar Farouq Operation, Obama was more courageous to pronounce the failure and the intelligence infiltration. And it is upon President Obama to apologize to the American people for the declaration he made in the Chief of Staff resignation party. He said, 'America has become safe' and terror will not reach it again after the killing of Sheikh Anwar Al-Awlaki. It also seems that Obama will have to announce a new type of Lone Jihad which is impossible to counter and stop, except when basic cooking ingredients and building material become illegal!
"Yes, this is the only solution. A Lone Jihad operation like that of Boston Marathon requires nothing more than a few utensils, some matchsticks, a box of nails and a clock for timing. Another ingredient which I should mention is a group of American citizens gathered in a ceremony, sports event or just surprising time and place. Obama is obligated to announce that he is out of options to counter operations inside the U.S. boundaries. And the Intelligence community has no more options. So the American people are to face their fate alone.
"If Obama does not take the initiative to speak out frankly and make this vital and sensitive file transparent, and if the Intelligence agencies, above all the FBI, prefer not to speak about this frustrating fact, then Mr. Brennan will have to explain to the American people about the amazing relation between the unmanned drones killing the innocents in Waziristan, Yemen and Somalia and the American homeland security. And is the 'American citizen's personal security' same as the 'American Homeland Security' which - as per Brennan's definition - the danger against it poses in a region like Sarhad in Waziristan, or a remote village in the deserts or mountains of Yemen just like President Kennedy propagated in the beginning of the 60's when he said that the war in the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula is «against the homeland security in Vietnam?!
"I hope Mr. Brennan will respect his position and not answer that the 'pressure cooker' used in Boston was made in the Pashto tribal region in the mountains of Handakosh, or the 'nails' and the 'BBs' used in the Boston Bombings were glued inside the 'pressure cooker' by villagers in Abyan or Shabwah in Yemen, or the aggression has moved from Vietnam to another region and should be exterminated in the 'Kennedy and Nixon' way minus a pilot.
"And between the failure of the American government on different scales on one hand, and unstoppable Lone Jihad operations on the other, the American people should understand that they have an option to secure their 'personal safety and material well-being'. And this could only happen by changing their government's foreign policies which are aggressive towards other nations especially Muslim nations. And America has enough internal problems, economy crises, joblessness, health insurance, gun control, you name it. They have enough social problems which they should devote themselves to, instead of those foreign policies which are run by the elite of the large companies in Wall Street who achieve their personal interests on the account of the American nation and the safety of the American citizen."

"America's Bitter Harvest" – Article On Al-Qaeda's Economic Jihad Against America

"America's Bitter Harvest," an article on page 34 by one Muhannad J.S., also focuses on the Boston Marathon bombing. It reads: "The Boston bombing's damage on the American nation will be seen throughout the coming months and years. This is the blessing of jihad. The list of the psychological and security, economic and political damages caused by the blasts is extensive and the bill is heavy. As long as America attacks Islam and Muslims, its people should be ready for more and more fatalities unless they exert pressure on their government to take its hands off the Muslim ummah and stop the aggression on Shari'a."
Ridiculing Bostonians and Americans who live in a "panic-stricken way," the author notes that the media coverage plays into the hands of Al-Qaeda: "The double blast and the aftermath events left 4 people killed and about 264 amputated and injured 'survivors'. Those 'survivors' will live to narrate hundreds of hair-raising stories regarding April 15. They will narrate to millions through the media and writings, they will tell family and friends. It is rather noticeable in the aftermath of the Boston bombing, how the American communities and individuals behaved in a panic-stricken way. They became scared of more jihadi operations, which may – and will inshaa Allah – occur again and again in the American cities."
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