A blog for all seasons; A blog for one; A blog for all. As the 11th most informative blog on the planet, I have a seared memory of throwing my Time 2006 Man of the Year Award over the railing at Time Warner Center.
Justice. Only Justice Shall Thou Pursue
Showing posts with label Anwar al-Awlaki. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anwar al-Awlaki. Show all posts
The admitted terrorist who sought to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane on its way to Detoit is in court today for sentencing. It's widely expected that Abdul Farouk Abdul Mutallab will receive a life sentence.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the privileged son of a wealthy Nigerian banker, returns to federal court in Detroit on Thursday to receive a mandatory life sentence for trying to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253, four months after pleading guilty and admitting it was a suicide mission for al-Qaida.
The hearing is an open platform for passengers and crew who want to speak, but only five of nearly 300 are expected to address the court, according to the government.
Abdulmutallab, 25, tried to detonate explosive chemicals that were hidden in his underwear minutes before the plane landed at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. The government says he first performed a ritual in the lavatory — brushing his teeth and perfuming himself — and returned to his seat. The device didn't work as planned, but still produced flame, smoke and panic in the cabin.
"I've become bolder. I've become stronger," said passenger Shama Chopra, 56, of Montreal, who plans to speak in court. She ran unsuccessfully for the Canadian Parliament in 2011, a race she couldn't have imagined joining years ago.
"I don't have to feel weak," Chopra said in an interview Wednesday. "I don't have to be scared of anything. God has given me a second chance to live."
On the second day of the trial in October, Abdulmutallab suddenly pleaded guilty to all charges. In a defiant speech, he said he was carrying a "blessed weapon" to avenge Muslims who have been killed or poorly treated around the world. He admitted he was inspired by Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical American-born cleric and leading al-Qaida figure in Yemen who was killed by a U.S. drone strike last fall.
"The Quran obliges every able Muslim to participate in jihad and fight in the way of Allah those who fight you, and kill them wherever you find them ... an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," Abdulmutallab said.
His lawyers are trying to argue that a life sentence is unconstitutional because he didn't succeed in carrying out the attack that was intended to blow up the plane and all those on board. That argument is a last-ditch attempt to avoid life in prison and it's not likely to work. Mutallab is expected to also give a statement, and I'd expect that he'll use the opportunity to once again rail against the American justice system, the US in general, and to reaffirm his support for jihad.
The alleged terrorist who sought to carry out bombings in the New York City metro area has been identified as Jose Pimentel. Among the suspected terror targets was the Bayonne, New Jersey police department, which is colocated with the City Hall and other local government agencies. Pimentel figured that it would be easier than targeting locations in New York City because of its anti-terror initiatives. Other targets included post office boxes, NYPD cops and military personnel returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the family members who came to greet them. Still another potential target was the Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum.
The FBI and federal prosecutors were unimpressed by Jose Pimentel's radical pedigree and Internet rantings, deciding he was a big talker who couldn't carry out his plans without help, sources said.
But when city cops arrested the Muslim convert over the weekend, he allegedly was drilling holes into pipes with the help of a jihadist bomb-making blueprint.
"No question in my mind that we had to take this case down," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Monday. "There was an imminent threat.
"All you have to do is look at this young man's blog to see the violent rhetoric and you see the evidence."
Pimentel, a divorced deadbeat dad with a petty-crime history, had been on the NYPD radar since 2009, when Albany cops tipped them to his radical views.
At the time, he lived upstate but he moved back to Manhattan early last year.
By September, his blog was so full of anti-American bombast and hints of violence that a confidential informant began working the case.
The feds were kept up to date as the alleged plot to blow up police cars and post offices progressed from talk to buying supplies at 99-cent stores and a Bronx Home Depot - with the assistance of the informant.
But in a replay of a different terrorism case in Queens earlier this year, the FBI and the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office took a pass.
It took several weeks for Pimentel to amass the components specified in the manual "Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom," officials say.
The criminal complaint outlines how the informant was with him when he bought some of the items. The suspect worked on the device at the informant's apartment.
On Saturday, he was an hour away by his own account from creating a functional explosive when cops grabbed him at the informant's apartment, cops said.
At the time of the arrest, the NYPD showcased a video that depicted how a device like the one Pimentel was assembling could tear apart a car and do significant damage to anyone nearby.
The NYPD's intelligence division had him under surveillance for several years, after Albany police had tipped off the NYPD to his increasing radicalization and criminal history following his divorce and his wife took custody of their son. His plans to carry out a terror attack became more concrete following the death of Anwar al-Awlaki in a US airstrike in Yemen on September 30. That was the final straw apparently, and Pimentel moved ahead with his plans to build bombs for his attacks.
The NYPD amassed hundreds of hours of recordings, and Pimentel's website is offered up as further evidence of his radicalization as a converted Muslim and his deep-seated hatred of the US; particularly its ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mayor Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. were expected to discuss details of the alleged terror threat at a City Hall press conference Sunday night.
The suspect, whose name was not immediately released, had been under surveillance by the NYPD counter-terrorism officers for some time, a source said.
Cops raided his Convent Ave. apartment in upper Manhattan earlier this week when an NYPD informant tipped them off that the suspect was assembling a bomb, the source said.
The would-be saboteur has apparently learned to build an explosive through web sites founded by Anwar al—Awlaki, the American-born jihadist cleric killed in September in a CIA-led drone strike in Yemen, the source said.
The suspect was identified through one of the al-Awlaki web sites, where he posted anti-American comments, the source said.
The press conference identified the man as a 27-year old lone wolf, inspired by al Qaeda.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab answered questions from U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds before pleading guilty to all eight charges he faced, including conspiracy to commit terrorism and attempted murder.
"Are you therefore pleading guilty freely and voluntarily?" Edmunds asked.
"That's right, yes," Abdulmutallab replied.
Edmunds reviewed the charges and possible penalties with Abdulmutallab before he entered his pleas, including that he faces a sentence of up to life in prison.
He's accused of trying to blow up Northwest Airlines Flight 253 with a bomb in his underwear on Christmas 2009. The bomb didn't work, and passengers jumped on Abdulmutallab when they saw smoke and fire.
Prosecutors' evidence was stacked high. Abdulmutallab was badly burned in a plane full of witnesses. The government said he told FBI agents he was working for al-Qaida and directed by Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical, American-born Muslim cleric recently killed by the U.S. in Yemen.
There are also photos of his scorched shorts as well as video of Abdulmutallab explaining his suicide mission before departing for the U.S.
That's a change of face and tactics from just a few days ago when he was defiant in court and attempted to use the courtroom to further his agenda of jihad.
A Nigerian man accused of trying to bring down an international jetliner with a bomb in his underwear walked into the start of his federal trial Tuesday and declared that a radical Islamic cleric killed by the U.S. military is alive.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's outburst came as jury selection got under way for his federal terror trial in Detroit, where the 24-year-old is acting as his own attorney and has previously told reporters they should stop reporting that Osama bin Laden was dead.
"Anwar is alive," Abdulmutallab said Tuesday, referring to American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed last week by a joint CIA-U.S. military air strike in Yemen.
"The mujahadeen will wipe out the U.S. — the cancer U.S.," he added.
Abdulmutallab, a well-educated Nigerian from an upper-class family, was directed by al-Awlaki and wanted to become a martyr when he boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 in Amsterdam on Christmas 2009, according to the government.
Awlaki was killed in airstrikes a couple of days ago, but Awlaki was successful in recruiting numerous terrorists to join or act as lone wolf affiliates of al Qaeda. Mutallab is one such thug who attempted to blow up an airplane using a bomb sewn into his underwear just minutes before the plane was to land at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. The bomb failed, but passengers and crew pounced on Mutallab to prevent further attempts and to foil the plot.
Mutallab entered not guilty pleas to multiple terrorism-related charges, including including conspiracy to commit terrorism and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. The government says he wanted to blow up the plane by detonating chemicals in his underwear, just seven minutes before the jet carrying 279 passengers and a crew of 11 was to land at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
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.
While much of the speculation as to who will assume the role as top terrorist in al Qaeda has fallen on Ayman al Zawahiri, there appears to be rumblings over whether he is sufficiently charismatic enough to keep the group going and whether he can get along with other terrorists.
Other possibilities include Anwar al Awlaki, whose followers have carried out several high profile attempted attacks in recent years.
An elusive figure who often wears heavily tinted aviator glasses, Kashmiri remains at large and active in plotting new attacks against the West, U.S. officials say. It was Kashmiri who, according to U.S. officials, was the key figure behind a suspected plot for multiple attacks in European cities, patterned after the 2008 Mumbai terror strike, which led to a widely publicized State Department travel advisory in October.
While Ayman al-Zawahri remains the “presumed” successor to bin Laden, the longtime al-Qaida deputy is deeply unpopular in some circles and his elevation is by no means guaranteed, a senior U.S. official told reporters this weekend. If al-Zawahri doesn’t make it, Kashmiri may emerge as the dark horse in the ensuing power struggle, the official told NBC on Monday.
“His star has been on the rise for the last several years,” said the official. “He would have to be on the al-Qaida short list.”
Kashmiri was at one point a member of the Pakistani military, serving as a commando in a Special Services Group that was once tasked with training Afghan mujahedeen to fight the Soviets.
He was later reassigned to train Kashmiri fighters against the Indians, but broke from the Pakistani army and joined a terrorist group — called Harakat-ul Jihad-i-Islami, or HUJI (“Movement of Islamic Holy War”) — that has been closely aligned with al-Qaida.
So far, U.S. officials have remained tight-lipped on whether they have found evidence in bin Laden’s compound that shows direct contacts between the now deceased al-Qaida leader and Kashmiri. But hints of such links — and of Kashmiri’s interest in mass casualty terror plots — are contained in U.S. court documents.
While Kashmiri was originally trained and worked closely with the Pakistani military and security services, he turned on Pervez Musharaf's regime and even targeted him in assassination attempts. His cadre of terrorists have carried out attacks in Pakistan, India, Kashmir, and plotted against the West, including a plot against Jyllands Posten for their running cartoons depicting Mohammad.
He's known to use the frontier provinces of Pakistan as his base of operations.
The US labeled him a specially designated global terrorist in August 2010, which puts him in the same ranks as the ex-bin Laden and Zawahiri. The US has attempted to carry out UAV airstrikes against him in the past, and have come close on several occasions, particularly after capturing several of his top henchmen.
Depending on who to believe, one would think that al Qaeda had three spheres of operation - the strategic, military, and ideological - with bin Laden, Kashmiri, and Zawahiri running each, respectively. However, with bin Laden's death and the cache of intel gathered from his compound in Abbottabad, that thinking may have been sorely misguided. It would appear that bin Laden was in command and control over most operational and strategic thinking of the terror group, using couriers to shuttle information between him and his subordinates.
Kashmiri, being central to these discussions, therefore may be in a better position to assume the leadership role. He's got the military credibility among the Taliban and knows his way through the region better than others, including Zawahiri. He also benefits from knowing Pakistani tactics and probabilities - where and how the Pakistanis operate their security forces and military. That's invaluable in evading capture or being struck in Pakistani airstrikes.
One of al Qaeda's leading ideologues and recruiters, Anwar al-Awlaki, was apparently the target of yet another UAV airstrike today, but was unsuccessful in eliminating the man whose writings on Islam inspired the Fort Hood shooter Major Hassan, the Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad, Christmas day bomber Abdul Farouk Abdul Mutallab, among others. He's also linked with the 9/11 attacks in that he was apparently the spiritual adviser for at least two of the 19 hijackers.
That it comes so quickly after the raid on Osama bin Laden could be a coincidence, or it could mean that the US is exploiting the terabytes of data collected in the raid that killed the al Qaeda leader.
The attack does not appear to have killed Mr. Awlaki, the officials said, but may have killed operatives of Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen.
It was the first American strike in Yemen using a remotely piloted drone since 2002, when the C.I.A. struck a car carrying a group of suspected militants, including an American citizen, who were believed to have Qaeda ties. And the attack came just three days after American commandos invaded a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and killed Osama bin Laden, the founder of Al Qaeda.
The attack on Thursday was part of a clandestine Pentagon program to hunt members of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the group believed responsible for a number of failed attempts to strike the United States, including the thwarted plot to blow up a trans-Atlantic jet on Dec. 25, 2009, as it was preparing to land in Detroit.
Although Mr. Awlaki is not thought to be one of the group’s senior leaders, he has been made a target by American military and intelligence operatives because he has recruited English-speaking Islamist militants to Yemen to carry out attacks overseas. His radical sermons, broadcast on the Internet, have a large global following.
The Obama administration has taken the rare step of approving Mr. Awlaki’s killing, even though he is an American citizen.
Awlaki has made his reputation as being a top recruiter for al Qaeda and exploiting jihadi sentiments online.
CNN reports that the Awlaki raid was not due to information garnered from the bin Laden raid. Further, this particular UAV airstrike was under the command of the Pentagon, not the CIA.
US Special Forces from SEAL Team Six carried out a daring raid last night and killed Osama bin Laden in a large compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan last night, which is located 30 miles north of the capital of Islamabad and 120 miles from the Afghan border. The news hits hard here in the New York City metro area where al Qaeda carried out the deadliest terror attack in history, murdering more than 3,000 people and destroying the World Trade Center. For the families of those killed or injured in the attacks, this is a bittersweet moment since they will never get closure - they will always be lacking their loved ones who were so cruelly taken from them on the orders of bin Laden.
Once the news was broadcast following President Obama's official announcement last night, the area around Ground Zero was one of jubilation and reflection (more here). This morning, broadcasters and hundreds of police were controlling the gathered crowds and those trying to make their way to jobs in and around Lower Manhattan.
A trusted courier of Osama bin Laden’s whom American spies had been hunting for years was finally located in a compound 35 miles north of the Pakistani capital, close to one of the hubs of American counterterrorism operations. The property was so secure, so large, that American officials guessed it was built to hide someone far more important than a mere courier.
What followed was eight months of painstaking intelligence work, culminating in a helicopter assault by American military and intelligence operatives that ended in the death of Bin Laden on Sunday and concluded one of history’s most extensive and frustrating manhunts.
American officials said that Bin Laden was shot in the head after he tried to resist the assault force, and that one of his sons died with him.
For nearly a decade, American military and intelligence forces had chased the specter of Bin Laden through Pakistan and Afghanistan, once coming agonizingly close and losing him in a pitched battle at Tora Bora, in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan. As Obama administration officials described it, the real breakthrough came when they finally figured out the name and location of Bin Laden’s most trusted courier, whom the Qaeda chief appeared to rely on to maintain contacts with the outside world.
Detainees at the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, had given the courier’s pseudonym to American interrogators and said that the man was a protégé of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the confessed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.
American intelligence officials said Sunday night that they finally learned the courier’s real name four years ago, but that it took another two years for them to learn the general region where he operated.
Still, it was not until August when they tracked him to the compound in Abbottabad, a medium-sized city about an hour’s drive north of Islamabad, the capital.
C.I.A. analysts spent the next several weeks examining satellite photos and intelligence reports to determine who might be living at the compound, and a senior administration official said that by September the C.I.A. had determined there was a “strong possibility” that Bin Laden himself was hiding there.
It was hardly the spartan cave in the mountains where many had envisioned Bin Laden to be hiding. Rather, it was a mansion on the outskirts of the town’s center, set on an imposing hilltop and ringed by 12-foot-high concrete walls topped with barbed wire.
The property was valued at $1 million, but it had neither a telephone nor an Internet connection. Its residents were so concerned about security that they burned their trash rather putting it on the street for collection like their neighbors.
American officials believed that the compound, built in 2005, was designed for the specific purpose of hiding Bin Laden.
Months more of intelligence work would follow before American spies felt highly confident that it was indeed Bin Laden and his family who were hiding in there — and before President Obama determined that the intelligence was solid enough to begin planning a mission to go after the Qaeda leader.
Bin Laden, however would not come quietly, and he returned fire. Members of the team killed bin Laden and extracted his body to a base in Afghanistan where he was positively identified with facial recognition software and other means. From there, his body was buried at sea.
Now, there was speculation that no country would accept his remains as being the reason that his body was buried at sea, but I think the more likely explanation is that the US simply didn't want his burial location to turn into a rallying cry for al Qaeda and those loyal to the jihad. A burial at sea wipes eliminates that possibility, but the ideology lives on.
Al Qaeda has been seriously damaged by the attack and death of bin Laden, but the group is far from defanged. Ayman al Zawahiri is still at large, and the terror group continues to receive shelter from Taliban and utilizes the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan as a base of operations.
The terror group will continue to attempt further attacks, and it's important to note that while bin Laden was the face and major fundraiser for the group and pressed home the notion of jihad, Zawahiri and others have been the more public figures in the past several years. Expect Zawahiri to take a more active role in leading al Qaeda and spreading the jihadist rhetoric and ideology, along with Anwar al-Awlaki. Both men have been spreading jihadi ideology online and rallying others to their cause.
As noted above, the US didn't let Pakistan's government know about the mission until it was completed. There's damned good reasons for that - the Pakistani government is far from reliable and the ISI is likely harboring further Taliban and al Qaeda within the country and not acting against the terror group whose leader lived in comfort just yards from Pakistan's army military academy where the country's army trains its cadre of leaders and in a city where many in the army go to retire. A Pakistani army division headquarters is located there as well, making this a major center for the Pakistani military.
Bin Laden's death doesn't mean the end of the conflict against al Qaeda and the Islamic extremists who justify attacks against the US and the West. It just means that there will be a new face associated with terror attacks to come. That doesn't mean that his death shouldn't be lauded for eliminating a scourge of humanity whose actions set in motion the worst terror attacks in history and tremendous bloodshed and misery for many throughout the world.
The successful raid also raises new questions about what the Pakistani intel service (ISI) knew, and how the Pakistanis were unable to located bin Laden when he was living so openly and so close to major Pakistani military installations.
Finally, I want to personally thank all those who stuggle to keep us safe and go after these terrorists, along with President Obama for green-lighting the mission and enabling the military and intel services to coordinate and execute the mission with precision and professionalism.
UPDATE:
Here's a map showing the final location of where bin Laden lived before the raid:
UPDATE:
This is perhaps the most poignant of all the photos taken in the past 48 hours and was captured by a NYT cameraman:
UPDATE: Pakistanis are both stunned by the news, and many are angered over the attack on bin Laden. Former Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf is angered at the violation of Pakistan's sovereignty. Considering that Pakistan's own ISI routinely ignores Afghanistan's sovereignty by providing aid and comfort to Taliban and al Qaeda, and refuses to deal with embedded Taliban and al Qaeda within Pakistan's own territory, they government in Islamabad is going to be on the hot seat to explain how they completely missed the fact that bin Laden was living large just yards from the Pakistani military academy.
Clearly, this is going to lead to a re-evaluation of US-Pakistani relations - both the public declarations and the private behind the scenes level discussions. Pakistan's ISI and military simply can't be trusted, especially with time sensitive information to maintain operational security, and that was a major reason that President Obama kept the mission close to the vest and didn't inform any US allies, lest any information leak before the mission was carried out.
This also means that the Islamists in Pakistan may carry out additional attacks against the US/NATO/ISAF supply lines, and perhaps the Pakistani military may no longer give NATO/US/ISAF forces the logistical support they have had in the past (although the Pakistani military hasn't exactly done a great job protecting those convoys in the past). President Obama must have weighed the potential repercussions of taking this action versus informing Pakistan, etc., and found that the benefits outweighed the potential fallout/blowback. I think that was the right move.
After bursts of fire over 40 minutes, 22 people were killed or captured. One of the dead was Osama bin Laden, done in by a double tap -- boom, boom -- to the left side of his face. His body was aboard the choppers that made the trip back. One had experienced mechanical failure and was destroyed by U.S. forces, military and White House officials tell National Journal.
So, who was captured along with who else was killed in the raid? That's going to make for some interesting reading down the line.
A jury convicted a former British Airways computer specialist of plotting with U.S.-born extremist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki to blow up an airplane in an attack intended to kill hundreds of people.
Rajib Karim, a 31-year-old Bangladeshi man, was found guilty Monday of four counts of engaging in preparation for terrorist attacks.
He already had pleaded guilty to five other terrorism offenses, but denied plotting an attack in Britain.
A jury deliberated for 16 hours before agreeing with prosecutors who said Karim used his position at the airline to conspire with al-Awlaki, a notorious radical preacher associated with al-Qaida and thought to be hiding in Yemen.
Al Qaeda continues attempts to penetrate airline security measures by any means necessary. Using someone in Karim's position would allow al Qaeda access to security measures, the means to evade them, and access to airports and airlines so as to carry out future attacks.
This scenario is yet another reason why airline crews need to be screened just as passengers - the possibility that al Qaeda or a lone wolf jihadi inspired by extremists may be among the air crews and ground staff of airports and could attempt to circumvent security measures to carry out attacks against the planes and their passengers is an ongoing threat. So, while measures to expedite those crews and staff through screening makes sense, eliminating those screening measures would open a gap in security that al Qaeda could potentially exploit.
The NYPD intelligence division, CIA and FBI are concerned Sheikh Abdullah el-Faisal is becoming a new Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni Al Qaeda cleric who went from preaching to plotting.
"El-Faisal is focused on propaganda," one U.S. counterterror official in Washington told the Daily News. "But the last few years, he's dabbled in operational things like recruitment and facilitation."
He also inspired Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad and failed airplane underwear bomber Farouk Abdulmutallab.
"His reach goes far beyond Jamaica," the U.S. official said. "He's trying to expand his network in Africa and Asia."
A law enforcement source said El-Faisal "has a big ego" and hates "playing second fiddle" to perceived rival Awlaki - targeted for death by the U.S. for his links to the Fort Hood shootings and Abdulmutallab.
El-Faisal started out giving fiery sermons in London that were posted online by New York-based extremist website Revolution Muslim, which regards him as an in-house imam.
Awlaki has been the most active of the imams providing spiritual guidance to al Qaeda inspired jihadis around the world, and several of the most recent terror plots and incidents were by those inspired by Awlaki, including the Fort Hood massacre shoot Maj. Nidal Hassan, Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad, and underwear bomber Farouk Abdulmutallab.
However, when he was known as Imam Al-Jamaikee, Faisal preached to Al Qaeda shoe bomber Richard Reid, 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui and 2005 British train bomber Germaine Lindsay before the U.K. jailed him on a terror rap for four years.
If he's nearly as vainglorious as intel services and law enforcement believes him to be, his outsized ego will try to exhort his followers on to carrying out more spectacular attacks and al-Awlaki's been able to achieve. He is also likely to attempt to muster more followers to his ranks in an attempt to wrest control from Awlaki, who is currently in Yemen and trying to avoid being captured by Yemeni and Saudi forces or UAV airstrikes.
Law enforcement may also try to play the factions against each other in an attempt to undermine both.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the government felt compelled to issue a warning of a “new threat level” after receiving intelligence from an unnamed foreign partner and gathering evidence domestically from Islamist groups.
“There is cause for concern, but no cause for hysteria,” de Maiziere told reporters today in Berlin. He said the public will begin to see an increased security presence, though “there are a large number of measures they won’t be able to see.”
The warning follows a worldwide terror alert prompted last month after bombs were found in air-cargo shipments. One bomb, packed inside a printer cartridge, was timed to explode on a flight as it reached the U.S. East Coast. That bomb, which originated in Yemen and was discovered at the U.K.’s East Midlands airport on Oct. 29, had passed through Germany via Cologne/Bonn airport.
A second bomb was found in Dubai. Both were addressed to synagogues in Chicago.
De Maiziere said Germany received additional intelligence after the incident and compared the threat level to the weeks before September 2009 federal elections, when a series of video messages emerged on the Internet warning of terror attacks in Germany. German authorities attributed those threats to an al- Qaeda-inspired campaign that aimed to influence the election, which gave Chancellor Angela Merkel a second term.
As always, the public has to remain vigilant and if they see something out of the ordinary in transit hubs, they should say something to the authorities. If you see something, say something.
A group of jihadists from the German city of Hamburg was alleged to be at the heart of the purported plot, European intelligence officials said.
Western intelligence officials say they learned about the alleged plot after Ahmed Sidiqi, a German citizen of Afghan descent, was arrested in Afghanistan in July and taken to the U.S. air base at Bagram for questioning.
"You are aware that the federal security authorities have been presuming a stronger threat situation from international terror for a considerable time," de Maiziere said. "In spring 2009 and in the time thereafter, there were detailed indications of possible attacks in the U.S.A., in Europe and in Germany as well."
Yet, there are more pressing concerns with Yemen being a terror haven. Anwar al Awlaki has been insistent on carrying on the jihad against the West and exhorting jihadis to engage in war against the US in particular. His latest videos epitomize his strategy of carrying out attacks by any means necessary. Awlaki's followers have been more active in carrying out attacks against the US than those directly linked to Osama bin Laden of late - the Fort Hood shooter, Times Square bomber, and several other plots were linked to Awlaki. It would seem that Awlaki's al Qaeda affiliate branch in Yemen is best positioned to carry out attacks to the US, and it continues to represent an ongoing threat to US security interests around the world.
Anwar al-Awlaki said since all Americans are the enemy, clerics don't need to issue any special fatwas or religious rulings allowing them to be killed.
"Don't consult with anybody in killing the Americans, fighting the devil doesn't require consultation or prayers seeking divine guidance. They are the party of the devils," he said. "We are two opposites who will never come together."
In the 23-minute Arabic language message entitled "Make it known and clear to mankind," al-Awlaki said that for Americans and Muslims it was "either us or them."
Born in New Mexico, al-Awlaki has used his website and English-language sermons to encourage Muslims around the world to kill U.S. troops in Iraq and has been tied by U.S. intelligence to the 9/11 hijackers, underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, as well as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people in November at Fort Hood, Texas.
U.S. investigators say since he returned to Yemen in 2006, al-Awlaki has moved beyond just inspiring militants to becoming an active operative in al-Qaida's affiliate there.
Yemeni officials have been unable to track him down and he's seen as being one of the key spiritual leaders in al Qaeda's worldwide movement. They've put him on trial in absentia, but that will do nothing to stem his calls for worldwide jihad.
Meanwhile, Canadian papers are reporting that Awlaki was welcomed into the UK in 2002 despite US authorities investigating his role in the 9/11 attacks:
Awlaki was fleeing an FBI inquiry in America in the wake of his involvement with three of the Sept 11 hijackers, when he arrived in Britain in late 2002.
But even with such a cloud over him, he was "welcomed with open arms," according to Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens, from the Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King's College, London, who is an expert on Awlaki. The controversial cleric lectured for the Muslim Association of Britain, the Federation of Student Islamic Societies, and the Islamic Forum Europe, based at East London Mosque.
He began a "grand tour" of Britain, from London to Aberdeen, as part of a campaign by the Muslim Association of Britain.
While in Britain, Awlaki was working on a lecture series called Constants in the Path of Jihad, which he produced in 2005, a few months after being banned from the country. But it was only with the Fort Hood shootings in Texas by Major Nidal Hasan, a disciple of Awlaki, in November last year, that British Islamic organisations began to distance themselves from him.
The shipments from Yemen to Chicago are reported to have contained literature and other materials, but no explosives.
The idea was to test how long it would take for the packages to reach their destination, US officials suspect.
Last week, two parcel bombs were found on cargo planes in the UK and Dubai.
The parcels - with powerful PETN explosives hidden inside printer toner cartridges - were shipped from Yemen's capital Sanaa through UPS and another US cargo firm, FedEx.
Both packages - which have now been made safe - were addressed to synagogues in the US city of Chicago.
Investigators have linked the "dry run" and last weekend's bombs to al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
The terrorists were able to discern the shipping pattern and timing based on tracking information provided by the companies. Several countries have stepped up security and are limiting shipment of toner cartridges in passenger baggage or are limiting flights and cargo from Yemen:
On Monday, Germany, France and Britain said they had banned cargo shipments from Yemen, following a similar move by the United States. Britain prohibited passengers from carrying printer cartridges aboard flights, and Germany halted passenger flights from Yemen as well. Many countries have stepped up cargo screening, but no additional bombs have been found.
Facing pressure to crackdown on terrorism following last week's international bomb scare, Yemen has charged a radical, U.S.-born Muslim cleric with attempting to kill foreigners and being a member of Al Qaeda.
The announcement to try Anwar al-Awlaki (who is already on a U.S. list of militants to assassinate) was made at the trial of another radical, Hisham Assem on Tuesday.
Assem is charged with a shooting and killing of a Frenchman at a local oil compound last month.
Al-Awlaki is said to be hiding in the mountains of Yemen with his family and friends. He was charged in absentia.
Yemen hasn't exactly been a willing partner in going after al Qaeda, and had to be pushed to make even this half-hearted attempt. Saudi Arabia and Yemen have had several border skirmishes in the past because of the porous border, but this latest move is slightly more than their usual lip service.
However, it shows that security against terror outfits like al Qaeda is only as good as the weakest link. Yemen is a weak link, and it's pitiful air security was such that bombs got onto passenger flights and then into the cargo manifests ultimately destined for the US.
That's got to change, and al Qaeda is continuing to adapt its tactics to what is available and possible. They will continue using failed states and border regions as safe havens, terror recruitment centers, and training centers.
UPDATE:
Here's a bit of speculation on my part as to the tactic of bombing cargo planes. Al Qaeda has gone after hard targets like US Navy ships and softer targets like the US Embassies in Africa and then airlines and other modes of transportation. The attacks are as much about racking up a body count as they are about disrupting the economic system. The 9/11 attacks caused a major disruption of the economy in and around the New York City metro area and seriously affected airlines. Blowing up cargo planes would similarly affect the viability of sending cargo items and that could affect manufacturing, which is increasingly dependent on just-in-time manufacturing. If products get delayed because of extra screening and delays (or slower modes of transportation to avoid cargo screening delays), manufacturers will have to compensate with increased supplies on hand. Al Qaeda is not just attacking to blow up stuff, but to send a message about their ongoing opposition to our very way of life - and that includes our economic system.
Anwar al-Awlaki is in the news once again. The radical Islamist who has been linked with the Fort Hood massacre, the failed Times Square bombing, and the underwear bomber, has announced a fatwa against a cartoonist who wanted to test the limits of free speech in the United States.
Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki - the radical who has also been cited as inspiring the Fort Hood, Tex., massacre and the plot by two New Jersey men to kill U.S. soldiers - singled out artist Molly Norris as a "prime target," saying her "proper abode is hellfire."
FBI officials have notified Norris and warned her they consider it a "very serious threat."
In an English-language Al Qaeda magazine that calls itself "Inspire," Awlaki damns Norris and eight others for "blasphemous caricatures" of the Prophet Muhammed. The other cartoonists, authors and journalists in Awlaki's cross hairs are Swedish, Dutch and British citizens.
The 67-page terror rag is seen by terrorism experts as a bald new attempt to reach and recruit Muslim youth in the West.
"The medicine prescribed by the Messenger of Allah is the execution of those involved," writes Awlaki, 39, a Las Cruces, N.M.-born American citizen.
"A soul that is so debased, as to enjoy the ridicule of the Messenger of Allah, the mercy to mankind; a soul that is so ungrateful towards its lord that it defames the Prophet of the religion Allah has chosen for his creation does not deserve life, does not deserve to breathe the air."
Awlaki's rant first appeared late last month in "Inspire," which was posted to the Internet by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a Yemeni branch linked to a Christmas Day bombing attempt on a U.S.-bound jet.
The Seattle-based American Molly Norris was among nine people singled out by Awlaki, including Swedes, Dutch, and British authors and artists.
Awlaki continues to run free in Yemen despite efforts to track him down. He is a major player in recruiting to jihad and his online rantings are both used for indoctrination and for spreading the message of hate and violence against those who do not subscribe to his vision of Islam.
ABC News has apparently gotten its hands on a video showing the Christmas Day underwear bomber, Abdul Farouk Abdul Mutallab, training with al Qaeda in Yemen.
The footage can be found here. In addition to the typical martyrdom statement, the real key is that other individuals are visible and potentially identifiable and the US needs to figure out who these others are. This particular camp was apparently also under US surveillance because a section of video shows a UAV flying overhead and the terrorists' futile attempts to shoot it down.
Mutallab may be able to help authorities figure out who else was there and their potential targets and whereabouts.
France closed its embassy in Yemen to the public Monday, citing ongoing threats from al Qaeda.
The decision came a day after the United States and Britain closed their embassies in Sanaa, the country's capital, entirely.
A French foreign ministry spokesman told CNN that embassy employees will continue their work, but without any visits from the public. The spokesman said the ministry was not acting on a specific threat.
Japan, meanwhile, halted service Monday at the consulate section of its embassy in Sanaa. The Japanese foreign ministry said the decision was based on the threat of terror, though not a specific threat. The embassy continued functioning.
A senior official in U.S. President Barack Obama's administration told CNN late Sunday that the closure of its embassy was because of a specific, credible and ongoing threat. No additional details were provided.
I don't think anyone considers Yemen's counter terrorism activities to be up to snuff, considering that Yemen has been a safe haven to al Qaeda for more than a decade and that high level al Qaeda, including one of its top ideologues and recruiters, Anwar al Awlaki, have been operating with impunity for years.
The US shut its embassy in Sanaa on Sunday, citing "ongoing threats" by the militant organisation, and the UK followed suit.
On Monday, France shut its Yemen embassy, Japan suspended its consular service in Sanaa, and Spain restricted public access to its mission there.
According to Yemeni media, it comes after six trucks full of weapons and explosives entered the capital, and the security forces lost track of the vehicles.
Britain said on Sunday the shutdown was for unspecified security reasons.
Just what exactly were the Yemeni authorities doing in merely tracking those vehicles? Who owned the vehicles? What was their origin? Did they have any idea of the destination? Who was in the vehicles, and what was their original purpose? Lots of questions, and no good answers.
If this was indeed one of the questions that Fort Hood shooter Major Malik Hasan asked of radical Islamist Anwar al Awlaki, then someone seriously dropped the ball.
In an interview Wednesday with the Arabic-language news network Al-Jazeera, Anwar al-Awlaki, considered a key recruiter for al-Qaida, said Hasan asked him in a December 2008 e-mail "whether killing American soldiers and officers is lawful or not" under Islamic law.
However, a Yemeni air raid on Thursday may have killed the preacher along with the top two leaders of al-Qaida's regional branch, a Yemeni security official said.
"Anwar al-Awlaki is suspected to be dead," the official said of the cleric who was on the run in Yemen, where he was on the government's most-wanted list of terrorist suspects.
In the interview, Al-Awlaki then appears to taunt U.S. intelligence and security, saying, "I wonder where were the American security forces that one day claimed they can read the numbers of any license plate, anywhere in the world, from space."
Does this email exist, and if it does, was it among those that were intercepted by the FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force that was looking into Hasan's communications with Awlaki? Thus far, the earlier reports have the FBI claiming that there was nothing in Hasan's emails that would have raised red flags.
Asking about the legality under Islamic law to murder US soldiers would raise serious red flags.
Meanwhile, the Yemeni authorities think that the latest airstrikes may have taken out Awlaki and some of his fellow Islamists. US authorities are trying to confirm the Yemeni reports. Awlaki is known to be a senior recruiter for al Qaeda.
This is what attorneys are supposed to do for their clients. They're supposed to come up with strategy and tactics to help their clients. Major Malik Hasan is accused of murdering 13 soldiers at Fort Hood and is likely to face dozens more charges in coming weeks based on his shooting spree at Fort Hood.
When faced with serious evidence putting Hasan at the scene of the crime and being the murderous bastard who shot soldiers in cold blood while they were preparing to deploy overseas, his lawyer, John Galligan, is contemplating that an insanity plea is how he can keep his client out of prison or the death penalty?
This isn't a mental health issue, it's an issue of Hasan's religious extremism and pursuit to carry on jihad by the means at his disposal. His ties to extremist Islamists, such as Anwar al-Awlaki, continues to be explored and that is far more informative as to his behavior and intent than claiming that he was somehow insane.
Galligan is in a tough position; a hated client and an attempt to defend the indefensible. It's just not going to sway the court martial.
Sen. Carl Levin notes that there appear to be still more troubling emails written by Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who massacred 13 soldiers at Fort Hood.
The U.S. government intercepted at least 18 e-mails between Hasan and Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical American-born cleric. They were passed along to two Joint Terrorism Task Force cells led by the FBI, but a senior defense official said no one at the Defense Department knew about the messages until after the shootings. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss intelligence procedures.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said after a briefing from Pentagon and Army officials that his committee will investigate how those and other e-mails involving the alleged shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, were handled and why the U.S. military was not made aware of them before the Nov. 5 shooting.
Levin said his committee is focused on determining whether the Defense Department's representative on the terrorism task force acted appropriately and effectively.
Levin also said he considers Hasan's shooting spree, which killed 13 and wounded more than 30, an act of terrorism.
"There are some who are reluctant to call it terrorism but there is significant evidence that is. I'm not at all uneasy saying it sure looks like that," he said.
It isn't just emails, but that the contact between Hasan and extremist imam Anwar al-Awlaki intensified. Hasan began inquiring about engaging in financial transfers to further his extremist ideology:
Hasan's contacts with extremist imam Anwar al-Aulaqi began as religious queries but took on a more specific and concrete tone before he moved to Texas, where he allegedly unleashed the Nov. 5 attack that killed 13 people and wounded nearly three dozen, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case is sensitive and unfolding. One source said the two discussed in "cryptic and coded exchanges" the transfer of money overseas in ways that would not attract law enforcement attention.
"He [Hasan] clearly became more radicalized toward the end, and was having discussions related to the transfer of money and finances . . .," the source said in describing the 18 or 19 intercepted e-mails. "It became very clear toward the end of those e-mails he was interested in taking action."
Yet, despite these emails, no action was taken by the Army against Hasan. The recriminations between the Army and FBI are only going to intensify because the FBI apparently didn't pass along these messages to the Army all while the Army knew that they had someone in Hasan whose job performance was deficient and whose colleagues were concerned about his work product. Yet, the Army gave him a promotion.
Hasan remains hospitalized, and a pre-trial hearing is scheduled to occur at his bedside. His lawyer complains that the hearing is taking place without regard for his client's physical condition.
Curiously, the CNN article reporting on the pre-trial hearing notes the following:
Hasan, a U.S. Army psychiatrist, is accused of killing 13 people and injuring several others in the November 5 shooting at the Fort Hood Army Post near Killeen. He has not pleaded to the charges.
Hasan didn't merely injure several others. He wounded more than 30 other people during his shooting rampage. Some consider that Hasan actually killed 14 people, as one of the women murdered by Hasan was pregnant and the fetus died as well. Why is CNN downplaying the severity of the attack?
