AQAP releases 10th copy of Inspire; features Adam Gadahn

Inspire-10th-Edition.jpg

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has released the 10th edition of Inspire, its English language propaganda magazine that is marketed to Westerners. The magazine features an article by Adam Gadahn, the American traitor who works with al Qaeda’s core leadership cadre in Pakistan.

AQAP released the current addition of Inspire “nine months after the release of the eighth and ninth issues” of the magazine, the SITE Intelligence Group noted. SITE obtained a copy of Inspire, which was released yesterday on Jihadist Internet forums.

The latest edition of Inspire focused on al Qaeda’s view of the so-called Arab Spring. Inspire promoted two articles on the topic that are written by Gadahn and Yahya Ibrahim, a cleric who has been featured in the magazine in the past.

Both Gadahn and Ibrahim focus on al Qaeda’s ability to capitalize on the Arab Spring. Gadahn calls for the US to end all involvement in the upheavals in the Middle East, and says a failure to do so “will result in a backlash which will make you regret the day you put your hands where they don’t belong.”

Gadahn also advises jihadists in the West to continue “direct engagement [attacks] at home and abroad with America and its NATO parents, particularly France and Britain.”

“The enemies’ economic and military hemorrhage must not stop until the day comes when the people of the West are forced to make a choice: either the continuation of the Crusade against the Muslims and the continuation of their backing Israel, or the continuation of viable governments and basic public services,” Gadahn writes.

Ibrahim focuses on the assaults on the US Consulate in Benghazi and the US embassies in Egypt, Tunisia, and Yemen in September 2012. Jihadists raised al Qaeda’s flag at the US installations, and killed the US’s ambassador to Libya and three personnel in Benghazi. Ibrahim notes that the so-called protesters chanted “Obama! Obama! we are all Osama!” He also claims that despite bin Laden’s death at the hands of US special operations forces in May 2011, bin Laden continues to inspire old and new jihadists alike.

The release of the latest edition of Inspire shows that al Qaeda’s core in Pakistan is not cut off from its affiliates, and that AQAP retains the ability to produce the magazine despite the loss of two Americans who were thought to be important to its continuation.

AQAP touted Gadahn’s article as an “exclusive,” which means the group was either able to contact Gadahn to solicit and receive it, or that Gadahn contacted the publishers of Inspire to offer the article. Gadahn is believed to be based in Pakistan and is known to work with As Sahab, al Qaeda’s primary propaganda production outfit. He also releases propaganda via As Sahab on occasion.

The Obama administration has claimed that al Qaeda’s “core” leadership cadre in Pakistan is cut off and disconnected and isolated from its affiliates, and that the terror group is on the verge of defeat. But as Gadahn’s latest article and numerous propaganda tapes and communiques by al Qaeda emir Ayman al Zawahiri and other top leaders show, the terror group is intact and capable of producing propaganda and communicating with its affiliates worldwide.

Additionally, it was unclear if AQAP would continue to produce Inspire after the deaths of American jihadists Samir Khan and Anwar al Awlaki, both of whom are thought to have greatly influenced the magazine’s publication. Al Awlaki and Khan were killed in a US drone strike in Yemen in September 2011. As the release of the 10th edition of Inspire shows, AQAP clearly maintains the capacity to produce the magazine, and still remains committed to attacking the West.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

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10 Comments

  • mike merlo says:

    Gadahn’s nose looks bigger

  • SlayerMill says:

    I love Gadahn’s stance that the U.S has one of two choices: to either stop our “crusade” against Muslims, or allow for viable governments and public services to flourish (I assume in the Middle East). Al Qaeda has an outstanding track record of governing and provinding public services. That’s why there was the Sunni Awakening in Iraq huh Gadahn? Al Qaeda was doing such a stellar job looking out for the citizens of Iraq that the Sunni tribes began working with the U.S military, who they’d initially been fighting, to destroy Al Qaeda and kick them out of Iraq. Everyone wants to talk about the Sunni uprising starting in 2006, when in fact it was already happening in 2005. I was in Ramadi, Iraq in 2005 when we began working with Sunni tribes who were tired of Al Qaeda’s “public services”, Gadahn implies they would provide. These services included murdering Iraqi tribal leaders who didn’t abandon their tribal customs to embrace Al Qaeda’s Salafi Islamic teachings, raping and kidnapping daughters to undermine tribal authority, and public beheadings to intimidate the general population. Al Qaeda succeeded in accomplishing what we couldn’t do on our own, and that was to get the tribal leaders to cease hostilities and work together instead. I guess I should thank Al Qaeda for their typical, narrow-minded approach of murder and intimidation to win over the populations they seek to poison with their takfiri mutation of Islam. They caused Sunni’s in Ramadi to become “accidental guerrilla’s” in the sense of how David Kilcullen describes them in his book The Accidental Guerrilla. Infection, contagion, intervention, and rejection. That’s exactly what happened with Al Qaeda in Ramadi, before the “offical” Sunni Awakening or the ” 2007 surge”. For anyone who doesn’t know what I’m talking about with my reference to infection, contagion, intervention, rejection, I recommend the book I mentioned above. Though portions of the book become redundant at times, it’s still a worthwhile read.

  • Mr T says:

    Protected by Pakistan. They can pretty much stay intact as long as there is a country that will protect them and we don’t want to challenge their “soverienty”.
    Pakistan is full of these creeps and muderers pretending to be holy.

  • SlayerMill says:

    Mr T.
    You’re absolutely right, and it’ll never change unfortunately. It’s kind of funny that Pakistan’s President, Zardari, just made a public “commitment” to crack down on militancy and sectarianism in Pakistan too. Here’s the link to the article for anyone who needs a good laugh for the day
    http://www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk/index.php?lang=en&opc=3&sel=2&pId=1485
    President Zardari fails to mention the level of appeasement he’s required to maintain with the different factions of the JUI and Deobandi movement in order to remain president. He’ll never get “tough” with militancy as he claims he will. He doesn’t want to upset the delicate balance of Pakistan’s historically corrupt feudal political system and potentially threaten the money flow he and his buddies get to pilfer from the Pakistani people. With the issue of Kashmir being so important to Pakistan, they unfortunately will never get out of bed with the laundry list of jihadist groups they protect. It’s the only card Pakistan can play against India over the Kashmir dispute. India’s miltary is not only larger and infinitely more advanced technologically than Pakistan’s, but India’s GDP is about 10 times larger than Pakistan’s, allowing them to maintain a force Pakistan will never be able to stand up to conventionally.

  • Carroll says:

    I wonder if any action has taken place to find and terminate this traitor to the free world. He must have been an outcast growing up and his life now is his payback to the ones who scorned him. This payback only exist in HIS mind but, to the rest of civilized mankind, he’s nothing but a stain on humanity. That stain needs to be wiped out of existence.

  • Sawdust says:

    @ SlayerMill
    Interesting points.
    I’ve found the Inspire issues to be pretty straightforward when it comes to outlining what AQAP in particular has in mind.
    Some savoury quotes include “looking for vehicles that are up for a torching” as well as burning the kufaars property till they withdraw or pay the jiziyah.
    Every time Gadahn or any member of an ultra-orthodox Islamic group speaks about so-called Islamic justice, it is merely a honey-coated mask to hide the fact that Islam is and must always be the dominant, morally and politically superior form of authority that, once it attains power, can never be overturned.
    All these Islamic groups calling for the caliphate know very well that no other religion or political ideology would be allowed to either have or to take a position of authority in any Caliphate.
    Speaking of caliphate, it seems there are many students of Anwar al-Awlaki who have begun returning to the Middle East or Yemen.
    Time for a drone strike somewhere???

  • JRP says:

    As a U.S. Taxpayer I find it insulting that while here in America we must endure high unemployment/underemployment, “Sequesters”, curtailment of Postal Services, etc. our tax dollars (mine and yours) are going overseas to fund nations like Pakistan the populations of which despise us and war against us or provide safe harbor for those like Al Qaeda that war against us. I also question the Constitutionality of propping up Countries whose existence is founded on maintenance of a particular choice of religion. If the Country happens to be a U.S. ally, then we could look the other way, but if the Country is at best neutral towards the U.S. or at worst plotting against us, what’s the point? An insurance policy against nuclear blackmail? That Pakistani authorities continue to plead no knowledge of the whereabouts of any of these AQ operatives is so patently false that next time they demand “Show Me the Money”, we should, with face as straight as theirs, say we can’t find the bagman.

  • Donald says:

    Wow, so releasing a lot of messages means the al-Qaeda core is capable of attempting another on attack the U.S. Capitol? Too funny.

  • Donald says:

    @Carroll
    Adam Gadahn is not on the CIA’s kill list. He is “regarded as a loudmouth not directly involved in plotting attacks.”.
    http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/05/us-cia-killlist-idUSTRE79475C20111005

  • Frederick says:

    Got a link to the articles?

Iraq

Islamic state

Syria

Aqap

Al shabaab

Boko Haram

Isis