The Al Qaeda CI /CE challenge

“A strike that does not kill me makes me stronger.’
- Abu Mohamed Al-Able, Al Qaeda identity August 2003 -

In August 2003 Al-Majallah, a London based Saudi-owned Arabic weekly publication, published an interview with Abu Mohamed Ablaj a.k.a Mullah Saif al-DIN who is described variously as a senior AQ official, an AQ spokesman, or more accurately as ‘commander overseeing the mujahideen training center’ for Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Al- Ablaj may be a pseudonym but his emailed warnings and statements concerning AQ operations are studied carefully by US intelligence. He has been in email contact with Al-Majallah since February 2003.

Re-defining Al Qaeda as a multilayered threat

Al-Ablaj provided tantalizing details of AL Qaeda penetration programmes which clearly define Al Qaeda as a counter intelligence, counter espionage and a terrorist threat.

As terrorists use espionage tradecraft and penetrate intelligence organizations by recruiting translators, chaplains, consultants and advisors, how can Al Qaeda be assessed solely as a terrorist threat?

If Al Qaeda was solely a CT threat it could be neutralized, without undue difficulty through decapitation of its leadership and special political action. But the Al Qaeda threat is unique as the following interview outlines.

Paraphrased Interview with ABU-Mohamed Al-Ablaj

Q: Do you recruit foreigners of various nationalities, especially Europeans and Americans who have converted to Islam?

 A: Yes. Hundreds of Americans who converted to Islam after the September 11 ‘incidents’ recruited themselves without belonging to Al-Qaeda organization in order to fight the US from within and the ‘bohemian lifestyle’ of the West.  Al Qaeda is exploiting dissatisfaction with this lifestyle as a recruiting tool. Bin Laden’s statement urging Americans to convert to Islam ‘did not come out of the blue’...

Q: Are some members of foreign nationalities, especially US and European assuming leadership positions in AQ?

A: This is something simple and natural. [Direct quote follows] ‘in the organization, colors and race dissolve. There are no foreigners among us. We are all brothers, believers, and have a close relationship. There is no problem in these brothers reaching the rank of a leader in a group….Their hearts yearn for God and paradise and they see the position of leader as a trust and a big responsibility. As for the expertise they acquired in various fields, they did so under our instructions’.

Q: Does recruiting Americans and Europeans serve AQ from a security point of view to cover up military schemes and provide operational support in many countries?

A: Such individuals are called ‘blue eyes’ by Al Qaeda. Blue-eyed members hide their Islamic affiliations and their affiliations with Al Qaeda and are ‘all over US institutions’. It is impossible to detect them by observing their behavioiur, their looks or their interactions. These people know exactly how to play their role.

Q: Has Al Qaeda succeeded in penetrating US institutions? In the US or abroad?

A: We have already penetrated US institutions, what is coming is worse. I can’t go into any more details because the matter is very sensitive.

Q: Does AL Qaeda co-operate with non-Muslim groups?

A: Yes. On the basis of a shared enemy-the United States. On the basis of an eye for an eye.

Q: What of foreign nationals as in the case of the Jamaican who was intending to make a dirty bomb for Al Qaeda? Were these foreign members among those arrested or were they ‘submarines’ - sleepers?

A: There is no doubt. You have already seen something, and you should expect more. The matter is extremely serious and the leaders do not wish to go into details. The hints I made about this earlier are sufficient.

Q: Has the decision to recruit foreigners into Al Qaeda achieved its goals?

A: Yes, it has and it has already yielded fruit. Work is continuing. The war on us only made us more enlightened and more knowledgeable about the reality that surrounds us…We can safely say that we have better knowledge of the points of weakness and the points of strength of our enemy much more than before, thanks to our experience and to previous confrontations with them.

‘A strike that does not kill me makes me stronger’. [Direct quote]

Visitors are invited to share and comment on these perspectives.
feedback@ci-ce-ct.com