New English-Language Jihad Forum

A new English-language jihadi forum offers sections dedicated to military preparations and speeches by Anwar al-Awlaki. Al Mojahden English Network, founded by the Iraq-centered Al Mojahden Electronic Network, is another addition to the proliferation of English sections on major jihadi websites.

The new page features forums dedicated to Mujahideen press releases, news, and commentary. Uniquely, it has additional pages for threads in French, Turkish, German and Hebrew, although they have yet to receive any posts. Within its first few days, the English site has already featured posts on using AK-47s, making bombs, getting fit for jihad, and evading FBI informants, through an article entitled "10 methods to detect and foil the plots of spies."

In addition, the analytics data found at the bottom of the page provides information about the rapid growth of a new English forum. In its first few days after its official launch on January 7, the website has picked up over 270 posts, 63 active members, and 230 threads.

Alongside the launch of Al-Qudisiyyah Media, which plans to translate terrorist information into South Asian languages, Al Mojahden English Forum is part of an increasing push for more jihadi media. A recent article entitled, "In the Heart of the Matter: The Reality and Role of the Jihadist Media," laid out an action plan for increasing jihadi media groups. "Every day we witness the revival and rebirth of other establishments and pulpits, I pray that Allah increase them," the article said. It also called for the creation of additional media teams and cooperation of existing groups, "to release their potential towards unique and continuous Jihadist media commensurate with Jihadist progress on all fronts."

For more about the article "In the Heart of the Matter: The Reality and Role of the Jihadist Media" click here. For more about the article "10 Methods to Detect and Foil the Plots of Spies" click here.

Pakistan Releases Top al-Qaida-linked Jihadist

Pakistan has released a senior terrorist with links to al-Qaida, raising more questions about Islamabad's willingness to combat jihadist terror. The News, a Pakistani newspaper, reported that Qari Saifullah Akhtar, who allegedly tried to assassinate prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in October 2007, was freed last month. He had been arrested in February 2008 in connection with Bhutto's murder by Pakistani jihadists, which occurred in December 2007.

In her posthumously published book, Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West, Mrs. Bhutto wrote that Akhtar had been involved in planning twin suicide bombings targeting her welcome procession in Karachi on October 18, 2007. She was told about a meeting in Lahore in which Pakistani officials plotted to kill her. To carry out the attack, they turned to Akhtar, who was languishing in a Pakistan jail. He had been extradited there by the United Arab Emirates for trial on charges of plotting to assassinate Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in December 2003.

"The officials in Lahore had turned to Akhtar for help. His liaison with elements in the government was a radical who was asked to make the bombs and he himself asked for a fatwa making it legitimate to oblige. He got one. The bomb blasts took place in the army cantonment area in Karachi," Mrs. Bhutto wrote.

Akhtar is the leader of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami ( HUJI, or the Movement of Islamic Holy War). Long War Journal has a superb primer on HUJI and Akhtar. Both have worked with the Taliban and al-Qaida for more than a decade.

Akhtar has headed the group for more than 25 years. In Afghanistan, "he became a close confidant and advisor to Taliban leader Mullah Omar," according to Long War Journal. "Akhtar accompanied Mullah Omar as he fled the U.S. onslaught during Operation Enduring Freedom."

Read more here and here.

British Islamist: "Behead Democracy" and Replace It With Islam

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) has posted video of a British Islamist urging Muslims to "attack" Prime Minister David Cameron and to replace democracy with Islam. Speaking at last month's Islamic Awakening Conference in Great Britain, a Salafist named Abu Mounisa emphasized the need to impose Islam on British society.

"Our da'wa should be the da'wa that attacks their system, and we replace it with Islam," Mounisa said. Muslims "need to attack" Cameron and tell society: "Your laws are oppressive. We need to deal with those laws, and replace them with Islam."

Mounisa added that he would not be satisfied with coercing individual Muslims to abide by Islamic law:

"We're not just calling one sister or one brother to follow the religion of Allah. We want the whole society to bow down to Allah. We don't want only one sister to wear the khimar [veil] and jilbab [cloak]. We want the whole society to wear the khimar and jilbab . We don't want only our brothers and sisters to make sujud [bow down] to Allah. We want the whole society to make sujud to Allah. This is the da'wa of the Prophet Muhammad."

Mounisa pointed to the example of the Prophet chopping the heads off of idols. "He went and destroyed them, killed them, chopped their heads off, beheaded them. That is why, my dear brothers, we need to behead democracy from its roots," Mounisa said. "We need to behead capitalism from its roots, take it, kill it from its roots. That is what we need to do. We should hate it so much, my dear brothers, that every day, we should attack their system."

Jihadism in Three Paragraphs

In a column lamenting last week's assassination of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, writer Christopher Hitchens captures the floating grievances and arbitrary violence that fuels Islamist terrorism:

"Now look at the grinning face of Mumtaz Qadri, the man who last week destroyed a great human being. He did not explain. He boasted. As 'a slave of the Prophet,' he had the natural right to murder Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab, not even for committing 'blasphemy' but for criticizing a law that forbade it for Muslims and non-Muslims alike. And this sweeping new extension of the divine right to murder not only was not condemned by the country's spiritual authorities; it was largely approved by them. No argument, no arraignment, no appeal—permission to kill anybody can merely be assumed by anybody, provided only that they mouth the correct incantations.

This is only one of the many things that go to make up the hideousness of Islamic jihadism, but I believe that it has received insufficient attention. Amid all our loose talk about Muslim 'grievances,' have we even noticed that no such bill of grievances has ever been published, let alone argued and defended? Every now and then an excuse is offered, but usually after the bomb has gone off in the crowded street or the 'offending' person has been eliminated. Sérgio Vieira de Mello was murdered, and the U.N. offices in Baghdad leveled along with him, because he had helped oversee the independence of East Timor. Many Australian tourists in Bali were burned alive on the same retrospective pretext. Or it could be a cartoon. Or an unveiled woman. Or the practice of the 'wrong' kind of Islam—Ahmadi, for example, or Shiism. Or the practice of Hinduism. Or the publication of a novel. But the sinister, hateful thing about all these discrepant 'causes' is precisely the fact that they are improvised and to a large extent unpredictable. That, and the fact that no effort is ever made to say precisely why the resort to violence is so immediate and its practice so random and indiscriminate.

It is true that we have Osama Bin Laden's sermons and a few stray documents like the 'charter' of Hamas. But none of these amounts to anything like a manifesto or an appeal to conscience or law or precedent. Aside from an obsessive and homicidal anti-Semitism (something that admittedly is a consistent and predictable theme), they appear to say little more than that unique privileges—including the right to immediate self-appointment as an executioner—attach to the followers of one version of one monotheistic religion."

Read the full Hitchens column at Slate's website.

Al-Shabaab Desertions Increase in Southern Somalia

Fighters are increasingly deserting Al-Shabaab, due to concerns about violations of Islamic law and excessive violence among the group, according to a report by the Jamestown Foundation. The youth deserters are fleeing the country and in some cases even joining the beleaguered Transitional Federal Government [TFG], as part of a trend that shows the difficulty that al-Shabaab has in keeping recruits.

On Dec. 19, 2010, the TFG presented six deserters to reporters at a press conference in Mogadishu. The group, which included senior commanders who had lead troops into battle, complained that Al-Shabaab "was not following the teaching of the Shari'a."

"In discussing the reasons for his departure from al-Shabaab, former commander Muhammad Farah Ali said he was forced to kill his deputy commander when the latter was injured in the fighting and needed treatment abroad," the report stated. "Muhammad Farah described the order as coming from Abu Mansur al-Amriki, an American al-Shabaab commander. Though Muhammad Farah regarded the order as unacceptable, he nevertheless carried it out for fear of his own safety before leaving the group."

In his own words, Farah stated, "If a fighter received a serious injury, they give an order to finish him because they would not have time to treat him. But if he received a small injury and was able to take up the gun again they will treat him."

The story echoes reports that another Shabaab commander, Shaykh Mukhtar Robow, "became infuriated with the movement's leadership when he learned one of his deputies had been killed by fighters loyal to Ahmad Abdi Godane to ensure the wounded deputy would 'die a martyr.'"

"They are all talking about killing people whether they are innocent or not. If you try to offer your comments you will face their wrath. The only option they have is killing, so I realized that their ambitions are not about religion," said Deeq Abdirahman, a 19-year-old deserter. "According to the young man, al-Shabaab policy says if a person defects after working with the group for more than six months, he must be killed because he knows the organization's secrets," the report stated.

"Al-Shabaab has implored Somali mothers to send their children for training at al-Shabaab camps. The group has also urged Somali youth to register at al-Shabaab offices for recruitment into the organization, which is involved in heavy fighting in Mogadishu and elsewhere in southern Somalia," the report said. "The movement is now training hundreds of young men to replace losses due to combat and desertion."

The report noted, however, that local recruitment has not been enough to replace Al-Shabaab's losses. "According to some deserters and government officials, such as former deputy speaker of parliament and Minister of Rehabilitation and Social Affairs Professor Muhammad Omar Dalha, a number of these foreigners, including al-Qaida operative Fazul Abdullah Muhammad (a native of the Comoros Islands) and American native Abu Mansur al-Amriki, are among those who have taken over the group's leadership," the report said.

New Jihadi Publications Group: Al-Qadisiyyah Media

"The Global Islamic Media Front," an al-Qaida affiliated group, has announced the formation of a new media organization. Al-Qadisiyyah Media will translate al-Qaida messages into South Asian languages and Persian.

"Al-Qadisiyyah Media will focus on releasing and translating materials into the languages of the Indian Sub-continent, from them Urdu, Hindi, Bangla, Pashtu, and Persian," says a press release announcing the formation of the group. "Any productions of Al-Qadisiyyah will be officially released by Markaz Sada al-Jihad of the Global Islamic Media Front. Any material not released by Markaz Sada al-Jihad does not represent Al­Qadisiyyah Media."

The new group is focusing on recruiting youth and takes its name from one of the major battles of the Islamic conquest of the Indian subcontinent. "We also remind the Muslim youth that Muhammad b. Al-Qasim, the commander of these armies which conquered As-Sind, was only 17, yet he conquered one of the greatest kingdoms of the time – India," states the press release.

The release acknowledges the increasing importance of the 'battle for hearts and minds.' "Today as well, we see this struggle, in which the Cross worshippers have mustered all they can to fight the truth. One of the greatest means they have mustered is the media, a means which has become of the most important weapons in modern warfare," it states. "It would not be an exaggeration to say that in every war which has taken place in our present times, the military campaign has been preceded by a media campaign to gain the favor of the masses."

Egyptian Media Present Conflicting Views on Church Bombing

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's government is taking an unorthodox public-relations approach in the aftermath of the New Year's Eve suicide bombing of a Coptic church in Alexandria that killed 21 people. The semi-official media organ al-Ahram has featured heartwarming stories of how Egyptian Muslims have rallied to support the Copts, along with slanderous op-eds claiming Israel was behind the massacre.

On Friday, the paper ran a story explaining that "Muslims had offered their bodies as 'human shields'" for Thursday night mass at Coptic churches around Egypt. It said that Muslims made "a pledge to collectively fight the threat of Islamic militants and towards an Egypt free from sectarian strife."

The story follows a series of op-eds in the in the media suggesting Israeli complicity in the Alexandria attack. Journalist Khaled Abu Toameh writes that those columns have appeared in the state-controlled media accusing Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, with al-Ahram saying that the Mossad had infiltrated al-Qaida and was using Muslims to carry out attacks.

Read about the efforts of Islamists to blame Jews for the church massacre here.

Mounties Apologized for Ramadan Terror Arrests

As the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) searched homes and seized equipment from three terrorism suspects last August, the Mounties were apologizing to Ottawa Muslims for the timing of the arrests, the Toronto Sun reported Wednesday. The apologies drew criticism from non-Islamist Muslims and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who said the law should be enforced equally for all religious groups.

Authorities arrested three men on Aug. 25 - two of them residents of Ottawa - and charged them with plotting a terror attack in Canada and supporting terror abroad. The RCMP's community outreach office in Ottawa sprung into action, convening an emergency meeting of a "cultural diversity consultative committee" with local Muslims.

"To show support to our Muslim brothers and sisters during RAMADAN, there will be no food or drink during this most important meeting. This meeting is for one hour only, in order to observe prayer time and the breaking of the fast during RAMADAN," wrote RCMP Cpl. Wayne Russett.

At an August 26 meeting with Ottawa Muslim leaders, according to the Sun, RCMP and Ottawa police officials apologized for making the arrests during Ramadan, which ran between August 12 and September 9, 2010.

In the days following the terrorism arrests, Cpl. Russell held more than a dozen meetings with Muslim groups in Ottawa, including several meals to break the Ramadan fast.

"We have been actively engaging the local Muslim Communities and will continue to do so in an attempt to neutralize and elevate any issues of concern," Russett wrote in an email to Francois Bidal, commander of the RCMP division covering the National Capital Region.

Asked Thursday about the apology, Prime Minister Harper said that while he didn't know all the details, "the general approach that this government would expect to see [from law enforcement officials] is that the law, our important laws, are enforced every day of the year."

Prominent members of the Muslim Canadian Congress (MCC) denounced the premise that arrests should not occur during Ramadan. Harper "is right," said Salma Siddiqui, vice president of the MCC. "We have one law in Canada and it applies to everybody. We need to stop all this political correctness."

"Why are they ghettoizing us? Siddiqui asked. "We should be treated like ordinary Canadians."

MCC founder Tarek Fatah called Russett's actions "an indication of how within the RCMP, there are officers in authority who do not see the threat Islamism poses to our nation, but unwittingly perform the role of useful idiot."

Hamas Leader Calls Holocaust a Lie

The Holocaust was a Zionist lie that has been surpassed by subsequent Israeli holocausts, a Hamas founder and leader said in a speech Thursday.

"The lie of the Zionist Holocaust crumbles with countless holocausts committed by the Zionists in Beit Hanoun, al-Fakhoura school and other places in Palestine," Mahmud al-Zahar said at a service commemorating a 2008 Israeli bombing in Gaza that killed 43 people.

The comment is drawing criticism and condemnation. "To compare the atrocities of the Holocaust to the actions of "Zionists" is an affront to truth and history," Anti-Defamation League National Director Abraham Foxman said in a statement. "It is an insult to the six million Jews and millions of others who perished as a result of the Final Solution, and to those who fought the Nazis during World War II.

This represents a continuation of Zahar's rabid anti-Semitism. In a November speech, Zahar predicted Jews would be expelled from Israel as they had been forced out of other nations. "The expulsion will come, Allah willing, from Palestine, from the entire territory of Palestine, Allah willing…," Zahar said. "You have no place among us and [Jews] have no future between nations. You are about to disappear, and we are about to emerge victorious."

In October, Zahar met with a Viva Palestina convoy as the group made its way to Gaza. During the 1990s, he attended a rally and fundraiser organized by the Holy Land Foundation (HLF), a group convicted of illegally routing millions of dollars to Hamas.

French Embassy Attacker Claims al-Qaida Tie

A man who opened fire on the French Embassy in Mali has admitted to membership in al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

A man attacked the French embassy in Mali Wednesday by setting a small gas cylinder on fire and trying to set off an explosion. Under questioning by law enforcement officials in Mali, the unnamed man admitted to carrying out the attack on behalf of the North African wing of the global Islamic terrorist organization, the Washington Post reports.

This is not the first time that France has been the victim of AQIM terrorism. Ever since France banned the wearing of veils, it has come under threat from al-Qaida. The country and its nationals have frequently been targeted for kidnapping by the terrorist organization. Earlier in the year, the French government refused to pay ransom for five French citizens kidnapped by the militant group.

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