On 25 August 2009, the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) published a plea by Dr. John Boutros for Muslims to aid the jihadi cause. He stated, “Do not mourn because the Islamic Caliphate is imminent… Trust me, the US is one or two thrusts” away from crumpling. However, in order to make this happen Muslims must give aid to the jihadis.
Boutros claimed that the United States is weak due to the financial crisis, which is allegedly causing the rich states to consider separating from the Union. He stated that militarily the United States is vulnerable because it has so many soldiers in the mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and in the suburbs of Baghdad, who are easy targets. In regards to the United States homeland he continued, “Hundreds of thousand of soldiers stationed in the streets of Washington and Los Angeles wait for a martyr to cross the continents carrying a nuclear, biological, or chemical bomb.”
He alleged that from al-Qaida’s viewpoint, things are much better. Somalia is becoming more peaceful and prosperous because the Shabab al-Mujahidin are instilling sharia law and in Afghanistan the Taliban control 80% of the country while coalition forces only leave their bases in armored vehicles in the other 20%. However, the Islamic State of Iraq has made many sacrifices, as has Ansar al-Islam, who gave up their bombs, snipers, and bases.
He then stated that given the current state of affairs, if the United States fell, “In a short period, the Taliban Emirate will be a great state encompassing Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Turkistan, and a large part of Iran.” In the western area of the Islamic world, the Shabab al-Mujahidin will control all of Somalia, Djibouti, and Sudan after the US fall. Then, he maintained, there will be justice in the Afghanistan and Somali Emirates and in other areas like Iraq, Chechnya, Algeria, and Nigeria where things will either turn around for the already established emirates or the mujahidin will prevail.
He then gets to the point of his fairytale, “After your mujahid brothers sacrifice themselves and their funds on this path, will you be stingy in support and assistance? Will you be stingy in spreading the word? Will you be stingy in financial support after many operations are canceled because of a shortage of materials like what happened during operations within Denmark?”
The fanciful nature of this report is striking even for the GIMF and I am not sure what to make of it. Is this an indication that something structurally has changed within the GIMF? Or, is it simply an attempt to garner support and the editorial staff did not realize how unrealistic it sounds? Regardless of its meaning, if this is the grand strategy of budding al-Qaida strategists, I am not worried.
4 Responses
Your link is broken. You have had some really interesting posts. Its funny how the Hamas-JAA stuff is almost absent from English forums/website-blogs.
Sorry to be off-topic (well, not completely, as Boutros mentions the Caliphate), but shouldn’t your site add to the list of “Categories” another one — “Caliphate”? The problem of the Caliphate, its current absence, its absence due to the West’s superiority, its return a fervent desideratum — and most of all, the supposed Catch-22 dilemma of the mujahideen being unable to launch offensive jihad in its absence possibly resolvable by the exigency to revive it (through, of course, offensive jihad) in this period of unique and unprecedented absence?
The unparadoxical resolution to the Catch-22 would be to interpret the offensive jihad necessary to revive the Caliphate as, in fact, defensive, since the Caliphate’s absence constitutes an ongoing “offense” caused by the “Crusaders” anyway.
Isn’t Boutrous a Coptic Christian name? John Boutrous sounds like an automatic Christian name, are you sure the name is right?
It seems the name is right. Scott, do you have any hint about who Dr. Boutros is?