ji·had·ica

Jihadi Pundit Translates, Analyzes RAND Study

Yaman Mukhaddab, a Jihadi pundit who’s appeared on this blog several times, has translated the summary of the new RAND study, How Terrorist Groups End: Lessons for Countering al Qa’ida. It’s a fast turnaround for a translation, given that the existence of the study was first reported in Western media on July 28 and Yaman finished his work on July 30. Yaman says he has rushed to translate the document for two reasons. First, he believes that it is dangerous. RAND, he says, has finally understood that the reason al-Qaeda attacks the U.S. is to provoke it into a direct military conflict in the Middle East, which will strengthen and consolidate the mujahids and bring about greater losses for the U.S. and its allies. Second, RAND is the go-to contractor in the U.S. for crafting the government’s response to al-Qaeda. Past RAND studies have had a huge influence in this

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Will McCants August 4, 2008

Managing Savagery in Saudi Arabia

In the past six months, Saudi Arabia has arrested around 700 suspected terrorists.  Yesterday, the Interior Ministry released a statement which claimed that many of those arrested were trying to implement the blueprint laid out by Abu Bakr Naji in his Management of Savagery. Naji argues that if Jihadis want to take power, they need to abandon the idea of overthrowing governments in the Middle East.  Instead, they should focus on creating security vacuums.  They can do this by striking  a country’s crucial industries, like oil and tourism.  The government will respond by pulling in its security forces to protect the infrastructure.  This will open up the desired security vacuums (“regions of savagery” as he calls them) that Jihadis can move into and set up rudimentary governments.  These vacuums can be as small as city blocks or as large as a province.  Once they have gained control, the Jihadis can

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Will McCants June 26, 2008

Al-Qaeda and the Battle for Oil

Algihadya, an Egyptian Jihadi blogger, has posted an essay by Zadi al-Taqwa titled “Al-Qaeda and the Battle for Oil.” I don’t know where Zadi usually hangs his electronic hat, but his essay is making the rounds on the forums. Zadi argues that AQ has focused on attacking U.S. oil interests since its inception in 1998 because it understands that oil is vital to the U.S. economy, which it wants to damage. This is one of the main reasons it went into Iraq, where it could thwart U.S. plains to obtain cheap oil and where it could damage the oil infrastructure of a major oil producer. There is no mention of religious justifications or Prophetic precedents for attacking oil; it’s purely economic in Zadi’s analysis. According to Zadi, the price of oil is sky high today because of a variety of factors (quoting): 1) Reduction of the level of oil production

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Will McCants June 17, 2008

Jihadi Book Club: Thirty-Six Stratagems

Firdaws forum member Sawt al-Firdaws (“Voice of Paradise”) has posted a series of audio commentaries on the Chinese book Thirty-Six Stratagems (or as he calls it, “Thirty-Six Chinese Strategies”). Sawt writes:

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Will McCants June 15, 2008

Shaykh `Isa on Near Enemy vs. Far Enemy

In a first effort to pin down Shaykh `Isa on the big Jihadi questions of the day, I read through his opinion on the near enemy/far enemy debate: “Are jihadi operations in the abodes of the original infidels preferable? Or in the lands of Muslims that are ruled by infidels?” The “original infidels” in the first part of the question are people who have never been Muslims. The unqualified “infidels” in the second part includes original infidels and Muslims who have apostatized. In answering the question, `Isa offers America as an example of the “abodes of the original infidels” and Afghanistan as an example of the “lands of Muslims that are ruled by infidels.” `Isa’s bottom line: “The apostate who has authority over Muslim lands is, in the eyes of the inhabitants of these countries, the near enemy, and the original infidels in their lands are the far enemy” (p.

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Will McCants June 12, 2008

Jihadi Curriculum, Part 1: Ideology

A blogger by the name of Shamil al-Baghdadi has created a curriculum titled “Method for Building the Personality of a Terrorist Mujahid.” The curriculum is divided into three parts: ideology, physical training, and ops. I’m only interested in the ideological bit, but those who are interested in the rest can easily find it on Shamil’s blog. Shamil begins by explaining how to find a good recruit. First, you need to study the potential recruit before speaking freely with him. Make sure he is serious before approaching him or allowing him to approach you, even if he already knows about the aims and beliefs of the global Jihadi community. Training is divided into three parts: Sharia, physical, and technical. Begin with the Sharia training. The first thing to do is make sure your recruit has a good command of classical Arabic, not just colloquial Arabic. He should study one of the

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Will McCants June 5, 2008

Bin Laden Statement Prompts Speculation on AQ Strategy in Palestine (Part 3)

In the final installment of the series, we’ll look at a piece of analysis from Ekhlaas member Abu Hamza 2005 titled, “A Modest Reading of al-Qaeda’s Strategy in the Levant [bilad al-sham]”. Abu Hamza begins by referring to Bin Laden’s 2007 statement, “To Our People in Iraq.” The statement, according to Abu Hamza, indicates that the Islamic State of Iraq is the nucleus of a future caliphate, but the caliphate will not be realized until the countries surrounding Iraq are defeated and Israel is destroyed. For this reason, Al-Qaeda “the Mother” (i.e. al-Qaeda Central) is very keen on expanding into the Levant and the other countries surrounding Israel. It also wants to establish branches in important global capitals, which can put pressure on foreign countries and scatter the focus of the enemy. Abu Hamza says that he is certain that AQ cells are being created in the Palestinian territories, Syria,

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Will McCants May 24, 2008

Bin Laden Statement Prompts Speculation on AQ Strategy in Palestine (Part 2)

The next punditry we’ll look at in the series is by Yaman Mukhaddab. Mukhaddab is one of the younger generation of AQ pundits and has quite a following judging from the cross-posting of his analyses to other forums. Yesterday, he posted his response to Bin Laden’s two recent messages. Mukhaddab considers both messages–one directed to the West and one directed to the Muslim community–to be a single statement. They were split up, he contends, because they addressed different audiences that have different needs. For example, the message addressed to the Muslims had to be translated into Asian languages, whereas the message to the West had to be translated into European languages. Taken together, the messages are “the dividing line” between the last stage of AQ and a new stage. The new stage will have the following features: 1) Bad days are coming for the Jihadis’ enemies. There will be simultaneous

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Will McCants May 21, 2008

Bin Laden Message Prompts Speculation on AQ Strategy in Palestine (Part 1)

Bin Laden’s statement on May 18th has prompted several Jihadi pundits to speculate on AQ’s future strategy in the Palestinian territories. Over the next few days, I’ll post the most interesting speculation. For part one, we’ll look at a short post by Ekhlaas member Khalid al-`Asqalani. According to `Asqalani, Bin Laden has presented a complete program of action for the coming stage of the Jihadi movement, which is the liberation of Palestine. 1) Bin Laden explained that oppressive international order is in an alliance with Israel and its resources are at its disposal. 2) The apostate Arab regimes are the guardians of Israel’s security, so overthrowing these regimes will make liberating Palestine much easier. 3) The pressure of the repressive regimes causes the Islamic groups to abandon jihad on the justification that it harms the da`wa (spread of Islam). 4) Hezbollah is misleading the youth because it has duped them

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Will McCants May 20, 2008

Abu Mus`ab Suri: Architect of Global Jihad Neglected?

Abu Ishaq al-Fahd on Ekhlaas complains that Abu Mus`ab al-Suri, one of the chief strategists in AQ’s orbit, isn’t being read by other Jihadis. This, he says, despite the fact that Ayman al-Zawahiri recently recommended his book, The Call to the Global Islamic Resistance. (The recommendation is in Zawahiri’s recent book, al-Tabri’a (The Exoneration)). If Jihadis are neglecting Suri, Western analysts sure aren’t. He has an insider’s perspective on the movement, which makes him invaluable for understanding some of its recent trends. The best treatment by far is Brynjar Lia’s new book, The Architect of Global Jihad. Abu Ishaq al-Fahd’s complaint: abu-musab-suri-work-not-read-enough

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Will McCants May 11, 2008
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