Summary and Analysis
I. Executive Summary
Since late summer 2003, the top leadership of the well-known terrorist organization Al Qaeda has been releasing an Internet magazine titled the Voice of Jihad at regular two-week intervals. This on-line publication available and read by actual terrorists and those individuals involved in “jihad,” or the holy war declared by radical Islamic Fundamentalists. The fourteenth issue of Voice of Jihad was released on Monday, 5 April 2004. This document contains a summary of the contents of that issue.
II. Background Information
Voice of Jihad is a professionally designed Al Qaeda online magazine that is released every two weeks on the internet in both Word document format and Adobe Acrobat PDF format. The magazine traditionally brings messages on various topics, including but not limited to articles on Quranic studies, inspiration articles which may include wills and reflections by family members of “martyrs”, morale boosting articles, and general editorial content that defines Al Qaeda’s position on numerous social, economic and military issues.
The magazine is traditionally announced on the Global Islamic Media group first, followed almost immediately by its posting on the various Arabic language Internet forums. It is distributed on a domain that is owned by an individual with fictitious contact information that resolves to a location in Germany. It is actually hosted on a server at an IP address assigned to a web hosting company in Malaysia.
III. Distribution Problems
Issue 14 appears to have been somewhat of a challenge to distribute. Approximately a month ago, an issue of Voice of Jihad was delayed in its release due to the unexpected release of a falsified version of the official publication. This dual release caused a considerable amount confusion by the vast readership of the Voice of Jihad and resulted in a decree being issued by top Al Qaeda officials that defined the method and location of release – an “imprimatur” of sorts. Subsequent to that debacle and pursuant to the official edict, the only source for the legitimate publications is from a specified directory on a specific Internet domain. Additionally all legitimate releases would be preceded by an announcement from an Internet based organization known as the Global Islamic Media Group. An additional distribution difficulty arose when the directory that Al Qaeda traditionally used for the distribution of this publication, sout333, was taken off-line as a direct result of an organization that have been attempting to force Al Qaeda, its sympathizers and all known terrorists off the internet.
Responding to the most recent difficulty, the distribution process was slightly modified by the creation of a different but equally exclusive directory on the same Internet server – sout444. an official announcement was publicly made through the channels of Global Islamic Media that they would now be releasing all of their documents in that directory. All others, if any were to be disregarded.
V. Content Summary
The current issue of the Voice of Jihad remains consistent with previously released issues in terms of its form and content. This current publication continues its vigorous and blusterous campaign against the political and military actions of the United States, with particular emphasis on the activities taking place in Iraq. The editorial content continues to focus a great deal of anger at the Saudi Arabian ruling family, which it sees as a puppet state of the United States. The editorials are written in such a manner that anger against both parties becomes an effective catalyst for frenzied opposition to the US and the Saudi ruling party.
Prominent in this issue is a current news analysis as viewed by Al Qaeda where exceptional praise and adoration of individuals who have martyred themselves in the attacks in Fallujah as well as other “hot-spots” throughout Iraq. The analysis is purposely designed to motivate the readership by significantly reiterating the promises of vast rewards in “paradise” for those who are killed fighting the “invading Crusader” armies.
The primary or lead article in this issue is entitled “No Jihad Except by Order of an Imam,” written by Ubay Abd Allah Al Saadi. This article stresses that jihad must be legitimized by an Islamic Cleric in order for violence to be appropriately justified as part of the jihad struggle.
This issue includes other notable articles including an account written by Abdel Hady al- Qatani about Islamic martyr Ubay Talha, an interview with militant Faysal Bin Abdelrahman Alkhadil, a tribute to Sheikh Ubay Mohammad Al-Makdessy Assem Al-Otaibi (who is currently in custody in Saudi Arabia) entitled The Religion of Abraham, and an article entitled Islamic Clerics and Their Lost Role by Eissa bun Saadi Oushin.
IV. Threat Analysis
This particular issue of Voice of Jihad causes significant concern in several areas. (It is important to note that this analysis references only this issue of Voice of Jihad, and is intended to supplement, and not replace the threat analyses we have conducted on other communiqués.) It is the collective professional assessment of our network analysts that there is an increased risk of operations involving the assassination of political figures, heightened activity in the Iraqi theatre of operations, and attacks by individuals acting on their own throughout the western world in the advancement of the Islamic jihad.
In particular, the article titled “The Fight for God’s Sake” authored by Sheikh Saleh Bin Saad Al Hassan, is of special concern. This article issues high praises on those involved in previous assassination attempts of world leaders who have opposed Islamic fundamentalism. It specifically and significantly cites the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat as an act that is to be emulated. It specifically encourages assassinations and kidnappings as a means of advancing the efforts of the jihad and taking the struggle to greater levels.
Considered in conjunction with the operational plans detailed in the most recent release of the Islamic military-style training manual Al Battar, this is a threat that must be taken seriously on a worldwide basis.
Also of significant concern is the emphasis that has been placed on the murders and subsequent public mutilations on the four American contractors in Fallujah. Most noteworthy is that this issue associates a similar incident that took place in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993 that resulted in the United States withdrawing troops from that location. As the reader will recall, the US enacted Operation Restore hope, a humanitarian mission using US military troops aimed at assisting Somalia. This issue openly encourages the mujahadeen to repeat the incident until the United States completely withdraws all of its troops and military assets from the Islamic world. This is a major threat that must be taken seriously, especially for those directly involved in military and humanitarian missions in Afghanistan and the Iraq theatre of operations.
