The Value Of Exposing Collaborators

Daniel Maldanado, an American convert to Islam who went to fight alongside Islamists in Somalia, was once a big hit on the jihadi Internet forums. Arrested in 2007, he wrote craven, apologetic letters to the judge considering his sentence even as he wrote grandiose accounts of his jihad experiences to correspondents on the forums. One such letter described his grand adventures on the lam in the African wild with a group of fellow fighters:

For two weeks we did not eat at all except for one time at the very beginning of our wanderings. One day we came out to a Savannah area; it looked like something out of Lion King! We were careful, as helicopters were still in the sky and we were obviously being hunted by them. We would stay along the edge of the jungle area until we felt it was safe to actually go out into the long-grassed Savanna.

Suddenly one of the brothers caught a baby gazelle that seemed to just stand there, waiting for us. A brother took out a simple razor from his pocket. He pointed the animal towards the Qibla (direction towards Makkah) and we slaughtered it according to the noble shareeah (Islamic Law).

This missive became rather popular online, and Maldonado was seen as someone who had been living the dream. Less publicized were his court letters which laid out more bluntly the unpleasantness of his experience, including feeling awkward about being the only white guy in his group and general ineptitude.

Read Maldonado's letters to the court

The court letters didn't get much attention from jihobbyists at the time, but Maldonado is now getting plenty of negative attention from his former friends, thanks to his testimony this week implicating his former friend and fellow Boston-area jihadist Tarek Mehanna.

The former hero is now decidedly the goat. A thread on the hardcore Islamic Awakening forum concerning Maldonad's testimony sprouted 62 posts in just about one day (it was spun off by moderators from a thread on the Mehanna trial). A sampling of the responses:

"Make sure when you see [your children after an early release for cooperating] you sit them in your lap and tell them that this time together is thanks to lies and stabbing a Muslim in the back."

"I read an interview of Maldonado's earlier and in it he mentions his wife [who died of malaria in Africa] extensively. Perhaps one of the reasons Allah took his wife so early was so she could be spared of what her husband has become."

"Didn't Daniel M. know when setting off to a war zone, that he might be imprisoned and not see his children or wife again?! If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen, he should have gone to work in a kindergarten instead of somalia. I think the children excuse is just that, an excuse, and the guy just wants to get out even by the cost of our brother Tarek's freedom."

"This is much more evil for Muslims than benefit. Think about it, this gives more of a chance for outspoken Muslims to go to jail. This also destroys the fabric of society in the Muslim community because everyone is back stabbing each other so raising your children in this type of environment wont be beneficial. As well this will raise children to think it is okay to back stab Muslims."

"Daniel wasn't even tortured, conditions even in supermax are bearable (but may Allah protect all Muslims from such trials), so I find his excuses laughable, if it were not so sad."

"we may understand why they betrayed, but that is no excuse for betrayal. i cant see one example where we honor a betrayer because "he chose the lesser of two evils" with this type of thinking, surely the mujahideen and any soldier outfit would fall apart at the seams."

There were also those who defended Maldonado, somewhat tepidly, and many who suggested they should not be the judges. Many sharp words, accusations and condemnations were exchanged. In short, it was exactly the kind of thing that ordinary people and counterterrorism officials would like to see on these forums -- fitna, dissent and division.

U.S. officials should make cooperators and collaborators more visible. Since 9/11, many a convicted jihadist has fulfilled the conditions of a plea in total secrecy, never emerging to testify in court, sometimes even being released from prison early without anyone ever knowing what sort of cooperation they provided.

Disclosing this cooperation has multiple positive effects. First, it creates the divisions seen above. Secondly, it discredits jihadist narratives. Maldonado's letter to the forums about his adventures in Somalia will not be so warmly received in the future. It reinforces an existing meme among would-be jihadists that you can't trust anyone, no matter how credible they look. And finally, it hedges against convicted terrorists who play a double game of cooperating and then recanting, whether in letters from prison or after their release. If Maldonado succeeds in getting an early release thanks to his testimony against Mehanna, he won't receive a warm reception among his radical former friends.

For more about American jihadists, check out J.M. Berger's new book, Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam, on sale everywhere.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS:

CTC Sentinel: Awlaki's 'Constants of Jihad'

Foreign Policy: Awlaki's Legacy

The Atlantic: Awlaki and September 11

Foreign Policy: The Awlaki Myth

Video: Lessons Learned, 10 Years After 9/11

INTELWIRE: Interview With An Online Jihadist

Book Review: Bin Laden's Legacy | Buy

Huffington Post: Is AQ's Inspire Uninspired?

INTELWIRE: The Five Ds of CVE

INTELWIRE: How Terrorists Use The Internet

INTELWIRE: Hyping the Terrorist Internet

The Atlantic: Why Johnny Jihad Doesn't Listen

Foreign Policy: The Zawahiri Era Begins

New York Daily News: Al Qaeda's Gun Fixation

Fox News: J.M. Berger seen in "Secrets of 9/11"

Video: 'Jihad Joe' book event at GWU

INTELWIRE: What is Al Qaeda? Survey Results

CTC Sentinel: Baltimore's Jamaat Al Muslimeen

INTELWIRE: Interview About Jihad With Controversial Cleric Bilal Philips

Video Clip: Sarajevo Ricochet

Potomac Books: Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go To War In The Name Of Islam

Labels: American-Jihadists, American-Terrorists, CVE, Daniel-Maldonado, Jihadist-Forums, Tarek-Mehanna

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Detroit Bomber Attended AlMaghrib Institute In Houston During 2008

The Christmas Bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, attended a Houston-based Islamic seminar in 2008, according to the Detroit Free Press. He was in Houston for 17 days.

With the caveat that I don't want to read too much into this, it's interesting to note that American Jihadist Daniel Maldonado was a member of the AlMaghrib Institute's Internet forum using his online handle of Daniel Aljughafi. At the time of his arrest, he had only made two posts to the site. Oddly, one of those posts has since disappeared.

Threads of interest on the AlMaghrib site include:

Is it permissible to call non-Muslims kaffirs (infidels)?

Discussion of apostates including whether it is permissible to kill them and under what circumstances

A now deleted thread praising the writings of Anwar Awlaki (vis Google cache, I have a copy if this expires)

List of posts mentioning Awlaki

UPDATE: Internet Haganah has an extremely good post which sheds further light on Maldonado's connections to AlMaghrib and AlMaghrib's connection to other points of extremist interest on the Web.

Labels: American-Jihadists, Anwar-Aulaqi, Anwar-Awlaki, Daniel-Maldonado

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Recruitment of Americans to Fight in Somalia

The new issue of CTR Vantage has a package of stories about recruitment of Westerners (and Americans specifically) to fight on behalf of Al Shabbab in Somalia. This is a very important topic; Somalia is shaping up to be an extremely important battlefield in the war against Al Qaeda.

CTR Vantage: Al Shabbab's Recruiting Efforts in the West

Labels: American-Jihadists, Daniel-Maldonado, Somalia

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Daniel Maldonado Blog and Writings

Daniel Maldonado, aka Daniel Aljughaifi, is an American who is accused of joining al Qaeda and traveling to Somalia to take part in Islamist activities.

Archived copy of Maldonado's blog

According to a listing on MuslimMatch.com (INTELWIRE mirror), Aljughaifi was searching for a second wife.

Listing Salem, N.H., as his home, and using the name "dmsalafi," Aljughaifi said he was looking for "a saudi sister,verry pious,18-30,kind,shy,sweet,wears hijab and can deal with poligamy" (all typos in original).

Aljughaifi's profile, last updated more than a year and a half ago, said he was planning to work as a computer technician in Saudi Arabia.

A poster on IslamicNetwork.com, who appears to be Aljughaifi's wife, was not especially happy with Aljughaifi's efforts to add a spouse. According to the post:

it was written there is no changing that fact. Allah made polygeny Halal and no one can change it.

from a womans point of veiw i can see being sad ,hurt, jealous bla bla bla.. but i cant see myself jumping off a building or stabbing my dh in the back.( ok i can see it but only in a day dream...lol) other than that lets come back to reality.

no matter how mad ,sad,hurt we get if our husbands want to do this..... weither thay do it or not us crying,yelling,throwing a tantrum acting out will never change the way thay feel inside, even if thay dont marry again it will always be a thought in there mind and we wont be able to change that.

what i have come to understand is that if its written for you it will happen no matter how many tears you cry, no matter how much you dont eat, no matter how much you fight it.

sisters lets just relax, i know easyer said than done.
sit back and go with the flow. if your dh is a good man he will take care of you and her properly.

Previous: Aljughaifi's Blog

Under the same dmsalafi handle, a poster who appears to be Aljughaifi posted poetry on the IslamicNetwork message board. A selection is excerpted below:

stuck in an ocean of tears

hearts can not set sail on the path of Allah
without tears for them to sail on
sails do not move nor ever go far
without the winds of dhikr there on
let not your eyes be set on a star
lest devils snicker and stare on
such will not guide nor protect you from narr
advise from a well wisher
to "bear on"
have you ever been wrecked off of tainted shores
without anyone knowing you traveld
regretting the fact you got on board
when the pleasure of rowing just had you
you knew you were heading rite off course
paying no attention, just baffled
showing no regret, nor remorse
watching shaytons henchmen just pass you

the secret you kept

I so long to meet the one I thaught to have met
do not think of me wrong I have no regret
sleepless nights spent alone, awake while you slept
I just wish I had known the secret you kept
do not think I have hate, don't think of me less
this is my fate, I know I am blessed
to be with you is great, yes I confess
I just wish I had known the secret you kept
only if you could see the tears in my eyes
but you were asleep, to no ones surprise
away I creep, while you find rest
I wish I had known the secret you kept
I have tried to wake you out of your slumber
not cause I hate you, but because I wonder
what is it that you conseal in your chest
I just wish I had known the secret you kept
I refuse to sleep another night without you
stand on your feet theres no need to show you how to
you knew the Sunnah as well as the rest
and that oh Ummah is the secret you kept

The Heart

I must confess I've slept with the enemy
then found unrest without solice or serenity
over stressed with all she pretends to be
she acts as if she is her own entity
she seems to shape my very identity
but whats at stake is what she once ment to me
my soul was broke and it was her who befreinded me
torn apart and it was her who then mended me
I need Quran to cure this dear freind to me
before I morn the heart that can not depend on me
.................................
our hearts are like woman
although we may doubt them
you can't live with'em
you can't live without'em

dmsalafi

Labels: American-Jihadists, Boston, Daniel-Maldonado

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink