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.

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.”

Jihadists Solicit Help Online to Craft Their Message

The Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF), an umbrella organization that distributes videos, literature and other messages for Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, has apparently posted a submission form on Google’s blog service soliciting “participation, comments or suggestions” for its propaganda.

The form includes instructions in both English and Arabic for contacting the group, with reminders not to “mention your real name, address..etc. [sic]” and to include an email address “so we can reply to you.” The page also includes instructions for sending encrypted messages.

GIMF’s call for “participation” not only demonstrates the continuing effort by Jihadist propagandists to exploit mainstream social media platforms to communicate with potential followers (Al Shabaab, for example, started using Twitter in December 2011), but also how Jihadist media entities continue to rely on the skills and efforts of individual followers to help craft their message.

For example, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s English-language magazine Inspire regularly encourages readers to contribute articles, quotes and images. It has also provided contact information for readers “interested in contributing to this magazine with any skills – be it writing, research, editing or advice” and suggested that individuals use the same encryption program referenced by GIMF “in order to avoid detection from the intelligence services [sic].”

Mohamed Osman Mohamud, accused of attempting to detonate a vehicle he believed was laden with explosives at an Oregon Christmas tree lighting ceremony in 2010, is an example of someone who responded to such solicitations. Not only did he allegedly write and send an article to Inspire (which was not published), he also submitted pieces that were published in Jihad Recollections, the self-described “first English Jihad magazine” released by a collaboration of online terrorist sympathizers, including Samir Khan. Khan produced Inspire up until he was killed by a U.S. drone strike in September 2011 in Yemen.

Others have taken it upon themselves to create jihadist propaganda without necessarily utilizing established terrorist media outlets, relying on internet forums and other social media for distribution of their materials. For example, an April 2012 image of the New York skyline with the message “Al Qaeda Coming Soon Again in New York” attracted widespread media attention and prompted enhanced law enforcement vigilance. The image, apparently created by an individual member of a jihadist forum, demonstrated the propaganda value that can be created by individuals using commercially available software.

While these messages may lack the cachet of a “brand name” propaganda distributed by GIMF and similar terrorist media producers, the materials still attract attention, create fear and encourage others to play an active role in the creation of propaganda in support of terror.

Younes Abdullah Muhammad Pleads Guilty to Threatening “South Park” Creators

Update: On June 22, 2012, Muhammad was sentenced to 11.5 years in prison.

Younes Abdullah Muhammad, co-founder of the fringe extremist Muslim organization Revolution Muslim, pleaded guilty on Thursday for his role in threatening the creators of the cartoon “South Park.” 

Muhammad (a.k.a. Jesse Curtis Morton) was arrested by Moroccan authorities in May 2011 after being charged in the U.S. with communicating online threats. His threats targeted Matt Stone and Trey Parker for their satirical depiction of the Prophet Muhammad in an episode of their cartoon. In October he was placed into American custody and brought before a federal judge in Virginia to face charges.

Muhammad helped Zachary Chesser, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison on a similar charge, draft a statement containing language justifying “the death of those who insult Islam or defame its prophet…” The statement was issued on behalf of Revolution Muslim in response to the national attention garnered by Chesser after he threatened the “South Park” creators on a number of online platforms.

Under Muhammad’s leadership, Revolution Muslim distributed anti-Semitic and pro-terrorist propaganda at its street protests and online, which often included implicit and explicit threats of violence. The group was active mostly in New York until the end of 2010, when Muhammad moved to Morocco. Currently, it operates under the name Islam Policy.

Muhammad, who has a long history of justifying violence against anyone he views as an enemy of Islam, served as Revolution Muslim’s most prolific writer. In addition to his various posts on the group’s website, he contributed to Jihad Recollections, an online English language magazine created by Samir Khan. Khan, who is better known for editing Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s (AQAP) English-language magazine, Inspire, was killed by a U.S. drone strike on September 30, 2011, two years after he moved to Yemen to align himself with Al Qaeda.

In the inaugural issue of Jihad Recollections, released in April 2009, Muhammad expressed support for Al Qaeda, writing that the September 11 terrorist attacks “…were, for the most part, positive and the results even better than expected.” He also called on like-minded Muslims to “exploit these results and advance the jihad... It is time to begin to think about the necessary next steps that must predicate the conquering of Rome.”