Amid Jitters About a New Terror Threat, Two American Jihad Leaders Resurface
Awlaki and Gadahn release videos as officials search for commandos.
Sept. 29, 2010 — -- Two radical Islamic clerics with American roots have resurfaced this morning, even as officials in Europe and the US are already on high alert because of a "credible but not specific" threat of commando-style terror attacks by militants with Western passports.
American-born Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, whom authorities have linked to both the Fort Hood shooting and the attempted Christmas Day bombing of Northwest flight 253, will soon be releasing a new video. Authorities consider Awlaki an Al Qaeda recruiter, and his on-line videos inspire young Westerners to jihad. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Yemeni affiliate of Al Qaeda, posted images from the forthcoming video on the internet overnight.
At the same time Adam Gadahn, the Orange County metalhead turned Al Qaeda spokesman, has released a new internet video about the Pakistan floods.
Authoriities say the Yemen-based AQAP is currently the most serious threat to American cities.
But US and European authorities are already searching for a team of commandos allegedly planning attacks in Britain, France, and Germany, all based on the interrogation of a German jihadi who was captured over the summer and is now being held at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan.
US law enforcement officials say they have been told the terrorists were planning a series of "Mumbai-style" commando raids on what were termed "economic or soft" targets in the countries. Pakistani militants killed 173 people with guns and grenades during the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India.
The captured German reportedly said several teams of attackers, all with European passports, had been trained and dispatched from training camps in Waziristan and Pakistan. Officials say the German claimed the attack plan had been approved by Osama Bin Laden.
Officials consider the threat credible, although not specific, and said that an attack in Europe seemed more likely that one in the US.
Among those being sought are a group of radicalized Germans who have been training at terror camps in Pakistan, producing videos in German to gain more recruits. Some of the German-speaking militants may have come from the same Hamburg mosque where Mohammed Atta and other 9/11 hijackers gathered.
Guido Steinberg, a counter-terrorism analyst at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, said German jihadis have been recruited from mosques in Berlin, Bonn and Hamburg, including the former Al Quds mosque, where Ramzi Binalshibh, Atta, hijacker Marwan al-Shehhi and other conspirators joined forces.
German authorities shut down the al Quds mosque, which had since been renamed Taiba, on August 9. According to Der Spiegel, they raided the Taiba mosque because they believed it was still promoting jihad and that it "may have been a staging area" for would-be jihadis who traveled to training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan. German investigators said at the time that they believed 10 men from the mosque had gone to the camps.
Steinberg said it was "quite shocking" that the former al Quds mosque was still producing jihadis. "There is a certain amount of continuity in German jihadism,' said Steinberg.
"Young men were being turned into religious fanatics there," said Christoph Ahlhaus, secretary of the interior for the city of Hamburg at the time the mosque was shut.
"Hamburg cannot become a cradle for Islamists capable of violence," said Ahlhaus, who has since become mayor of Hamburg.
According to Der Spiegel, a German identified as Ahmad S. who was detained by US forces in Afghanistan this summer allegedly had direct ties to Hamburg and the 9/11 plotters. Ahmad S. drove the father of Mounir al Motassadeq to visit Motassadeq in prison and vacationed with Motassadeq's family. Motassadeq, who helped run the al Quds mosque, was convicted in a German court for his role in the 9/11 attacks.
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In the past four years, dozens of German citizens have been recruited to train in al Qaeda-connected camps in Pakistan, according to US and German law enforcement officials. German language jihadi videos on the internet help to attract more trainees.
"Some are German converts, many are Turks, many are Arabs," said Guido Steinberg, a counter-terrorism analyst at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. "Right now we already have the first Afghans and even Iranians in these circles. It's a very mixed bunch of people -- quite international."
"The American authorities are extremely nervous about what is going on, the Germans are extremely nervous about what's going on," said Steinberg.
"The advantage, of course, is the passport," said Steinberg, "because with the German passport it's a lot easier to travel."
Travelers with German passports do not require a visa to enter the United States.
Steinberg said that many of the German jihadis who train in Pakistan are killed, "but those who come back are a threat. "And they are a threat not only to Germany," added Steinberg, "but also to our allies and especially the U.S. because they are extremely anti-American."
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