al Qaeda, American jihad, War on Terror

Homegrown anti-American jihadists

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The Supreme Court has long held that there are limits to free speech; shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theatre is unprotected speech. Anyone here who promotes al Qaeda and rejoices in the deaths of American troops is clearly advocating sedition.

Last year, the New York Times reported about Samir Khan of Charlotte, N.C. running a web site promoting violent jihad against America and Israel:

Mr. Khan, who was born in Saudi Arabia and grew up in Queens, is an unlikely foot soldier in what Al Qaeda calls the “Islamic jihadi media.” He has grown up in middle-class America and wrestles with his worried parents about his religious fervor. Yet he is stubborn. “I will do my best to speak the truth, and even if it annoys the disbelievers, the truth must be preached,” Mr. Khan said in an interview. While there is nothing to suggest that Mr. Khan is operating in concert with militant leaders, or breaking any laws, he is part of a growing constellation of apparently independent media operators who are broadcasting the message of Al Qaeda and other groups, a message that is increasingly devised, translated and aimed for a Western audience.

“Nothing to suggest that Mr. Khan is operating in concert with militant leaders” was their overstatement.

FoxNews further reported today on Khan and his web site:

When the blog, also called “The Ignored Puzzle Pieces of Knowledge,” listed its top “scholars of Islam” and people to “take knowledge from,” it wasn’t hard to notice that the list of 63 names contained mostly known terrorists — including Usama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The site provides links to their works, all translated into English.

Revolution.Muslimpad’s sleek, modern style includes collections of the latest videos of U.S. military Humvees exploding from roadside bombs in Iraq, as well as pro-jihad messages aimed at radicalizing readers. But terror experts say it is unique because it is written in English for a Western audience and makes accessible radical Islamic content and context found mainly on Arabic-language sites. “This Web site is one of the premiere English-language sites promoting terrorism,” said cyberterrorism expert Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Jewish human rights group the Wiesenthal Center.

On Thursday Cooper presented a report on Capitol Hill on the dangers Internet sites like Revolution.Muslimpad pose to young, impressionable Muslims. His report, “Digital Terrorism and Hate 2.0,” references the Web site four times as an example of how Islamic extremists recruit for Al Qaeda.

Part of the Revolution.Muslimpad’s power comes from the context and interpretation of the radical messages, which experts say offer dangerous inspiration. “This guy [Khan] is plugged into the hardcore ideology that Al Qaeda espouses,” said Jarret Brachman, director of research at West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center. Brachman — who oversees the center’s research on Al Qaeda and who has been monitoring the site for two years — compared it to a “gateway drug.”

“The goal is to hook people, to get more people in this country to become radicalized and see the world through the lens of Al Qaeda,” Brachman said. Sites like Revolution.Muslimpad are common in other countries, but there are a few that target American Muslim audiences, and this is “among the best,” he said.

Brachman and others believe Khan is the brains behind the site. According to The New York Times, which interviewed Khan in 2007, he launched his blog in 2005 under the name “Inshallahshaheed,” or “a martyr soon if God wills,” from his parents’ home in Charlotte, N.C.

Khan reportedly grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., after his parents immigrated to the U.S. from Saudi Arabia. The Times reported he comes from a middle-class family and moved toward an increasingly radical form of Islam while at college in North Carolina. He launched his site while taking classes at a community college and during his off-hours as a knife salesman, it was reported.

Since then, the Web site has changed six times, according to Rick Eaton, senior researcher at the Wiesenthal Center. It first appeared on the U.S.-based host company WordPress and was later moved to other host companies before ending up at its current Muslimpad. The American operators of Muslimpad reportedly have since moved from Houston, Texas, to Amman, Jordan.

It’s unclear if Khan operates his site alone; despite repeated attempts by FOXNews.com, he could not be reached for an interview.

In the “About Us” section, Revolution.Muslimpad describes the site as being run by a handful of “bloggers of inshallahshaheed,” and says their mission is to “attempt to bring to our readers the reality on the ground in the lands of Jihad, and exposing the lies and deceptions of the disbelievers, hypocrites, and tyrannical Governments,” including that of the U.S.

Today, someone (perhaps Salim Khan) posted their supreme leader’s latest message:

revolution-muslimpad-dot-com.jpg

(click image to enlarge)

If you wish to visit Salim Khan’s web site or read more, go to the FoxNews article.

Do I question Salim Khan’s patriotism? Of course; he obviously has sworn bayat to Osama bin Laden. Do I think Revolution.Muslimpad should be shut down and Salim Khan should be arrested? Yes and yes. Yet that is just me exercising my right to free speech while I still can, before the jihadists take over.

9/11, Guantanamo, September 11

Charges against 20th 9/11 hijacker dropped, can be filed later

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The Associated Press reports the charges against the alleged 20th 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Mani Ahmad al Kahtani, a.k.a. Mohammed al-Qahtani, were dropped without prejudice by a military judge at Guantanamo yesterday, meaning the charges can be filed later. The AP’s breathless headline ‘US drops charges against Saudi in Sept. 11 attacks’ left the last part out.

A search of immigration service records after 9/11 revealed that Mohamed Mani Ahmad al Kahtani landed in Orlando International Airport on August 4, 2001. Yet, according to the 9/11 Commission, “Upon arrival … Kahtani was denied entry by immigration officials because he had a one-way ticket and little money, could not speak English, and could not adequately explain what he intended to do in the United States.”

While their interrogations were obviously conducted separately, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh both confirmed al Kahtani was to become the 20th hijacker and that Mohamed Atta went to meet his arrival in Orlando. In addition, a later review of intercepted communications that occured on August 3, 2001, indicate why al Kahtani travelled to America:

In addition to the operatives who eventually participated in the 9/11 attacks as muscle hijackers, Bin Ladin apparently selected at least nine other Saudis who, for various reasons, did not end up taking part in the operation: Mohamed Mani Ahmad al Kahtani, Khalid Saeed Ahmad al Zahrani, Ali Abd al Rahman al Faqasi al Ghamdi, Saeed al Baluchi, Qutaybah al Najdi, Zuhair al Thubaiti, Saeed Abdullah Saeed al Ghamdi, Saud al Rashid, and Mushabib al Hamlan. A tenth individual, a Tunisian with Canadian citizenship named Abderraouf Jdey, may have been a candidate to participate in 9/11, or he may have been a candidate for a later attack. These candidate hijackers either backed out, had trouble obtaining needed travel documents, or were removed from the operation by the al Qaeda leadership. Khallad believes KSM wanted between four and six operatives per plane. KSM states that al Qaeda had originally planned to use 25 or 26 hijackers but ended up with only the 19.
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A week after he returned from meeting Binalshibh in Spain, Atta traveled to Newark, probably to coordinate with Hazmi and give him additional funds. Atta spent a few days in the area before returning to Florida on July 30.The month of August was busy, as revealed by a set of contemporaneous Atta-Binalshibh communications that were recovered after September 11.

On August 3, for example, Atta and Binalshibh discussed several matters, such as the best way for the operatives to purchase plane tickets and the assignment of muscle hijackers to individual teams. Atta and Binalshibh also revisited the question of whether to target the White House. They discussed targets in coded language, pretending to be students discussing various fields of study: “architecture” referred to the World Trade Center, “arts” the Pentagon, “law” the Capitol, and “politics” the White House.

Binalshibh reminded Atta that Bin Ladin wanted to target the White House. Atta again cautioned that this would be difficult. When Binalshibh persisted, Atta agreed to include the White House but suggested they keep the Capitol as an alternate target in case the White House proved too difficult. Atta also suggested that the attacks would not happen until after the first week in September, when Congress reconvened.

Atta and Binalshibh also discussed “the friend who is coming as a tourist”- a cryptic reference to candidate hijacker Mohamed al Kahtani (mentioned above), whom Hawsawi was sending the next day as “the last one” to “complete the group.” On August 4, Atta drove to the Orlando airport to meet Kahtani. Upon arrival, however, Kahtani was denied entry by immigration officials because he had a one-way ticket and little money, could not speak English, and could not adequately explain what he intended to do in the United States. He was sent back to Dubai. Hawsawi contacted KSM, who told him to help Kahtani return to Pakistan.

During his own interrogation, Mohamed Mani Ahmad al Kahtani (ISN 063) further corroberated he was sent to the United States to become a martyr and arrived in Orlando on August 4, 2001.