Excerpt from Siberian Light
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Thursday, April 22, 2004
Abu Walid (aka al-Ghamdi)
Dan Darling over at Winds of Change has written a special analysis of the life and times of Abu Walid, the Chechen terrorist who was killed earlier this week. Here's the bottom line:
As an Afghan-trained Saudi al-Qaeda leader, he personified al-Qaeda's influence within the Chechen hierarchy, an influence that has by and large succeeded in transforming the Chechen struggle for independence into a jihad dedicated to the establishment of a Wahhabi theocracy in the Caucasus.
Not the same Abu Walid.
Most definitely. Abu this, Abu that, Mohammed this, Mohammed that.
"We just want you to meet Abu Walid," one of the insurgents told him as they drove away. Aqil is overwhelmed with relief. Abu Walid, it unfolds, is a local guerrilla commander who served as a sniper in the Iraqi Special Forces.
He fought in all of Iraq's wars - against the Iranians, against insurgents in the marshes of the south and against the Americans in 1991 and 2003. His men claim that Abu Walid never misses a shot.
Saudi-born Abu Walid, who was believed to be about 30 years old, donned the mantle of Khattab, the flamboyant, Saudi-born rebel leader who died in 2002, apparently after being poisoned. Like Khattab, he was said to be second in authority only to Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev. Special Analysis: Al-Qaeda in Chechnya - From Saudi Arabia to Chechnya
Being one of the most mysterious of the Chechen leaders, little information on Abu Walid's background was known prior to his death, leading to some speculation that he may not even exist or could even be many different men. According to this report (it's from Pravda, so it must be true), Abu Walid was originally from the Saudi city of Najran and served in the elite National Guard, which are responsible for the personal protection of members of the House of Saud. He is said to have met bin Laden during the late 1980s, which fits with reports of him being an Afghan Arab and possibly an early member of al-Qaeda as it grew out of the original Afghan Arab movement.Office of Foreign Assets Control
Abu Walid (a.k.a. AL-TIKRITI, Rukan Razuki abd-al-Ghafur Sulaiman; a.k.a. AL-MAJID, Rukan abd al-Gafur; a.k.a. AL-MAJID, Rukan abdal-Ghaffur Sulayman; a.k.a. AL-MAJID, Rukan Razuqi abd al-Gahfur; a.k.a. AL-TIKRITI, Rukan 'abd al-Ghaffur al-Majid; a.k.a. AL-TIKRITI, Rukan abd al-Ghaffur al-Majid); POB 1956, DOB Tikrit, Iraq; head of Tribal Affairs Office in Presidential Office; nationality Iraqi (individual) [IRAQ]
SAYEL, SA'AD (Abu Walid) (-1982)
PLO leader and senior aide of Arafat; military commander of PLO forces; Brigadier mostly in Lebanon; killed on Sept. 29, 1982 in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.
And I am sure there are more Abu Walids. It seems to me that they may have taken this name after some warrior that was great in their eyesight.