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Special Dispatch|5409| August 15, 2013 Al-Qaeda's General Manager: Nasir Al-Wuhayshi – An Advocate Of Lone Wolf And WMD Attacks On Planes, Buses And Subways In Western Countries MEMRI | MEMRI TV | JIHAD AND TERRORISM THREAT MONITOR | SOUTH ASIA STUDIES PROJECT

Note to media and government: For a full copy of this report, send an email with the title of the report in the subject line to media@memri.org. Please include your name, title, and organization in your email.  This month's unprecedented terror alert and subsequent shutdown of U.S. embassies across the Middle East and Africa were triggered by intercepted communications between Al-Qaeda leader Al-Zawahiri and his newly appointed "general manager" and second-in-command, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) leader Nasir Al-Wuhayshi, aka Abu Basir, about plans for a major terror attack. The terror plot, as it turned out, was not ordered by Al-Zawahiri, as first reported, but was proposed by Al-Wuhayshi and approved by Al-Zawahiri.  The Yemen-born Al-Wuhayshi, leader of the Yemen-based AQAP, won his reputation as a fighter in Afghanistan in the late 1990s, and was personal secretary to, and remained close to, Osama bin Laden. After fleeing to Iran from Tora Bora in 2001, he was arrested there and deported back to Yemen, where he was imprisoned until his escape in 2006 and his reemergence to establish and head AQAP in 2009. He has significant ties to Al-Zawahiri, and was one of the first leaders to express his approval of him and pledge his loyalty to him as Al-Qaeda leader following Osama bin Laden's killing. He has been a major target of the U.S. for years, and has been reported killed a number of times. At 36, Al-Wuhayshi represents the next generation of the Al-Qaeda leadership; he is Internet savvy, and for the past five years has been actively bringing the philosophy of independent jihad and lone wolf attacks in the West directly to readers of Al-Qaeda's Internet forums, as he has openly and actively helped to create and grow Al-Qaeda's cyber army on these sites. These efforts have included providing email addresses for potential Western recruits of Al-Qaeda to contact Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and even providing encryption codes to be used for the messages. Along with his close comrades from AQAP, Al-Wuhayshi was active in the founding of AQAP's English-language online Inspire Magazine, whose first issue, published in the summer of 2010, included the infamous "Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom" article. That article was based on a November 2009 article by Al-Wuhayshi that was published in an AQAP magazine. The first issue of Inspire also included an exclusive and lengthy interview with Al-Wuhayshi. Since Al-Wuhayshi is now known to be both Al-Qaeda second-in-command and the author of the terror plot that prompted the alert and the shutdown of U.S. embassies, there is much for the West to be concerned about. His long-declared military strategy focuses on attacks on the West, including airplanes, trains, and subways, by methods including WMDs. Al-Wuhayshi has stated that "we are infatuated with the events of 9/11" and that he and the mujahideen are seeking to repeat attacks on this scale. He also openly discusses and acknowledges that since 2010 he has been involved in planning strategies and plots to strike the U.S. Additionally, he has expressed satisfaction with the fear in the U.S. caused by AQAP's attacks, and the amount of money that the U.S. has been forced to spend on homeland security. MEMRI JTTM – Following Al-Wuhayshi Since 2006 The MEMRI Jihad and Terrorism Monitor (JTTM), have been monitoring Al-Wuhayshi's statements since 2006, publishing translations of his writings and of his audio and video messages – the most recent of which was a translation of his August 11, 2013 letter to imprisoned mujahideen everywhere. In that message, he promised the mujahideen that very soon they will be freed by their mujahideen brethren, who are toppling oppressive regimes daily, and assures them that they are on the verge of attaining victory and restoring the Caliphate. Click here to read the full report.  To view this report, you must be a paying member of the Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor Project (JTTM).  For membership information, send an email to jttmsubs@memri.org with "Membership" in the subject line.