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News, documents and analysis on violent extremismSaturday, November 10, 2012
Review: The Last Refuge
The history of Al Qaeda has a prismatic quality, taking on a
different color depending on the angle from which you examine it.
Gregory Johnsen's TheLast Refuge: Yemen, al-Qaeda, and America's War in Arabia brings a shockingly
fresh perspective to the story, examining the terrorist organization through its
tortured relationship with Yemen.
Starting with the jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan,
Johnsen puts on a masterful show of storytelling as he unravels the twin
stories of Yemeni involvement in Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda's impact on Yemen.
Johnsen is a former Fulbright fellow and current doctoral
candidate at Princeton, but this is no dry academic read. From its first pages,
The Last Refuge unfolds like a novel,
effortlessly guiding readers through a thicket of complex situations and unfamiliar
characters, bringing their stories to life.
In this respect, it compares favorably to Lawrence Wright's The Looming Tower, and the books also
complement each other in terms of content. Wright offers the broadest picture
of Al Qaeda's early history and formation, while Johnsen tells the story as it
was seen by Yemenis. The perspectives are so different that you could easily read
the books back to back without fear of repetition.
Much of this story will be new to readers, even those with a
previous interest in Al Qaeda. Johnsen draws extensively on Arabic language sources,
including media reports and jihadi writings, as well as his own field work in
Yemen. His time on the ground shows in an abundance of rich and evocative
detail rarely associated with books on terrorism.
The author breathes life into key figures such as Tarik al-Fadli,
who fought alongside Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, and Nasir al-Wihayshi, bin
Laden's former personal secretary and the leader of Al Qaeda's current incarnation in
Yemen, as well as a host of supporting characters.
The result is a rich narrative and a
compelling portrait not only of the jihadist current in Yemen, but of the rise
and the beginning of the fall of Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, whose challenging and
contradictory personality jumps off the page at times.
But unlike the fiction genre from which Johnsen clearly draws
literary inspiration, The Last Refuge
begins to lose steam just as events build toward a climax. There are obvious challenges
in writing a history of events as they happen, but The Last Refuge hits the fast-forward button in the late 2000s and
doesn't release it until the book concludes.
This is particularly disappointing for those who follow
Johnsen's work. The author is well known for his vocal and substantive critiques
of conventional wisdom regarding U.S. policies toward Yemen, including the
counterterrorism focus on Yemeni-American cleric Anwar Awlaki and the potentially
counterproductive tactic of aggressive missile and drone strikes inside the
country. But these subjects get the shortest of shrift in the book's penultimate
chapters.
The author offers little color on Awlaki, especially in
comparison to the lavish characterizations and backstories he provides for other
AQAP figures. This may be informed by his belief that Awlaki's importance in
AQAP has been overstated, but he doesn't make that case or attempt to clarify
what Awlaki's actual role might have been.
While this topic is plagued by conflicting and incomplete
information, there's ample source material to paint a compelling portrait of
Awlaki's personality and at least sketch a qualified outline of his significance,
or lack thereof.
Similarly, Johnsen skimps on the issue of U.S. airstrikes
against Yemeni targets, some of which are cataloged but not substantially
contextualized. The author's other work makes clear his strong opinions about how
air strikes may be counterproductive, contributing to anti-American sentiment disproportionate
to their strategic advantage. The Last
Refuge does little to convey how passionately Johnsen cares about this
issue, belying the subtitle's focus on "America's War in Arabia."
The breakneck pace of recent developments clearly
collided with the unavoidable time frame for publication. Saleh's departure,
for instance, occurs after the end of the book’s timeline, as do most of Al
Qaeda's interesting attempts at governance. Although publication schedules are understandable from a
writer’s perspective, for readers the final act simply can't live up to the
robust storytelling of earlier chapters, despite the inherent, escalating drama
of events.
Aggravating the lightness of the closing pages is the book's abrupt end. While Johnsen the storyteller shines through most of the book,
Johnsen the analyst never makes an appearance, not even at the conclusion,
where some context and guidance would be very welcome. There are no summations
or recommendations, and the book presents no road map to the complicated
lessons that might be learned.
Despite these shortcomings, The Last Refuge is undoubtedly a definitive history of the
formation and development of Al Qaeda in Yemen. As such, its value is
indisputable, and as a work of literature, it's a startlingly elegant debut. I highly recommend it on both counts.
Readers may find themselves wanting more -- especially those who work in terrorism-related
fields. But the quality and importance of this first book make it clear we'll
hear more from the author in the future. If The
Last Refuge is any indication, it will be worth the wait.
Check out J.M. Berger's new book, Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam, on sale everywhere. Labels: Al-Qaeda-In-The-Arabian-Peninsula, Anwar-Awlaki, AQAP, Yemen Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.
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Saturday, November 20, 2010
New Issue of Al Qaeda English-Language Magazine Inspire Focuses On UPS BombAl Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula released a new issue of its English-language magazine "Inspire" devoted exclusively to the UPS bomb plot.The magazine features a photograph of the device prior to its being mailed. According to the magazine, the book "Great Expectations" was included to reflect AQAP's high hopes for the plot.  Inspire claims the plot was an "operation of leverage" designed to cost the U.S. money through increased security precautions. "Our objective is not maximum kill but to cause a hemorrhage in the aviation industry," wrote Yahya Ibrahim, who in the previous issue of Inspire proposed that would-be mujahideen weld lawnmower blades to trucks and drive into crowds of people. In another article, an AQAP "explosives department" member named "Ikrimah Al Muhajir" says that the organization has developed five detonators which do not use any metal components, in order to evade security measures such as metal detectors. "Inspire" No. 3 is notably lacking in any content from Anwar Awlaki, the Yemeni-American cleric who is believed to oversee the magazine. An Awlaki video was released earlier this month without the distinctive logo of AQAP's media division. While I would hesitate to draw a conclusion based on two pieces of data, these are both curious omissions and worth keeping an eye on. In the "Contact Us" section of the magazine, a message states: "Due to technical difficulties, we have been unable to check our e-mails for some time." The PDF of Inspire was rendered on Nov. 16, 2010, and released today, indicating a four-day lag time between the completion of the magazine and its availablity to the public. The issue comes more than 20 days after the actual UPS bomb plot, in which explosives devices were shipped from Yemen and addressed to Chicago synagogues. The devices were detected, intercepted and disarmed before reaching U.S. soil. Follow INTELWIRE on Twitter for instant analysis of breaking news related to the War on Terror. INTELWIRE coverage of this release began at 7:44 p.m. Eastern and included the first reported images and details of the magazine's content. Labels: Al-Qaeda-In-The-Arabian-Peninsula, Anwar-Awlaki, AQAP, Inspire-Magazine, Samir-Khan, Yahya-Ibrahim, Yemen Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.
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Monday, November 8, 2010
New Awlaki Video Released, But Not By Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Updated 11/9/2010 Anwar Awlaki has released the full version of a video that was previewed online last week. The new release raises a number of questions with no immediately obvious answers. The new video is entirely in Arabic, without English subtitles, and was not released by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Everything we've heard from Awlaki over the last couple of months has come from AQAP, so this is a very curious development, the meaning of which is not yet clear. Despite the lack of official branding, the video received massive play on the Al Shamikh forum -- with a bigger banner ad than Osama bin Laden's recent audio release. Al Shamikh is an Arabic forum. The video is a wide-ranging assault on the political and religious establishments of the Muslim world in general and Yemen in particular, according to a translation by Flashpoint Partners. In addition to the usual calls to kill Americans, Awlaki makes a particularly pointed attack on Islamic scholars who support the status quo or offer any kind of ideological cover to those who would ally with the West against the mujahideen. Until recently, there was little evidence to suggest that Awlaki had made much of an impression on the Arabic-speaking jihadist community. It's possible that this means he has finally broken through. However, it's also worth noting that bin Laden's release came with several different sizes and shapes of banner ad, while Awlaki's patron on Al Shamikh submitted only one massive banner. So while this might just be a case of smart marketing, I suspect it represents a real breakthrough. Other notes: * The video is already available on YouTube. So much for that crackdown. * The person who posted the video to jihadist forums, "Terrorist 093," asked jihadist forum members to voluntarily translate the video into English and post their results. This is also unusual, since Awlaki could have easily translated it himself or tasked the job to one of his lackeys at "Inspire," AQAP's English-language magazine. * Aaron Zelin at Jihadology has some interesting notes on the title of the video, "To make it known and clear to mankind, and not to hide it," a quote from the Quran. * The video was released in as a regular file but also in a massive 1.6 gig HQ version, which is also odd because the video is not in the standard 16x9 aspect ration used for HD. What I suspect this means is that no one from AQAP worked on it. I've speculated in the past that American Al Qaeda Samir Khan has been producing AQAP's videos, and Khan is closely aligned to Awlaki, so add that to the list of questions. (I'm stringing together a lot of guesses here, so caveat emptor.) Labels: Al-Qaeda-In-The-Arabian-Peninsula, American-Al-Qaeda, American-Jihadists, American-Terrorists, Anwar-Aulaqi, Anwar-Awlaki, AQAP, Yemen Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.
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Wednesday, June 23, 2010
New Evidence On Terror Links Of Yemen Charity That Received U.S. GrantI've completely overhauled the original story on the Department of Labor's $3.5 million grant to a partnership that includes the Charitable Society for Social Welfare (CSSW), a Yemen charity accused of wide-ranging links to terrorism. The update includes denials from CSSW and extensive new evidence suggesting those denials are unfounded. Many thanks to Evan Kohlmann of the NEFA Foundation and Flashpoint Partners for additional evidence of CSSW's links to Anwar Awlaki.Click here for the updated story. Labels: Anwar-Aulaqi, Anwar-Awlaki, Charitable-Society-for-Social-Welfare, Yemen Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.
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Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Exclusive: U.S. Gave Millions To Charity Linked To Al Qaeda, Anwar Awlaki Yemeni government official Hamoud Hattar, left, and Al Qaeda-linked cleric Abdul Majid Zindani at an October 2009 Charitable Society for Social Welfare (CSSW) event in Yemen. Hattar on June 7 announced that Yemen will not extradite Awlaki to the United States. INTELWIRE.com Updated June 23, 2010 The U.S. Department of Labor gave millions of dollars to a joint venture that included a Yemeni charity with extensive links to Al Qaeda.  Tweet this storyAt least $3.5 million was allocated by the Labor Department to fund a three-year partnership between the Charitable Society for Social Welfare (CSSW), based in Yemen, and CHF International, a Maryland-based foundation, to fight child labor and child trafficking starting in fiscal year 2008. The money was provided through a grant by the Labor Department's Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking (OCFT), according to a Labor Department press release, the agency's Web site and Middle Eastern news sources (link, link). Wanted fugitive and radical Yemeni-American cleric Anwar Awlaki served as a vice president for the organization during the 1990s. Awlaki is also believed to be associated with Al Qaeda (link). Awlaki's name is listed on an IRS Form 990 filed by the Charitable Society for Social Welfare for an now-defunct U.S. branch of the organization. Click here to read the CSSW tax form, which is a public record. Awlaki is listed as vice president on page 4 of the document. CSSW spokesman Jamal Al-Haddi denied that the organization was connected to the Yemeni CSSW and denied that Awlaki ever worked for the Yemen branch of the organization. He told INTELWIRE in an e-mail that "CSSW has no branches outside Republic of Yemen. No official or unofficial branch of CSSW in the United States." However CSSW's own Web site, in an archived page found on Archive.org, shows that in 2003 CSSW listed contact information for branches in Brooklyn, Detroit and San Diego. The 990 form shows that CSSW had directors in all three cities, including Awlaki in San Diego, whose listed address is the Ar-Ribat mosque. Two of the September 11 hijackers attended that mosque while Awlaki was imam there. The archived link was provided by Evan Kohlmann, a senior investigator with the NEFA Foundation. The U.S.-based organization claims on its tax form that it provides services and support for orphans in Yemen, just as the Sana-based CSSW does. According to additional tax documents obtained by the NEFA Foundation, CSSW intitially claimed it was not related to CSSW in Yemen in an IRS 1023 filing. But the charity's attorney, Ronald Rose, later admitted, in response to IRS questions, that the two organizations were closely linked. The complete letter can be viewed on the NEFA Foundation Web site, which states, "Despite recent statements from CSSW's head office in Yemen strongly denying any link to al-Awlaki or the affiliate group in Kansas he helped manage, Mr. Rose's letter appears to paint a sharply contrasting picture." The letter states: In general, the distributions of funds raised by this charity will not go directly to individuals…to provide assistance for people who have been victimized by the civil wars in Yemen and Somalia… A similar charitable organization exists in the nation of Yemen, whose goals are the same. In many cases, application for benefits will be submitted through the organization in Yemen and contributed funds will be routed through this organization to the ultimate recipients. The role of the charitable organization in Yemen will be to act as an agent or facilitator for the distribution of benefits from the Society. The Brooklyn branch of CSSW was the subject of an FBI terrorism financing investigation in 2003, five years prior to the Department of Labor grant approval. Al-Haddi did not respond to a question on this issue. The terrorism financing investigation was known as "Black Bear." Click here to read a court filing which provides some details of the investigation. The filing was made by the defense team for Numan Maflahi, a Yemeni-born U.S. citizen who was convicted of lying to federal agents in a terrorism financing investigation. Click here for a New York Times story about the conviction. Click here for an Associated Press story on the investigation of CSSW. The Washington Post reported in 2008 that CSSW was founded by Abdul Majid Al Zindani, a veteran of the jihad against the Soviet Union and its civil war aftermath. Zindani was an associate of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, according to published reports and exclusive documents obtained by INTELWIRE. Zindani has been designated as a member or associate of Al Qaeda by both the U.S. government and the United Nations. Documents filed in a U.S. terrorism prosecution state that the Yemeni government considered the Al Iman University, run by Zindani, "as a 'nest for terrorism' that exports and propagates terrorism." Click here to read the document. Awlaki lectured at the University, according to the Washington Post and other sources. Al-Haddi denied that Zindani had ever played any role in the organization. Neither Awlaki or Zindani has "never have been part of CSSW either as founders, members of Managerial Boards, employees, consultants volunteers or any position in CSSW," Al-Haddi wrote in an email. When asked if CSSW had requested a correction from Washington Post, he said that he had not but intended to. However, the CSSW Web site again seems to contradict Al-Haddi's statement. CSSW's Web site contains stories on a 2009 "Orphan's Festival" event featuring Zindani as a featured speaker in a central role. Zindani is named on the page, which also features a photograph of the cleric at the center dias of the event. Click here for the original page in Arabic, and click here for a cached copy of the the page. The event was also extensively covered in the organization's newsletter. A cached copy of the story may be viewed by clicking here. When asked about the photos, Al-Haddi said that Zindani's presence at the 2009 festival was simply as an attendee due to Zindani's participation in the Yemeni government in 1990. He also suggested that Zindani was only one of 500 participants, and played no role at the conference. However, photos of the event, found on an Arabic Web site Yemen-Sound.com, show Zindani seated prominently in the front row of the event and handing out awards from the stage. The CSSW Web site additionally describes Zindani as a speaker at the event. In several photos, Zindani appears with another speaker at the event, Judge Hamoud Hattar, who in June announced that Yemen will not extradite Anwar Awlaki to the United States. Hattar, ironically, has gained a measure of fame for his "deradicalization" efforts with Yemeni extremists in prison. Yemeni government official Hamoud Hattar, left, and Al Qaeda-linked cleric Abdul Majid Zindani at an October 2009 Charitable Society for Social Welfare (CSSW) event in Yemen. Also at the event was Sheikh Aed Al Qarni, who can be seen in this video calling on Allah to "destroy the Jews" and praising jihadists attacking American forces in Iraq. Sheikh Aed Al Qarni at an October 2009 Charitable Society for Social Welfare (CSSW) event in Yemen. The CSSW Web site lists partner organizations including the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) and the Qatar Charitable Society, both of which are believed by the U.S. government to be Al Qaeda financing vehicles. The U.S. alleges that IIRO helped finance the Manila-based Bojinka plot to blow up U.S. airliners in 1995. According to an Al Qaeda informant, Osama bin Laden has stated that Qatar Charitable Society funds were used to pay for an attempt to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarek, also in 1995. This story has been substantially updated with CSSW denials and with additional documentation which supports the story. For the full text of comments from CSSW's Al-Haddi, click here. Labels: Abdul-Majid-Zindani, American-Al-Qaeda, American-Jihadists, American-Terrorists, Anwar-Aulaqi, Anwar-Awlaki, Charitable-Society-for-Social-Welfare, INTELWIRE-Exclusive, Weblog, Yemen Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.
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