Read American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us Online
Authors: Steven Emerson
Tags: #Politics, #Non-Fiction
American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us (22 page)
Although Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser ruthlessly repressed the Islamic revivalist movement, it developed tentacles throughout the Muslim word, financed largely, even to this day, by wealthy Saudi Arabian and Persian Gulf donors. By the early 1980s, the Iranian Revolution had given it a powerful impetus. The assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat by Muslim extremists at the height of his world power was a strong reminder that even the most esteemed Muslim leaders—be they proWestern or anti-Western—cannot rest their heads at night without worrying about radical fundamentalists in their own ranks.
Only a few years ago, Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi was regarded as the world’s most prominent agent of state-sponsored terror. He is still the prime suspect in the downing of Flight 103 in Lockerbie, Scotland. Yet today Qaddafi himself is strangely quiet on the issue of Osama bin Laden and Muslim fundamentalism. The reason is because he himself is now considered “too Western” by fundamentalists and is threatened by radical militants in his own country. In Algeria, tens of thousands have been killed in a struggle between the socialist military dictatorship that holds power and the Islamic Salvation Front, which advocates an Islamic state. Hamas has been active in the Middle East ever since it was founded in 1987, and it quickly spread to the United States.
No country is more central to the American incarnation of Islamic fundamentalism than Afghanistan. In turn, the Muslim leader most responsible for transforming the Afghan jihad into a full-blown international holy war was Sheikh Abdullah Azzam. Killed by a car bomb in Pakistan in 1989 by unknown assailants, he is still regarded reverentially by mujahideen all over the world. On the West Bank, Hamas calls its military wing the Abdullah Azzam Brigades.
Azzam combined hatred for Westerners—Christian, and Jews—with a nostalgia for the days of the Islamic caliphate of centuries long past. “Today humanity is ruled by Jews and Christians—the Americans, the British and others,” he told an audience in Kansas in 1988. “Behind them is the fingers of world Jewry, with their wealth, their women and their media. The Israelis have produced a coin on which it is written, ‘We shall never allow Islam to be established in the world.’”
Between 1980 and 1989, Azzam and his top aide, Palestinian Sheikh Tamim al-Adnani, visited more than fifty American cities, exhorting their followers to pick up the sword. His Alkhifa Refugee Center opened branches in dozens of these cities, with the help of Osama bin Laden—e.g., the Brooklyn, New York, branch, incorporated in 1987.
In the First Conference of Jihad, held at the Al-Farooq mosque in Brooklyn, Azzam instructed an audience of nearly two hundred to carry out jihad no matter where they were, even in America. “Every Muslim on earth should unsheathe his sword and fight. The word ‘jihad’ has a special meaning, every time it is mentioned in the Koran. ‘Jihad’ means fighting of infidels with the sword until they convert to Islam or agree to pay the
jizya
(tribute tax) and be humiliated. The word ‘jihad’ means fighting only, fighting with the sword.”
1. “48 Hours,” CBS, April 20, 1995.
2. CNN, April 20, 1995.
1. Roy Gutman, Daniel Klaidmen, et al., “Bin Laden’s Invisible Network,”
Newsweek,
October 29, 2001.
2. 60 Federal Register 41152, August 11, 1995.
3.
United States v. One 1997 E35 Ford Van,
United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Case No.98C-3548, Filed June 8, 1998.
4.
United States v. Usama Bin Laden et al.,
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Case No. S(7) 98 Cr. 1023, trial transcript, March 20, 2001.
5.
United States v. Usama Bin Laden et al.,
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Case No. S(7) 98 Cr. 1023, trial transcript, February 20, 2001.
6. Donatella Lorch, Daniel Klaidmen, et al., “The Plot Thickens,”
Newsweek,
February 7, 2000.
7.
Ibid.
8. Steve McGonigle, “Airline cuts ties with Holy Land Foundation,”
Dallas Morning News,
March 23, 2000; Judith Miller, “US Suspects Charities are Linked to Terrorists,” The Austin American-Statesman, February 19, 2000.
9.
United States v. Mohammad Youssef Hammoud et al.,
No. 00 CR 147 (W.D. N.C. filed July 20, 2000, amended March 28, 2001), Superseding Bill of Indictment, paragraph 3.
10. “MAYA Condemns Terrorist Attacks,” press release, September 11, 2001.
11. “The Mosque in America,” A study conducted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, April 26, 2001.
12. Sheikh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, “Islamic Extremism: A Viable Threat to U.S. National Security,” An open forum at the U.S. State Department, January 7, 1999.
1. El-Sayeed Nosair, “State of Abraham,” Notebook captured by authorities in El-Sayeed Nosair’s apartment, Cliffside Park, New Jersey. November 5, 1990.
2. Arabic cassette tape captured by authorities in El-Sayeed Nosair’s apartment, Cliffside Park, New Jersey, November 5, 1990.
3. Richard Bernstein, “Explosion at the Twin Towers: The Missing Pieces; Convictions in World Trade Center Trial Solve Only Part of a Big, Intricate Puzzle,”
The New York Times,
March 5, 1994.
4. “Criminal Practice: Seditious Conspiracy Charge Upheld Against Bombers; U.S., appellee v. Omar Ahmad Ali Abdel Rahman, defendants-appellants; Decided Aug. 16, 1999; Before Newman, Leval, and Parker, C.J.,”
New York Law Journal,
August 19, 1999.
5.
Ibid.
6. Interview with Michael Cherkasky, July 26, 1994.
7.
Ibid.
8. “Accused World Trade Center bomber lacked cash for bigger bomb: report,” Agence France-Presse, October 23, 1997.
9. Benjamin Weiser, “The Trade Center Verdict: The Overview; ‘Mastermind’ and Driver Found Guilty in 1993 Plot to Blow up Trade Center,”
The New York Times,
November 13, 1997.
10.
Ibid.
1. Sardan Tolga, “Bin Laden Contacts, Activities in Turkey Reported,”
Instanbul Milliyet
(Internet version), translated from the Turkish, December 7, 1999.
1. This statement was taken from statements given by Hidmi to Israeli authorities after his arrest in Israel in 1993.
2.
Ibid.
3. Mohammed Salah, quoted in
The New York Times,
February 17, 1993.
4. Bin Yousef’s role with the Islamic Association for Palestine is evidenced by numerous volumes of both
The Palestine Monitor
and
Ila Filistin,
the respective English- and Arabic-language periodicals produced by IAP.
5. Ahmed bin Yousef,
Ahmed Yassin: The Phenomenon, the Miracle, and the Legend of the Challenge,
ICRS [Precursor to UASR], 1990.
6.
Ibid.,
p. 56.
7. Ahmed bin Yousef,
Hamas: Background of Its Inception and Horizons of Its March,
ICRS [Precursor to UASR], 2nd ed., September 1989.
8.
Ibid.
9.
United States v. One 1997 E35 Ford Van,
United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Case No. 98C-3548, Affidavit of Robert Wright, June 8, 1998, para. 53.
10.
In the Matter of the Extradition of Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook,
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Case No. 95 Civ. 9799, Affidavit of Ephraim Rabin, September 28, 1995, paras. 13–14.
11.
In the Matter of the Extradition of Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook,
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Case No. 95 Civ. 9799, Affidavit of Joseph Hummel, October 2, 1995, para. 23.
12. “Group Threatens to Kill Americans,” UPI, September 23, 1995.
13. FBI memo by Dale L. Watson, November 5, 2001, “Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development/International Emergency Economic Powers Act,” p. 15.
14. Ronni Shaked and Aviva Shabi,
Hamas: M’Emunah b’Allah l’Derech ha-Terror (Hamas: From Belief in Allah to the Path of Terror),
Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem, 1994, p. 171.
15. FBI memo
op. cit.,
p. 31.
16.
Ibid,
p. 45.
17. In a 1994 agreement, the HLFRD “recognized the HLFRD Jerusalem as its sole agency in the West Bank and Israel and authorized it to oversee fund disbursement for programs.” FBI memo
op. cit.,
pp. 19–21.
18. Statement by Muhammad Anati to the Israeli authorities, December 17, 1997.
19. FBI memo
op. cit.,
p. 18.
20.
Op. cit.,
p. 19.
21.
Islamic Relief Agency v. The Prime Minister of the State of Israel,
Israeli High Court of Justice, Case No. 3704/96, August 11, 1996.
22. The name of the Hamas commander is unknown; however, his speech, given in Arabic, was recorded on videotape by IAP for future distribution. Annual conference of the Islamic Association for Palestine, Kansas City, Missouri, December 27–30, 1989.
23. “Jihad in America,” SAE Productions, aired November 21, 1994.
24. “Announcement of the Information Office of the Islamic Association for Palestine in North America,”
Ila Filistin,
November/December 1989, p. 8.
25. Yusuf al-Qaradawi,
The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam,
International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations, 1992, p. 205.
26. Arabic videotape of the annual conference of the Islamic Association for Palestine, Kansas City, Missouri, December 27–30, 1989.
27.
Ibid.
28. “Palestine Celebrations,” Arabic videotape, Kansas City, Missouri, August 25–26, 1990.
29. Arabic audiotape of the annual conference of the Islamic Association for Palestine, Chicago, December 29, 1996.
30. Audiotape of the annual conference of the Islamic Association for Palestine, Chicago, December 28, 1996.
31. Arabic audiotape of the annual conference of the Islamic Association for Palestine, Chicago, December 26, 1997.
32. Arabic audiotape of the annual conference of the Islamic Association for Palestine, Chicago, December 27, 1997.
33. Arabic audiotape of the annual conference of the Islamic Association for Palestine, Chicago, November 27, 1999.
34. Arabic audiotape of the annual conference of the Islamic Association for Palestine, speech by Imam Jamal Said, Chicago, Illinois, November 24, 2000.
35. Arabic audiotape of the annual conference of the Islamic Association for Palestine, speech by Tariq Suweidan, Chicago, Illinois, November 24, 2000.
36. Arabic audiotape of the annual conference of the Islamic Association for Palestine, speech by unknown speaker, November 24, 2000.
37. “IAP President Statement Regarding Israeli Withdrawal From South Lebanon,” posted on IAP’s e-mail listserve IAP-Net, May 24, 2000.
38. “Hamas Communiqué Regarding Zionist Attack on Aseera Shamaliya of Nablus,” posted on IAP’s e-mail listserve IAP-Net, August 28, 2000.
39.
Al-Zaitonah,
June 2, 2000, p. 17.
40. Steve McGonigle, “Local Firm’s Accounts Frozen; Investment by wife of Hamas leader is behind decision, lawyer says,”
Dallas Morning News,
September 26, 2001.
41. Steve McGonigle, “Firm’s export license lifted; Company investigated by terrorism task force predicts exoneration,”
Dallas Morning News,
September 8, 2001.