Al Qaeda's Message Spreading Through English-Language Sites

RIYADH,Saudi Arabia — Increasing numbers of English-language Web sites are spreading Al Qaeda's message to Muslims in the West.

They translate writings and sermons once largely out of reach of English readers and often feature charismatic clerics like Anwar al-Awlaki, who exchanged dozens of e-mails with the Army psychiatrist accused of the Fort Hood shootings.

The U.S.-born al-Awlaki has been an inspiration to several militants arrested in the United States and Canada in recent years, with his Web-based sermons often turning up on their computers.

"The point is you don't have to be an official part of Al Qaeda to spread hatred and sectarian views," said Evan Kohlmann, a senior investigator for the New York-based NEFA Foundation, which researches Islamic militants.

"If you look at the most influential documents in terms of homegrown terrorism cases, it's not training manuals on building bombs," Kohlmann said. "The most influential documents are the ones that are written by theological advisers, some of whom are not even official Al Qaeda members."

Most of the radical Islamic sites are not run or directed by Al Qaeda, but they provide a powerful tool for recruiting sympathizers to its cause of jihad, or holy war, against the United States, experts who track the activity said.

The number of English-language sites sympathetic to Al Qaeda has risen from about 30 seven years ago to more than 200 recently, said Abdulmanam Almushawah, head of a Saudi government program called Assakeena, which works to combat militant Islamic Web sites.

In contrast, Arabic-language radical sites have dropped to around 50, down from 1,000 seven years ago, because of efforts by governments around the world to shut them down, he said.

Al Qaeda has long tried to reach a Western audience. Videotaped messages from its leader, Usama bin Laden, and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri usually have English subtitles.

But translations of writings and sermons that form the theological grounding for Al Qaeda's ideology, along with preachers like al-Awlaki, mostly eliminate the language barrier.

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Local links to master Taliban strategist

Sally Neighbour

THE veteran mujaheddin leader once married to Australian woman Rabiah Hutchinson has re-emerged as a key political and military strategist for the Taliban in its insurgency in Afghanistan.

Egyptian Mustafa Hamid, also known as Abu Walid al-Misri, has authored a series of articles in the official Taliban magazine and on Islamist websites in the past two months, outlining the Taliban's push to retake Afghanistan and re-establish the Islamic Emirate overthrown by US forces in 2001.

Hamid ran al-Qa'ida's training camps in Afghanistan in the 1990s and was a senior adviser to the al-Qa'ida leadership and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar in 2000-01. A hard-headed pragmatist who was often critical of al-Qa'ida's zealous ideology, Hamid fell out with the al-Qa'ida leadership over the September 11 attacks on the US and became a vehement critic of Osama bin Laden.

His re-emergence is seen by al-Qa'ida and Taliban experts as a significant development in the Afghan insurgency.

Jihad-watchers say it is further evidence of a strategic shift by the Taliban.

Hamid's writings are being closely monitored by former Australian Federal Police counter-terrorism expert and al-Qa'ida specialist Leah Farrall.

She says Hamid is "coming out against al-Qa'ida quite strongly in some of his responses", indicating the Taliban might be dissociating itself from al-Qa'ida as part of "trying to build itself up as a ruling party".

Hamid is living in Iran, where he fled into exile after the September 11, 2001, attacks, and where he was placed under house arrest and later imprisoned. He is believed to be under some form of detention but his whereabouts are unknown.

A prolific writer and the self-appointed historian of the jihadist movement, Hamid in 2007 began posting articles on a blog site and earlier this year began writing for official jihadist publications.

Vahid Brown, a historian at the US Military Academy at West Point, says Hamid has effectively "taken up one of his old jihadi jobs: official Taliban propogandist and media strategist" and his latest writings show he is still at odds with the al-Qa'ida leadership on a wide range of ideological and strategic issues.

Hamid is believed to have been instrumental in speeches made recently by the Taliban leadership, asserting it is a "responsible force" that has no quarrel with the West and wants to have "good neighbourly relations" in Central Asia.

The tone of these overtures is seen as signalling to the West that if the Taliban returns to power in Afghanistan, now a distinct possibility, it will not provide a new launchpad for al-Qa'ida attacks.

Hamid married Ms Hutchinson in Afghanistan in 2001. They separated after escaping to Iran amid the US bombardment of Afghanistan in late 2001. She declined to comment on his recent activities.

The Australian

Mainstream US Islamic Websites - and Terror

Terrorist lectures, death fatwas, hate sheikhs, Al-Qaeda videos – what's your pleasure?

By Patrick Poole

In counterterrorism circles there is significant buzz about “Al-Qaeda 2.0”, warning of highly decentralized jihadist networks operating independently and driven by a highly toxic internet-inspired Islamic ideology. The sad reality is, however, that an increasing number of jihadist websites, especially those in the English language, are finding safe haven in the US – and the US government seems powerless, or unwilling, to stop them.

Other commentators have explored at length the “Al-Qaeda 2.0” phenomenon, but what has thus far gone unreported is how mainstream Islamic websites associated with some of the most visible Islamic organizations in the US are openly promoting extremist ideology and terrorism.

This is nothing new, of course. Before and shortly after 9/11, the Ohio State chapter of the Muslim Student Association ran an email service called MSANews, where virtually every Islamic terrorist organization in the world directly posted their public statements, including Al-Qaeda, HAMAS, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, the Armed Islamic Group and the Algerian Islamic Salvation Front. MSANews also published all of Osama bin Laden’s pre-9/11 statements, calling him “sheikh” and identifying him as a “Saudi dissident”, not a terrorist. According to an Associated Press article published just weeks after 9/11, MSANews was the subject of a federal investigation for promoting the sales of jihadist videos praising the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. The MSANews list, which operated on the taxpayer-supported servers of The Ohio State University, shut down soon afterwards.

Source: FrontPage Magazine