AQAP Releases Advice for Western Recruits

A recently released English-language booklet that both describes life in Yemen as an Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) fighter and encourages westerners to carry out attacks inside their home countries is the latest in a series of AQAP publications demonstrating its commitment to reaching western audiences with its violent message.

The publication, “Expectations Full,” was purportedly written by Samir Khan, the American terror propagandist who was killed in a September 2011 drone strike in Yemen. The booklet encourages “brothers in the West to wage jihad inside their countries” because the effect is “much greater, it always embarrasses the enemy, and these type [sic] of individual decision-making attacks are nearly impossible for them to contain.”

The phrase “individual decision-making attacks” is an apparent reference to the “Lone Wolf” phenomenon, where individuals self-radicalize, often online, without any face-to-face interactions with established terrorist groups.

Despite advocating for individuals to carry out attacks in the West, the booklet is mostly devoted to giving “fellow Muslims a sense of the live [sic] of a mujahid,” including issues such as cleanliness, living on base, secrecy, injuries, training and family life.

“Now that you know what to expect [abroad],” the booklet concludes, “you can compare that with doing jihad in the west, weigh the pros and cons, and make your decision.”

Over the last several years, English-language terrorist propaganda has given conflicting messages about where it is most preferable to carry out attacks. AQAP’s English-language terrorist magazine, Inspire, believed to be produced by Khan until his death, repeatedly encouraged its readers to carry out attacks wherever they reside. Al Qaeda spokesperson Adam Gadahn similarly encouraged Americans to attack within the U.S. in a June 2011 message. At the same time, Omar Hammami, an American spokesperson for Al Shabaab, has called on his listeners to come “to the lands of jihad as soon as possible.”

Although AQAP claims that Khan is the author of “Expectations Full,” the document itself bears no indications or hallmarks of his writing. In fact, in one of the sections the author discusses living on bases without access to any electronics, which would be ironic for someone who is best known for creating online propaganda. AQAP may be trying to leverage Khan’s reputation as an American who made “it to the front lines of jihad” in an effort to reach out to Western audiences and spread its call to fight, preferably while staying at home.

The release of the publication closely follows the release of two new issues of the terrorist magazine Inspire and a tribute to Osama bin Laden, also in English, earlier this month. The rapid succession of English-language propaganda comes after a lull of several months and is an indication of renewed attempts by AQAP to reach and recruit a Western audience.

AQAP Bin Laden Tribute Focuses on Israel

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s media arm released an English-language booklet in tribute to Osama Bin Laden today titled “In Remembrance of Usama.” The material, which consists of a collection of quotes from the former Al Qaeda leader, largely focuses on Jews and Israel and how they, along with America, are at war with Islam.

“The Crusaders and the Jews joined together and invaded the home of Islam,” reads one of the Bin Laden quotes. “’Greater Israel’ which includes inside its borders large parts of Iraq, Egypt, a pass through Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, the entire Palestine and large parts of the haramain [Saudi Arabia].”

Some of the quotes are taken from poetry Bin Laden wrote about the Palestinians in which he promised the liberation of Jerusalem and praised the “purest of blood” of Palestinian “martyrs.” He exhorts Muslims that “your brothers in Palestine are eagerly awaiting. They are awaiting that you annihilate America and Israel.”

Bin Laden is also quoted calling on young Muslims to join jihad and target Americans and Jews by saying that “killing them throughout the globe is one of the greatest duties and leading righteous acts to Allah.” A quote in which he describes Jews as “those who fabricated lies against the Creator” is cited elsewhere in the booklet.

The publication was prepared ahead of the one year anniversary of the raid on Bin laden’s compound by American forces in Abbottabad. The editors, apparently the same team currently producing the English-language terrorist magazine Inspire, translated several messages from Bin Laden as “an eye-opener for those who aren’t yet familiar with the mujahideen’s cause.” They also praised him as a martyr, writing that it was “what he wish for… for the last three decade [sic].”

AQAP’s focus on Palestinians and Israel is also prevalent in the two most recent issues of Inspire magazine, released earlier in the month. The magazine compares events in Syria to “the Jewish treatment of the Palestinians.” One of the ads attacks Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, comparing him to Satan, and claiming that “they (the Jews) have the audacity to distort the word of Allah [parenthesis in the original].” Other messages in Inspire say, “Israel Can’t Hide” and call for attacks against Israeli targets as well as “Zionist and Zionist-friendly crusader media,” and “places where Jews are gathered, their leading personalities and institutions in Europe.”

Al Qaeda’s Inspire Magazine Resurrected!

Two new issues of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s English-language Inspire magazine were released today. The release of the magazines demonstrates AQAP’s recognition of the propaganda value of the Inspire franchise and serves as a reminder of the group’s continued effort to target western audiences. 

They are the first issues to be released since Samir Khan, believed to be the principal author of the magazine, was killed in a September 2011 drone strike along with popular jihadist ideologue and magazine contributor Anwar al-Awlaki. At the time, their deaths led to speculation of the media franchise’s demise.

Inspire 8, dated fall 2011, focuses on the legitimacy of “targeting populations of the countries that are at war with the Muslims.” The feature article, written by al-Awlaki, appears to be a piece promised in a previous issue of Inspire. “The populations of the nations that are at war with the Muslims and especially those who are at the lead such as the U.S., Britain and France,” al-Awlaki wrote, “should be targeted by the mujahidin in operations that employ explosives, poisons, firearms and all other methods that lead to inflicting the greatest harm on them…”

Inspire 9, dated “winter,” focuses on AQAP’s success in building a stronghold in Yemen. The issue also features pieces eulogizing al-Awlaki and Khan. Both issues were edited by “Yahya Ibrahim,” which some observers previously suggested was a possible pseudonym taken by Khan.

Both new issues of Inspire solicit reader involvement, welcoming “correspondence, contributions, photographs and illustrations” and provide contact information for readers to submit materials. Issue 9 also calls for disseminating the magazines as broadly as possible and speculates that the FBI “might be trying to bring down sites that host the magazine.”

Underwear Bomber Asserts Terror Attacks are Driven by Hatred of Israel

At his sentencing last week, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, also known as the underwear bomber and Christmas Day bomber, threatened that terror attacks would continue “until the Jews are driven out of Palestine.”

Abdulmutallab previously linked his failed 2009 attack to Israel. When he pleaded guilty in October 2011, Abdulmutallab admitted that he planned the attack “in retaliation for U.S. support of Israel and in retaliation of the killing of innocent and civilian Muslim populations in Palestine, especially in the blockage of Gaza” and “in retaliation for… Israel [sic] massacres of innocent Palestinians.”

In a video released by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in 2010, apparently made as a martyrdom video for the upcoming attack, Abdulmutallab justified Al Qaeda's actions against Jews and Christians. “Brotherhood of Muslims in the Arabian Peninsula have [sic] the right to wage Jihad,” Abdulmutallab said, “because the enemy is in your land with their armies, the Jews and the Christians and their agents.” Abdulmutallab and other apparent Al Qaeda fighters are featured in the video firing automatic weapons at targets bearing the Jewish star, the British Union Jack, and the letters “UN.”

Abdulmutallab was sentenced to multiple life sentences for attempting to blow up an international flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on December 25, 2009.