The "Azzam" Threat: A prelude to Future Jihad in America
September 3/06:
The video tape issued by al Qaeda’s “as-sahhab” production, in which
Ayman Zawahiri introduces Jihadist Adam Gahdan to the world as a
senior speaker to the American people on behalf of the movement,
should be taken seriously. Not necessarily at the level of detecting
the next Terror attack but at the level of understanding this prelude
to Future Jihad both in America and within the West. I wasn’t
surprised at all by the 45 minutes elaboration by convert Gahdan
regarding all of the issues he raised.
For
“Azzam al Amrikee” is the clearest specimen of Jihadism’s second
generation within the US, in as much as the 7/7 videos revealed the
type of future Jihadists for Great Britain’s second generation.
However, when one would listen carefully to the taped video, you’d
find a treasure of knowledge and indicators for the current state of
thinking of al Qaeda and its ideologues. In short it is a sample of
what is on the mind of Salafi Jihadists for the United States and the
West. Following are few of the issues I noted:
1) The hand behind the message
In short, Azzam’s videotaped message is indeed “American.” Experts
have heard it in US and Canadian cities and internet is flowing with
it. Whether Gadahn was reading from a prompter or not –and I believe
he was with great skills- I tend to believe that such a speech –rather
than being dismissed as mere propaganda- is a message coming to us
from what’s already inserted inside America, which leads me to the
second point
2) Who is it destined to?
It is basically addressed to those who will carry a “Jihad in
America,” possibly asserting Adam Gahdan as their leader. Also, this
is a very intelligent move to pierce the linguistic shield of
America’s media and reach US citizens directly, as a way to spread
confusion at least among those who have a hazy understanding of the
Jihadists.
3) The ideological platform
In short, the “Azzam” video reconfirms clearly, in an English language
that academic translators won’t be able to distort, that al Qaeda’s
movement worldwide and in the United States is seeking total
annihilation or conversion of the enemy: American and other
democracies.
4) Argumentation tactics:
The “speech writer,” emulating many commentators on al Jazeera or al
Manar, hopes to rally many among those who “hate Bush and Blair” but
stops short of stating that Jihadism will hate all future US
Presidents and British Prime Ministers “if they do not convert.” He
reminds us of the Crusades, Inquisition, Hiroshima, and killings in
Iraq and Afghanistan. Obviously, the “writer” skips the Genocides of
Sudan, and the massacres of Algeria, the Kurds, Shiites perpetrated by
Salafists or Baathists.
5) The enemies of Jihad in America
Sensationally but not unexpectedly, he “name” a number of
intellectual-enemies in this country: Daniel Pipes, Steven Emerson,
Robert Spencer and Michael Spencer. Rarely Jihadi Terrorists at this
high level media exposure named symbols of their enemy’s
intelligentsia. And in addition to “experts” named in the tape, Gadahn
goes on a ferocious attack against American “Tele-Evangelists” and
their media, showing the other type of foes al Qaeda is very upset
with.
6) The “friends” of al Qaeda?
“Azzam” names “sympathetic” personalities for whom he has messages for
action; He asks journalist Seymour Hirsh to “reveal more” than what
was published in a New Yorker article on the War: Obviously an open
call by al Qaeda to M Hirsch to resume the attack against the US War
on Terror. Then “Azzam” turn to two British journalists and thank them
for their “admiration and respect for Islam” encourage them to do the
final step: Convert. He names British MP George Galloway and
journalist Robert Fisk. But more troubling in Gadahn’s tape was his
direct call to Jihadists within the US Armed forces to work patiently
till the time comes and they should continue to aggregate while
escaping the surveillance of their military authorities. This theme,
which I covered briefly in Future Jihad, is of great concern to US
national security. The “Azzam” speech brings further concerns as to
the credibility of this threat.
7) The Al Qaeda offer: Conversion or fire
“Azzam”’s mission in this tape was to deliver a message. His bottom
line is this: We –the Jihadists- have you cornered everywhere and you
are not going to win this war. His central message is typically
Jihadic: “Surrender, convert or the fire:” Meaning war on Earth, all
of it, and Hell fire after death.
This fascinating and revealing taped-speech bring the American public
even closer to what lays ahead for this generation and the next one as
long as the Jihadist ideology is spreading inside America and
worldwide.
**Dr Walid Phares is a Senior Fellow with the Foundation for the
Defense of Democracies and a visiting Fellow with the European
Foundation for Democracy. He is the author of Future Jihad: Terrorist
Strategies against America.
September 2, 2006 07:28 PM Print |
