And Then There Was One

Since the 9/11 attacks, the US has gone after al Qaeda all around the globe, and those efforts have paid off. The group is now down to essentially one recognizable face - Ayman al Zawahiri, who was Osama bin Laden's right hand man since the group came into existence.

Zawahiri is believed to be in the frontier provinces of Pakistan, and he's probably spending most of his time trying not to get caught by US spymasters who have the quite lethal UAVs at their disposal.

As a result, according to senior U.S. counterterrorism officials, there now remains only one leader of any consequence in al Qaeda and that is Ayman al Zawahiri, the tetchy Egyptian surgeon who became the head of the group following the death of its founder, Osama bin Laden, in a U.S. Navy SEAL raid in Pakistan in May 2011.

Zawahiri, presumably, is keenly aware of the fate of so many of his longtime colleagues in al Qaeda. He will be expending considerable energy not to end up on the business end of a missile fired by a CIA drone if he, too, is hiding in the Pakistani tribal regions where the drone strikes have been concentrated.

Meanwhile, Zawahiri faces an almost impossible task to follow through on al Qaeda's main mission: attacking the United States, or failing that, one of its close allies.
Al Qaeda hasn't conducted a successful attack in the West since the bombings on London's transportation system on July 7, 2005, and of course, the group hasn't succeeded in attacking the United States for more than a decade.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula remains committed to carrying out attacks against the US and its interests around the world but hasn't managed to successfully carry out the kind of high profile attacks that the group was known for previously. Attempts to take down airlines have failed, though the group only has to do so once in order to achieve its aims.

It's a far cry from the 9/11 attacks and the terror group's largest effort since the 9/11 attacks was in the London subway bombings in 2005.

The group remains committed to carrying out attacks, but the threat has morphed into concerns about lone wolf individuals or groups - terrorists who share goals but aren't directly tied to al Qaeda or Zawahiri.

Just because there are lesser known terrorists (though that list still includes Adam Gadahn and Adnan G. El Shukrijumah) involved in the group doesn't mean we should discount the threat. We need to recognize the work done to get to this point, and the hard work ahead in trying to keep the nation safe from these terror groups and individuals who are intent upon doing harm to the US. At the same time, the risks from a successful attack are quite low to most Americans.

What Awlaki's Death Means

An American airstike in Yemen has resulted in the death of al Qaeda terror master Anwar al Awlaki. Awlaki had been one of al Qaeda's top recruiters and his online rantings were designed to recruit disillusioned American Muslims or converts to Islam to engage in jihad.

Among those inspired by Awlaki are the Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad and the Fort Hood massacre shooter, and the Christmas eve plane bomber.

Issuing English-language sermons on jihad on the Internet from his hideouts in Yemen's mountains, al-Awlaki drew Muslim recruits like the young Nigerian who tried to bring down a U.S. jet on Christmas and the Pakistani-American behind the botched car bombing in New York City's Times Square.

Friday's drone attack was believed to be the first instance in which a U.S. citizen was tracked and killed based on secret intelligence and the president's say-so. Al-Awlaki was placed on the CIA "kill or capture" list by the Obama administration in April 2010 — the first American to be so targeted.

The strike took place in the morning hours in the eastern Yemeni province of al-Jawf. A second American, Samir Khan, who edited al-Qaida's Internet magazine, was also killed in the airstrike.

Late Friday, two U.S. officials said intelligence had indicated that the top al-Qaida bomb-maker in Yemen also died in the strike — Ibrahim al-Asiri, who was linked to the bomb hidden in the underwear of the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a plane over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because al-Asiri's death has not officially been confirmed. Al-Asiri is also believed to have built the bombs that al-Qaida slipped into printers and shipped to the U.S. last year in a nearly catastrophic attack.

Awlaki isn't the only American-speaking al Qaeda. Still trolling online and in propaganda videos is none other than Adam Gadahn, who is the first American to be indicted on charges of treason in decades. Gadahn may not have had the cachet of Awlaki, but Gadahn is considered a vital link in the propaganda chain.

Awlaki's death wont mean the end of al Qaeda in Yemen, but it is a significant hit to the terror network's capabilities there, particularly when reports indicate that one of al Qaeda's top bomb makers was killed in the airstrikes on Awlaki's convoy.

Hit and Miss In Pakistan

No one is quite sure who was captured yesterday in Karachi. While early reports indicated that it may have been the American traitor Adam Gadahn, it now appears that it is some other American who had a similar moniker. It remains to be seen just how big a fish the Pakistani ISI caught. Thus far, US officials don't know who was captured and if they do, they aren't saying right now.

In the meantime, the Taliban and al Qaeda aren't sitting back and taking the ongoing efforts to roll up the terror networks. They struck back today with a vengeance in a suicide bombing that killed at least 11 at a Pakistani law enforcement building in Lahore. It was a massive explosion, estimated by Pakistani authorities at 1,300 pounds of explosives. A Taliban group claimed responsibility:

“We claim responsibility for the Lahore blast. We will continue such attacks in future,” Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Azam Tariq told two AFP reporters in telephone calls from an undisclosed location.

“The attack was to avenge (US) drone attacks and (Pakistani) military operations in the tribal areas. We will carry on such attacks as long as drone strikes and operations continue.”

A car bomb explosion killed 12 people and injured 81 others near the FIA and the Special Investigative Agency buildings in Model Town, Lahore on Monday.

“Eleven people have been killed and several others injured in a suicide car bombing, which took place near the FIA and the Special Investigative Agency buildings in Lahore,” the commissioner of Lahore said.

Latest reports state that the Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that the target was the Special Investigative Agency and not the FIA building.

The NY Times refers to the building as a safe house where the Pakistani FIA (Federal Investigative Agency) interrogates prisoners.

Got the Traitor: Adam Gadahn Captured In Pakistan UPDATE: Or Not?

Score one for the good guys (if true - see below). Adam Gadahn, an American citizen who decided to become an al Qaeda spokesthug in Pakistan, was captured by Pakistani authorities in Karachi. He faces charges in the US for treason - the first US citizen to face those charges in more than 50 years:

The American-born spokesman for al-Qaida has been arrested by Pakistani intelligence officers in the southern city of Karachi, two officers and a government official said Sunday as video emerged of him urging U.S. Muslims to attack their own country.

The arrest of Adam Gadahn represents a major victory in the U.S.-led battle against al-Qaida and will be taken as a sign that Pakistan, criticized in the past for being an untrustworthy ally, is cooperating more fully with Washington. It follows the recent detentions of several Afghan Taliban commanders in Karachi, including the movement's No. 2 commander.

U.S. officials did not immediately confirm Gadahn's capture.

Gadahn has appeared in more than half a dozen al-Qaida videos, taunting and threatening the West and calling for its destruction. A U.S. court charged Gadahn with treason in 2006, making him the first American to face such a charge in more than 50 years.

I can't wait to hear how he was finally captured, and how and why the Pakistani forces moved when they did. There's definitely a story there as to how his capture came to pass.

Bill Roggio notes that he was captured in a Mehsud dominated neighborhood in Karachi, which makes sense given that the Mehsud clan is among the most loyal of al Qaeda's Taliban accomplices.

Given the number of captures and kills in the past couple of weeks, it definitely looks like the intel is having a multiplier effect, particularly with the Pakistani forces who are taking it to the Taliban and al Qaeda.

UPDATE:
CBS is reporting that it wasn't Gadahn after all. That's even as other media outlets are reporting that the ISI captured Gadahn in Karachi. MSNBC says that US intel officials aren't sure who was captured or whether it was Gadahn.

The NY Times notes that it wasn't clear whether the CIA was involved in the operation.

Once again, it looks like media reports from Pakistani sources have outstripped the facts on the ground. One can only hope that they do get it right and that Gadahn pays for his crimes.

UPDATE:
It's possible that there was another American captured and that they had similar Islamicized names to Gadahn - one Abu Yahya Mujahdeen Al-Adam. The BBC claims that the person captured was an Egyptian American who goes by the name Abu Yahya Azam.

New Al Qaeda Tape Surfaces; Adam "the Traitor" Gadahn Featured

Well, even though we've reported in the past that Adam Gadahn was dead or likely dead in the past, a new al Qaeda video has surfaced. He's not dead in that video, and makes specific references to the situation in Pakistan, including the election of Asif ali Zardari, but he really needs to watch the skies because death can and will come at any moment.

Whither Adam "The Traitor" Gadahn?

It's been more than a week since anyone has seen or heard from Adam Gadahn (d/b/a The Traitor, aka Azzam the American). No one quite knows whether he was killed in the airstrike that killed al Libi, and no one in al Qaeda is saying. Then again, who's supposed to report the death of the guy tasked with reporting deaths and mayhem?

NBC is reporting that there are rumblings that Gadahn's terrorist minions are worried for Gadahn. Awww. How sweet. They actually care whether this scum survives or not.

Jihadist sources on the Pakistan side of the border are telling local journalists they are worried. One who described himself as a “very close friend” of Gadahn said the 28-year-old California native had until recently been spending most of his time in the populated areas of South Waziristan, near the towns of Wana, Azam Warsak and Shahkai.

The same friend said Gadahn had left for North Waziristan a week before the Predator attack in Mir Ali, where he was supposed to attend “an important meeting”. The friend said that, after the Predator attack on January 31, they lost “all contact” with Gadahn.

"All our friends are worried about him but so far we could not make any contact with him. We had sent two of our friends to Mir Ali to locate him and provide us with details about him," the supposed friend explained.

He added that other militants who traveled with Gadahn also were missing.

Maybe they're dead because of the harsh Afghan/Pakistani winter or Hellfires, and I'd settle for either one. If videos start showing up, it still wont settle matters since some videos could have been produced before Gadahn was dispatched to hell.

Bill Roggio notes that if Gadahn was indeed dead, someone in al Qaeda would be reporting his death, just as surely they did for al Libi. After all, Gadahn was American and they'd want to play up the fact that an American Islamist died for the cause.

Traitorous Adam Gadahn Met Justice In Hellfire?

Well, according to Pakistani reports, US officials believe that they got Adam Gadahn (aka Azzam the American) along with Abu Laith al-Libi, who al Qaeda concedes was killed in the airstrike in Pakistan. Gadahn is charged with treason for aiding al Qaeda and is the first American to be charged as such since 1952.

According to sources, American officials who are yet to publicly confirm the killing of Abu Laith al-Libi, had reportedly sharing information with western media that most likely another most wanted figure, Adam Gadahn, has also been killed in the air strike by the CIA-operated unmanned drone on a house in Khushali Torikhel village near Mirali town.

According to sources, the American al-Qaeda militant, who has been reportedly spending much of his time in Afghanistan and Pakistani tribal areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, had reached Mirali for an important meeting with other senior al-Qaeda commanders for planning the so-called spring offensive against US and Nato troops in Afghanistan.

However, there were no details whether he arrived in the town when a house reportedly housing some senior al-Qaeda operatives including Abu Laith al-Libi, was blitzed. US military officials based in Afghanistan are reportedly collecting details about those killed in the attack on the house and in this regard two of their spy planes continued flying over the same area even after the tragic incident.

Al Qaeda hasn't confirmed that Gadahn was killed, and the evidence is pretty circumstantial at this point.

He was last seen ripping up his US passport in an al Qaeda video.

HT: The Jawa Report.

UPDATE:
Allah considers the chances of Gadahn being at the meeting with al Libi to be pretty thin. I'm not entirely convinced that he wouldn't be at such a meeting. After all, terrorists and megalomaniacs need their press flacks to shoot video or take directions, and Gadahn is one of the go-to guy for al Qaeda leaders getting their messages out.

Adam Gadahn to be Charged With Treason?

Now this is interesting. Adam Gadahn, aka Azzam the American, may be charged with treason, which may be the first time an American has been charged with that crime since committing acts in World War II (that would appear to be Tomoya Kawakita, a Japanese-American sentenced to death in 1952 for tormenting American prisoners of war during World War II; the Rosenbergs were tried under the Espionage Act, not for treason).

Here is the crime, as set forth in the US Constitution (the only such crime mentioned in the Constitution):

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court.

The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted.

Many have speculated in the past on whether someone would be tried for treason for their activities relating to al Qaeda, and it appears that Gadahn will be the first. However, unless he's captured, this will be a trial in absentia.

Hot Air has more.

UPDATE:
The indictment is expected later this afternoon in Los Angeles and will be announced at 4 p.m. ET in Washington by the Justice Department.

Others weighing in on this news: Pajamas Media, Right Voices.

UPDATE:
Is the case of Ezra Pound a similar situation to the current situation with Gadahn? It involved Ezra Pound's broadcasts for the Italians during World War II. The US declined to prosecute on grounds of the difficulty in finding the witnesses necessary to convict for treason, though some sources indicate that Pound was mentally unfit to stand trial.

We still have to deal with the fact that Gadahn isn't in US custody, and US law seriously frowns on such trials. Indeed, from what I've gathered thus far, it would not be allowed, especially in a capital crime such as treason as violative of the US Constitution.

Technorati: adam gadahn, azzam the american, treason.

New Video, Same Old Story

Convert/submit or die. We've been hearing about this for quite some time from al Qaeda's minions, whether it's Zawahiri, Zarqawi, or Osama himself. Their minions around the world take hostages and threaten them to convert or die. Stop defending yourself and your way of life, or face the consequences. That's the choice presented to Olaf Wiig and Steve Centanni, and they chose to convert. They were released shortly after the conversion.

It's the message that Ahamdinejad presented to Germany's Merkel and US President Bush. It's yet another da'wa. Submit to Islam or suffer the consequences.

The enemies of the West are not being shy about their intentions. They're plainly stating what they want us to do, and what they will do if we do not submit to their way of life.

Submission is the key here. It's the central tenet to this vision of political Islam.

Pajamas Media has a roundup.

One of the features of this latest video is the appearance of the convert to Islam, American Adam Yehiye Gadahn aka Azzam the American. This holds symbolic power. If you convert, you too can join the powerful leadership of al Qaeda and the worldwide movement of Islam. Widen the appeal of radical Islam, as well as provide a spokesperson who speaks English as opposed to reliance on translators. It's all about trying to make the message more effective, and al Qaeda is nothing if not keen on its media operations.

Of course, it's also a sign that you too can become a tool and useful idiot for the Islamists who will find such people expendible the moment their own lives are put in danger.

Now, there are those who will inevitably question the timing of the release of this tape with the fifth anniversary of 9/11 right around the corner. You can be sure that al Qaeda is quite aware of the date, and will use the next week to hammer home the fact that they're still relevant and I expect further videos to be released, and that another mass casualty attack might be planned to coincide with the fifth anniversary.

Others blogging: Counterterrorism Blog, Power Line, Outside the Beltway, Stop the ACLU, Flopping Aces, Wizbang, Blue Crab Boulevard.