Fort Hood Terrorist, Nidal Hasan, Found Guilty on all 45 Counts!

Posted by Zenster

Rest in Peace Good Americans and Know that Justice will be Done

FORT HOOD, Texas — Guilty, on all 45 counts.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was found guilty by unanimous vote Friday of opening fire in a crowded clinic here on Nov. 5, 2009, killing 13 people and injuring 31 others, as well as shooting at the police officer who took him down.

The verdict was unanimous on all charges; Hasan could be sentenced to death for the crimes.

I sincerely hope that the death penalty will be imposed by way of firing squad. A date with Mr. Needle is far too good for this oxygen thieving waste of skin. Thank goodness that the military has its own, far more appropriate, code of justice.

Even more dead-jihad-licious is how the verdict for this misogynistic, Islamo-fascist slime bag was handed down by a woman!

The judge, Col. Tara Osborn, again reminded those in the courtroom that no outbursts of any kind are allowed, and those inside heeded the warning. Still, many had tears in their eyes or relieved smiles on their faces as they left quietly after the verdict.

Hasan did look up at the president as she read the verdict, then looked back down, glancing up again briefly as Osborn said the sentencing phase will begin Monday at 9 a.m.

Lest we forget, it is vital to remember the craven, cowardly words of the Army’s top officer, General George Casey:

“Our diversity, not only in our Army, but in our country, is a strength. And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse,”

As blogger par excellence, Takuan Seiyo, is fond of noting:

“Diversity” is like Tabasco – add a ¼ spoonful to your grits, and you have a more lively and interesting dish. Add half a cup of the hot sauce, and you need an ambulance.

It is equally important to recall how the entire 86 page Pentagon report on the Fort Hood massacre never once contains the word “Islam“.

Clearly, this traitorous rat bastard has no shame or sense of disloyalty to the troops he ostensibly leads.

Posted on 23 Aug 13 by Call of the Patriot

Editor’s Note: This does not necessarily entail the beliefs, thoughts, or theories of the local Act chapters or the National Act office…they are my beliefs, thoughts and/or theories. It is a shame, that, during the beginning of the court-martial, Nidal stated a number of times that he did this killing spree for allah and the Taliban, but the judge ordered him not to say that anymore. In fact, the judge ordered the attorneys and the defendant not to mention the word Islam or mention anything to do with Islam. Funny how, when this first happened, the president of the United States announced, without any training in the field of psychiatry to determine Nidal was guilty under work stress, the officer’s commanding officers never once noticed how he was acting or what he was portraying in his study papers nor his business card, plus the fact that the judge ignored that Nidal stated that he performed jihad for allah and for the Taliban so he could ascertain martyrdom in the eyes of allah…

This shows how ignorant the American populace (in general) and how ignorant the commanding American military officers are concerning Islam…if they would have know about Islam, and Nidal’s actions and his confession, they would have looked at the case a lot different. Nidal gets to play the American ignorance card, because the court doesn’t know about Islam, so he still gets to win his martyrdom title in allah’s eyes.

I personally think, to ruin his Islamic beliefs and aspirations of receiving automatic residence in paradise (close to allah that doesn’t really want to be around the people in paradise), and to receive his 72 virgins, instead of getting the death penalty (which would still qualify him for martyrdom) he should get 100 years of hard labor, in the women’s prison area.

Al-Qaeda lone wolf was hours away from completing bombs for US attacks

Homeland Security NTARC News | 11/22/2011

Jose Pimentel was seized by police after being filmed converting pipes into casings for bombs that could have killed dozens in New York and New Jersey, Mayor Michael Bloomberg claimed.

He was allegedly plotting to avenge the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical Islamist cleric, after reading an article in an al-Qaeda magazine titled “How to make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom”.”The NYPD remains focused on preventing another terrorist attack,” Mr Bloomberg told a late-night press conference. “This is just another case where our precautions paid off.”

Read More

Posted on 22 Nov 11 by Homeland Security NTRAC News

Hey! Barack Hussein Obama finally does one thing right and the left wing loons are apoplectic with rage over it

Posted: October 1, 2011 | Author: barenakedislam |

Loonwatch entitles this story: ‘President Obama, Judge, Jury, and Executioner for Anwar al-Awlaki.’ As if this is a BAD thing?

 

Loonwatch  It was first reported in January of last year that the Obama administration had compiled a hit list of American citizens whom the President had ordered assassinated without any due process, and one of those Americans was Anwar al-Awlaki.

After several unsuccessful attempts by the US government Anwar al-Awlaki is finally dead.  Glenn Greenwald spells out the tendentious nature of the hunt for Awlaki and all the resultant shadiness:

 

No effort was made to indict him for any crimes (despite a report last October that the Obama administration was “considering” indicting him).  Despite substantial doubt among Yemen experts about whether he even has any operational role in Al Qaeda, no evidence (as opposed to unverified government accusations) was presented of his guilt.  When Awlaki’s father sought a court order barring Obama from killing his son, the DOJ argued, among other things, that such decisions were “state secrets” and thus beyond the scrutiny of the courts.  He was simply ordered killed by the President: his judge, jury and executioner.  When Awlaki’s inclusion on President Obama’s hit list was confirmed, The New York Times noted that “it is extremely rare, if not unprecedented, for an American to be approved for targeted killing.”

 

Awlaki once was a marginal figure, on the run in the mountains of Yemen, his operational role in Al Qaeda was nil, now he has been transformed into a martyr with a little help from our brutal friend, the President of Yemen:

After several unsuccessful efforts to assassinate its own citizen, the U.S. succeeded today (and it was the U.S.).  It almost certainly was able to find and kill Awlaki with the help of its long-time close friend President Saleh, who took a little time off from murdering his own citizens to help the U.S. murder its.  The U.S. thus transformed someone who was, at best, a marginal figure into a martyr, and again showed its true face to the world.  The government and media search for The Next bin Laden has undoubtedly already commenced.

What’s most striking about this is not that the U.S. Government has seized and exercised exactly the power the Fifth Amendment was designed to bar (“No person shall be deprived of life without due process of law”), and did so in a way that almost certainly violates core First Amendment protections (questions that will now never be decided in a court of law). What’s most amazing is that its citizens will not merely refrain from objecting, but will stand and cheer the U.S. Government’s new power to assassinate their fellow citizens, far from any battlefield, literally without a shred of due process from the U.S. Government.  Many will celebrate the strong, decisive, Tough President’s ability to eradicate the life of Anwar al-Awlaki — including many who just so righteously condemned those Republican audience members as so terribly barbaric and crass for cheering Governor Perry’s execution of scores of serial murderers and rapists — criminals who were at least given a trial and appeals and the other trappings of due process before being killed.

From an authoritarian perspective, that’s the genius of America’s political culture.  It not only finds way to obliterate the most basic individual liberties designed to safeguard citizens from consummate abuses of power (such as extinguishing the lives of citizens without due process).  It actually gets its citizens to stand up and clap and even celebrate the destruction of those safeguards.

 

Greenwald’s evaluation is dark because of the uncomfortable truth he relates: we are cheering the destruction of the very liberties that safeguard us from the abuses of power.

This is all being done under the guise of defending our “freedom” and “security.” In reality, as terror expert Professor Charles Kurzman points out, very few Muslims were interested in Awlaki’s message:

Given that Awlaki’s messages is sitting on the internet, easily accessible to millions of English speaking Muslims, it’s very interesting how few have taken him up on his demand that Muslims join the revolutionary movement.

It is time that US citizens stand up for their rights and say we will not allow the government to take the life of our citizens without due process. We are not going to buy the line that our civil liberties and freedoms must be bargained in the interest of “security,” especially from a threat that is overblown in the first place.

 

Posted on 1 Oct 11 by BNI

U.S. officials: Islamic jihadists may retaliate for Awlaki killing

This kind of warning always follows a victory in the struggle against jihad — as if to suggest that if only we didn’t resist, they wouldn’t be fighting us. In any case, they hardly need to fight us when the ACLU is fighting us well enough on its own, as you can see below, and as Obama continues to purvey the delusion that Yemen is an ally and that the jihad against the U.S. is being pursued only by a few lone nuts in al-Qaeda. “U.S. officials warn of possible retaliation after al Qaeda cleric is killed,” from CNN, September 30:

Washington (CNN) — The killings Friday of alleged terrorists’ cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and computer expert Samir Khan could spark retaliatory attacks against the United States, according to the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.

The agencies issued a joint intelligence bulletin late Friday that said supporters might seek to portray al-Awlaki as a martyr in a supposed U.S. war against Islam. It says the deaths “could provide motivation for homeland attacks” by “homegrown violent extremists,” the type the two men allegedly tried to recruit or inspire.

The bulletin came less than a day after U.S. and Yemeni government officials announced that al-Awlaki — an American whose fluency with English and technology made him a top terrorist recruiter — was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen.

“It was a joint U.S. military-intelligence operation,” a U.S. official said, adding that the U.S. military helped target al-Awlaki and that manned American military aircraft were flying overhead ready to offer assistance. The drone was operated by the CIA, officials said.

The strike also killed Khan, an American, and two others who were in the same vehicle as al-Awlaki, said another U.S. official who was briefed by the CIA. Khan specialized in computer programming for al Qaeda and produced the terrorist network’s English-language online magazine, Inspire. […]

U.S. President Barack Obama called al-Awlaki’s death a “major blow” to al Qaeda, reeling still from the killing and capture this year of several top leaders, most notably bin Laden.

“His hateful ideology and targeting of innocent civilians has been rejected by the vast majority of Muslims and people of all faiths and he has met his demise because the government and the people of Yemen have joined the international community in a common effort against al Qaeda,” Obama said.

He said al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, remains a dangerous but weakened organization. “Working with Yemen and our other allies and partners, we will be determined, we will be deliberate, we will be relentless, we will be resolute in our commitment to destroy terrorist networks that aim to kill Americans,” Obama said. […]

The American Civil Liberties Union said Friday that the killing was part of an American counterterrorism program that “violates both U.S. and international law.

“This is a program under which American citizens far from any battlefield can be executed by their own government without judicial process,” said ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer.

But Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Maryland, said al-Awlaki was on a “special list” of individuals attempting to attack the United States that is approved by the National Security Council and the president. Targeting those individuals is legal and legitimate, said Ruppersberger, the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, who was in Yemen two months ago.

He called Khan’s death collateral damage: “He just happened to be in the vehicle.”…

Posted on 1 October 11 on Jihadwatch

Why is Hillary Clinton protecting the privacy of Anwar al-Awlaki, the #1 Islamic terrorist on the CIA ‘kill’ list?

Posted: August 27, 2011 | Author: barenakedislam

While the Islamic cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, linked to several terror plots on America, is the most wanted American on the CIA’s kill or capture list, the U.S. State Department refuses to release documents about al-Awlaki citing his right to privacy.

FOX NEWS – (H/T Revere Rides Again) -This disconnect was uncovered as part of the ongoing investigation by Fox News’ Specials Unit into the cleric who is a leader of a major Al Qaeda affiliate.

Through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in March 2010, Fox News requested “….any and all records maintained by the United States Department of State, in the passport file….” for the cleric. Initially, the request was referred to Human Resources at the State Department, before a formal response was issued more than a year later, in August 2011. The letter reads in part:

”The Department of State, Passport Services has reviewed your request and has given full consideration to the reasons provided. However, we have determined that your request must be denied. This denial is pursuant to subsection (b)(6) of the Freedom of Information Act. The release of this information to you would be an invasion of personal privacy of another person, without written authorization from that person.”

The government refused to release the records for the terror leader who is well known to be the first American that the U.S. government has green-lighted to be killed or captured.

After 9/11, Anwar Al-Awlaki was a tier one, priority target for the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) in San Diego because of his known contacts with the hijackers. A State Department agent assigned to the JTTF, Ray Fournier, put together an arrest warrant for passport fraud in 2002. As part of that fraud, al-Awlaki lied on his Social Security application claiming he was born in Yemen, not New Mexico. At the time, there was not enough firm evidence to link the cleric to 9/11, so the passport fraud case was seen as a holding charge.

In addition, as Fox News was first to report in its special “The American Terrorist,” the cleric fraudulently obtained $20,000 in scholarship money to fund his college education in Colorado. Al-Awlaki, who is a dual U.S./Yemeni national, claimed to be a foreign student. As an American citizen, the cleric was not entitled to the scholarship paid for by the U.S. taxpayer. According to the agent who handled the case, the documents still exist and are held by the State Department.

The denial of State Department documents is part of an ongoing pattern. In 2010, through the Freedom of Information Act, Fox News sought an FBI intelligence report, also known as an EC, that was written about the cleric and his radical ties two days before the cleric mysteriously entered the U.S. in October 2002 and the arrest warrant for passport fraud was pulled by the Justice Department. When the 27 page EC was produced by the FBI, all of the pages were redacted, citing national security and an executive order — most likely, the warrantless wiretapping program. READ MORE

posted on 27 Aug 11 by BNI

Understanding Online Radicalization: Facebook and Social Media

Although “radicalization” has become a catchword, little has been written about the methods, websites, and actors involved in the process. (This is Part Three of a series. Read Parts One and Two.)

June 22, 2011 – 12:00 am – by Ali Teymouri

The first two parts of this series covered the two primary website types that jihadists create to radicalize individuals, namely blogs and web forums. The third part of this series will focus on jihadi social media and how jihdaists use Facebook.
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“Islam can dominate, over the world, only by jihad,” says the very plain jihadi website realjihad.tk. It reminds readers that jihad doesn’t have stages, and that “lame excuses” like making a living shouldn’t stand in the way.

RealJihad lacks the sharp graphics, interactive chat rooms, and other tools used by more sophisticated jihadi blogs and forums. Despite this, it has a leg up on its competitors: it is one of the primary links provided on the Facebook page of Jaish-e-Mohammad, a Pakistani terror organization.

Jihadi radicalization occurs on a number of sites and is not limited to the dedicated sites, blogs, and forums commonly used by terrorist supporters. Jihadists exploit popular Western social media sites, like Facebook, to radicalize, build contact networks, and pass information.

“All users, to learn all detailed rules related to JIHAD, read from this source,” says a user on Jaish-e-Mohammad’s Facebook page, directing readers to an English-language recruiting site. “All users, plz try to read and understand the rules and virtues of JIHAD, through this weblink,” he states on another post with another link. Likewise, Jaish-e-Mohammad’s reputation for daring attacks on the Indian army and even on India’s parliament provides a base around which social media users rally.

Other designated terrorist organizations ranging from Hamas to al-Shabaab have already taken advantage of Facebook, with their spokesman units and media groups establishing pages dedicated to terror. Popular jihadi forums like Ansar al-Mujahideen and its English counterpart also operate closed discussion groups on Facebook.

Facebook’s terms of use rejects violent content: “You will not post content that: is hateful, threatening … incites violence; or contains … graphic or gratuitous violence,” the guidelines state. Yet terrorist organizations bypass the rules by linking to third party sites and by posting in obscure foreign languages like Somali and Urdu.

Facebook is also inconsistent about applying standards against unofficial terrorist pages. Al-Shabaab, whose media page on Facebook was recently taken down after the Investigative Project on Terrorism wrote about it, can still influence Facebook users through an unofficial page run by the group’s supporters. More specific pages are dedicated to al-Shabaab’s followers in Kenya and elsewhere.

Self-appointed teachers — “ustadhs” — and other young radicals are also creating their own communities outside of mainstream mosques and social groups. “I don’t have sabr [patience] for the jahil [ignorant] Westernized Muslim,” says self-appointed teacher and internet extremist Khalifah al-Akili, in a posting praising Osama bin Laden and criticizing a young Muslim against extremism. “Osama [bin Laden] dedicated his life to Islam and I don’t see why his acts weren’t justified in Islam,” chimes in al-Akili’s friend, Amir Khan.

Al-Akili’s radical postings and his open support for al-Shabaab and other al-Qaida-linked terrorist groups are characteristic of the Facebook-brand extremist. “May Allah bring death to the kuffar [disbelievers] and the munafiqeen [hypocrites] that wish to celebrate the death of any of the mujahideen,” al-Akili said in response to the killing of bin Laden. “Read it and learn it … and practice it,” he wrote about 44 Ways to Support Jihad, a text by al-Qaeda ideologue Anwar al-Awlaki.

Many of those who believe in al-Akili’s brand of extremism don’t follow through on it. Although many buy into the critical ideas of radicalization, such as the glorification of martyrdom and Islam’s war with the West, most are wannabe terrorists without the means or ability to carry out attacks. However, a small minority carry ideology into action.

A Muslim convert from Baltimore, Antonio Martinez [Muhammad Hussain], was a test case for how far social media extremists might actually go. On his Facebook page, he describes himself as just “a yung brotha from the wrong side of the tracks who embraced Islam.” But it didn’t take long for him to buy into the radical narrative being preached on Facebook.

Martinez was caught by the FBI in a Facebook sting operation after using the site to call for violence to stop the oppression of Muslims. In December 2010, the FBI set up the 21-year-old with a fake car bomb, and apprehended it after he drove to an intended target and attempted to detonate it. Martinez’s affidavit also describes his Facebook affiliations with “Call to Islam” and “Authentic Tawheed,” two online movements promoting jihadi ideology.

Government agents have even discovered terrorist plots conceived entirely on Facebook. Awais Younis, who plotted to bomb the D.C. metro and the capital’s shopping district Georgetown, was discovered when someone reported threats he made through the site’s chat function. Younis described a plan to build a pipe bomb and stated that he knew “what types of shrapnel would cause the greatest damage.”

Younis’ threats developed over a short period of time. “That is the problem with Americans[,] they cant leave well enough alone until something happends [sic] then they sit there wondering why we dropped the twin towers like a bad habit hahaha,” he told an unnamed Facebook friend. By the time police swooped in on him, Younis was already planning to place a pipe bomb underneath a sewer head in Georgetown during rush hour to maximize casualties.

The growth of social networks and even full-fledged plots on Facebook defies the expectations of some experts. In 2008, George Washington University professor Marc Lynch wrote that Facebook extremists would struggle with the question of how to “get your people in, and keep intelligence agents out.” The past few years have proven that security may be a consideration; but, the draw of the world’s largest social network has penetrated even the jihadi world.

posted on 22 Jun 11 by pajamasmedia.com

Understanding Online Radicalization: The Jihadi Magazines

Beyond blogs and forums, glossy new magazines train readers for jihad. (Also read Parts One, Two, and Three in this series.)

June 24, 2011 – 12:00 am – by Ali Teymouri

  In Parts One, Two, and Three, this series has discussed the types of websites and social media that influence would-be radicals, but not the materials that make up their ideology. This edition in the series will discuss prominent English-language magazines that are motivating jihad among Americans.

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“Terrorizing you, while you are carrying arms in our land, is a legitimate right and a moral obligation,” said the cover of the September 2009 issue of Jihad Recollections, a glossy jihadi magazine put out by al-Qaeda graphics artist Samir Khan. “These youths love death as you love life. These youths will not ask you for explanations. They will sing out that there is nothing between us that needs to be explained.”

Jihadi web forums make massive amounts of information available to would-be extremists. Blogs and social media synthesize those materials into a narrative about the suffering of Muslims and the solution of jihad. But it is the materials that peddle violence themselves — particularly the written word — which are the building blocks of terror.

The September 2009 issue of Jihad Recollections focuses on the background, motivation, and “real story” behind the “9/11 raid.” Like a personal tutor, the magazine explores the issues from multiple vantage points. It goes through the causes that motivated the attack in general and the hijackers in particular. As for the economic consequences of 9/11, it proclaims that “you can very well choose to interpret today’s situation as a result of 9/11, and thus maybe” Osama bin Laden “did succeed after all.” Other articles go further into the history and the side stories that show how 9/11 became a “launching pad” for Islamic revival:

It was not an attack on humanity but an attack on the symbols of the new world order that seeks to control the Muslims from within as well as from its external forces. The planes attacking New York and Washington then resulted in setting free the slavery mindset from the Muslims who were lost in the world of confusion. We all saw together the beginning of America’s demise and the rise of Islam’s head.

The glory attributed to attacking America, as outlined in Jihad Recollections, was more than words to some of the magazine’s writers. Abdullah as-Sayf Jones inspired terror through his leadership of the popular blog Revolution Muslim, while authoring the September 2009 issue’s article on the motivations of the 9/11 hijackers.

Another young man acted on the sentiments he read and wrote in the magazine. Mohamed Osman Mohamud, a Somali-American college student, started as a writer for the publication but later carried his violent fantasies to action. He was arrested in late 2010 after attempting to detonate what he thought was a massive car bomb near a Christmas lighting event in Portland.

Mohamud submitted three articles for publication in Jihad Recollections. His articles focused on the practical physical preparations necessary to undertake jihad, like “getting in shape without weights.” In that article, he wrote that a mujahid “must fulfill the obligation of preparing himself physically for jihad … in order to damage the enemies of Allah as much as possible.”

The criminal complaint against him noted that “Mohamud also wrote that it terrorizes the enemy when the Mujahideen strike with speed and planning, and that the ability to carry on for a long period of time is especially helpful during raids on the enemy.”

And Mohamud further claimed to have authored a piece for Inspire Magazine, an al-Qaeda sponsored publication that continues in the footsteps of its homegrown counterpart, Jihad Recollections. Both magazines show the hand of Samir Khan, a graphics designer who moved from creating jihadi media in his parent’s Charlotte, NC, home to directing English-language publishing for al-Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula.

The magazines may fill the same role, but they represent two different phases of English-language jihadi development. Jihad Recollections is an attempt to raise English-language jihadi material up to the level of its Arabic counterparts. Inspire Magazine, by contrast, is so popular that it has inspired Arabic translations of its articles.

Inspire is glossy, sharp, and sophisticated. Its articles cover all aspects of jihad, ranging from the theological to “Open Source Jihad: How to make a Bomb in the Kitchen of your Mom.” Osama bin Laden wrote for the magazine, supposedly authoring a piece about jihad and environmentalism called “The Way to Save the Earth.”

Since its inception, the magazine has functioned as a compact guide on how to train for jihad, how to send encrypted messages to terrorist leaders, and “What to Expect in Jihad.” Over time, it has shifted from recruiting for international jihads in Somalia and Yemen to promoting cheap and shocking attacks by lone wolves.

It is also a powerful medium for preachers like Anwar al-Awlaki who have used it to communicate new threats to the “disbelievers” and to deal with contemporary issues like this year’s Arab revolutions. Other Awlaki articles have attacked anti-extremist summits and the New Mardin Declaration, and promoted robbing disbelievers to solve al-Qeida’s growing economic crisis. Awlaki is even suspected of answering letters from the magazine’s readers.

The rise of Inspire shows the growing maturity of al-Qaeda inspired media in English. Alongside web forums, blogs, and social media, magazines are a key piece of the radicalization puzzle.

Ali Teymouri is a researcher specializing in jihadi publications and translations. He believes that moderate Muslims need to support American counterterrorism efforts, and is committed to making that happen.

posted on 24 Jun 11 by pajamasmedia.com

 

Understanding Online Radicalization: The Videos

Once primitive, jihadi video productions are now slick and potent. (Also read Parts One, Two, Three, and Four in this series.)

June 25, 2011 – 12:00 am – by Ali Teymouri

In Parts One, Two, Three, and Four, this series has explained jihadists’ use of blogs and web forums, social media, and some of the most prominent English-language magazines among Islamist extremists. The final part of this series will analyze the types of videos that are prominent among jihadists and their effect.

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“We are in a battle, and more than half of this battle is taking place in the battlefield of the media,” Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s new chief, was quoted saying in July of 2005. “We are in a media battle for the hearts and minds of our umma [community of Muslims].” In context, Zawahiri’s declaration was focused on bringing video cameras into the battlefield and letting the footage speak for itself.

An explosion of video followed Zawahiri’s prophetic pronouncement, including recorded suicide attacks, propaganda films, and sermons. Over time al-Qaeda and other like-minded organizations even formed media wings like al-Fajr, al-Sahab, and GIMF, solely dedicated to promoting al-Qaeda’s theology and creating a brand name for the organization.

Up until relatively recently, English-language jihadists had much more limited viewing options. Early films about the glories of dying in battle, such as “Martyrs of Bosnia,” were rough-cut, unprofessional videos produced largely from stock footage and shaky battlefield shots. Despite a soundtrack featuring many songs by popular Muslim artist Yusuf Islam, a.k.a. Cat Stevens, “Martyrs of Bosnia” had no “wow factor.” It relied on poorly connected clips of Muslims suffering and mujahideen dying, overlaid with a rough voiceover background of the Balkans conflict and exhortations to Muslims to take to the battlefield.

Today’s English-language jihadi videos are a world away from their predecessors. Although many videos are still dedicated to classic themes like teaching Islamist ideology and showing attacks, many have evolved into sharp, complete arguments for jihad.

An al-Shabaab recruitment video profiled by the Investigative Project on Terror, titled “An Invitation to the Lands of Jihad and Ribat [Hospice],” shows how one video can present the total picture. Subtitled in Swahili and English, the languages of its target audience, the video shows typical clips of military training and street battles. However, the voices of the video aren’t just commanders, but fighters on the ground who seem like they are stopped mid-battle to tell the viewer the importance of what they are doing.

The video doesn’t make grand pronouncements, but instead appeals to themes like honor, patriotism, and loyalty that strongly resonate with Somalia’s youth diaspora. Fighters are presented as members of a family, who are welcomed and respected, and who are working together to build an Islamist paradise. “We rejoice at their arrival and are happy to honor them […] we pledge to Allah to protect them with our blood, and to carry them upon our shoulders, and protect […] ourselves and our families,” says al-Shabaab spokesman Ali Mohammad Rage. “Welcome to Somalia. Hakuna Matata [there are no worries],” he adds.

Although videos like this one try to synthesize various elements of jihad into a single narrative, others are focused on reinforcing a particular point in the jihad. Ansar Media Center’s “Do Not Forget the Day: The Occupation of Baghdad in 2003” features graphic images of dead children and clips of the foreign invader, the United States. It has no words; its nasheed, a song without instruments, plays over that the images tell the jihadi’s whole story.

Other videos focus on building up the jihad narrative through short segments. At the forefront of this effort are short clips from Anwar al-Awlaki, the American born scholar collaborating with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Clips from Awlaki’s popular series on the Islamic prophets and Muhammad are excerpted and reinterpreted through images comparing modern events with the historical situation he describes.

These videos are then mixed with the blatantly violent speeches which he has produced, giving Awlaki an edge in recruiting youths who would not otherwise be interested in al-Qaeda’s message. He promotes the message that the West is at war with Islam and scholars who don’t speak about this have been bought by the CIA. Jihad is the only answer and the goal is an Islamic state ruled by shariah law.

Awlaki has also directly addressed jihadi media on the importance of their message. In his “Message about the Media,” Awlaki tells the story of Abdulelah Haidar Shaea, a Yemeni journalist who was temporarily imprisoned for promoting al-Qaeda. “A journalist is responsible before Allah for what he presents to people, as the media role in shaping minds is clear,” he remind jihadi video makers.

Many films also draw from preexisting Arabic media, and simply subtitle or dub them in English. Despite the simplicity of just translating existing mediums, it remains important for would-be terrorists to receive messages directly from al-Qaeda’s senior leadership and to feel themselves a part of the larger jihadi world.

English-language jihadi voices have even become celebrities in the Arabic jihadi world. Anwar al-Awlaki’s works are being translated into Arabic, while Adam Gadahn gave a speech in English for the new full length feature titled “For Incitement and Publishing: You Are Held Responsible Only for Yourself.”

“By the grace of Allah, the enemies’ interests are today spread all over the place and easily accessible,” Gadahn says. “So the opportunity to carry out the divine obligation of fighting the enemies of Allah is available to anyone who has the will and determination, regardless of where he might be.”

“And I advise every brother who wants to work for this religion not to undertake any action before taking advantage of the wide range of resources available today on the internet,” he adds.

Ali Teymouri is a researcher specializing in jihadi publications and translations. He believes that moderate Muslims need to support American counterterrorism efforts, and is committed to making that happen.

posted on 25 Jun 11 by Pajamasmedia.com