Posted on 05/02/2006 3:28:04 PM PDT by april15Bendovr
al-Qaeda's Assassination Program in Anbar By Bill Roggio
al-Qaeda continues its campaign of targeted assassinations against Sunni leaders cooperating with the elected government of Iraq. Today, a suicide bomber put Maamoon Sami Rasheed al-Awani, the governor of Anbar province, in its sights and attempted to kill him with a suicide car bomb. al-Awani survived the attack, but ten Iraqi bystanders were killed in the ensuing blast. “This is a cowardly attempt, and this is not in the best interest of Anbar or the country,” Awani said. “On the same day of the attack, I am here and am ready to work. I will continue working to serve my people, to serve the people of Anbar and Iraq.” Multinational Forces - Iraq reports this is "approximately the 29th attempt on his life," and his son was recently kidnapped but safely returned.
While I was in Ramadi, Major General Richard Huck, the the Commanding General of the 2nd Marine Division, Brigadier General James Williams, the Assistant Commander of the 2nd Marine Division, and Colonel John Gronski, the commanding officer of the 2/28th Brigade Combat Team spoke highly of Mr. Awani. His family is confined to a compound as they are under the constant threat of death or kidnapping, yet he continues to show up to work.
The Center for Combating Terrorism at West Point recently published three Harmony documents. The document titled "Al Qa'ida in raq Situation Report" [PDF] discusses the state of affairs in Iraq and the problems al-Qaeda is encountering in Anbar province. In the document, Awani is identified as one of al-Qaeda's eight main targets for assassination ("7- Mamun al-‘Alwani, al-Anbar governor, attached to you the security report in Ramadi.") Other Sunnis targeted for assassination include two generals, four tribal sheikhs and the manager of the Sunni Endowment. The unnamed author is seeking approval to carry out the murders. The unnamed author laments the procedural obstacles that stand in the way of conducting assassinations:
We have no problem with you saying for us to give the name of the person before killing him, but we owe god, this will only be a delay for us, and time is not on our side, and for you to say to kill him outside his city, sometimes it take months before the person leaves his city, like if it’s in Baghdad for example, that’s difficult, and time is not on our side... At one point in the letter, the unknown author states "our policy is to eliminate the heads of infidelity without any announcements." al-Qaeda targeted Awani inside Ramadi, in broad daylight with civilian bystanders using a tactic (suicide car bombing) that is almost exclusively tied to al-Qaeda. al-Qaeda in Iraq command appears to be heading the advice of its tactical commanders. But the change in tactics also reflects the need for al-Qaeda to stifle the pro-government Sunnis before the idea of cooperation with the central government takes root.
May 2, 2006 03:18 PM
Wow, tough country!
Do these 3 documents look like anything you might have worked on or translated?
Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
Harmony and Disharmony:
Exploiting Al-Qa'ida's Organizational Vulnerabilities
http://www.ctc.usma.edu/aq.asp
Harmony Document List
Al-Qa’ida Goals and Structure
AFGP-2002-000078
Interior Organization
AFGP-2002-000080
Open Letter to King Fahd from bin Laden
AFGP-2002-000103
Al-Qa’ida Staff Count Public Appointments
AFGP-2002-000112
Letter of Threat to Americans
AFGP-2002-001120
A Memo to Sheikh Abu Abdullah
AFGP-2002-003251
Employment Contract
AFGP-2002-600045
Al-Qa’ida Bylaws
AFGP-2002-600048
Five Letters to Africa Corps – Letter One
AFGP-2002-600053
Five Letters to Africa Corps – Letter Two
AFGP-2002-600053
Five Letters to Africa Corps – Letter Three
AFGP-2002-600053
Five Letters to Africa Corps – Letter Four
AFGP-2002-600053
Five Letters to Africa Corps – Letter Five
AFGP-2002-600053
Lessons Learned from the Armed Jihad Ordeal in Syria
AFGP-2002-600080
A Short Report on the Trip from Nairobi
AFGP-2002-600113
Letter to Aba Khalid from bin Laden
AFGP-2002-600157
Letter to Mullah Mohammed ‘Omar from bin Laden
AFGP-2002-600321
Call to Jihad Against the Syrian Regime
AFGP-2002-600966
A Response to Accusations Against Sheikh Albani
AFGP-2002-601041
Criticism of Abu Al-Bara’a
AFGP-2002-601346
Status of Jihad
AFGP-2002-601693
Political Speculation
AFGP-2002-602181
Criticism of Sheikh Bin Baz
AFGP-2002-602187
Get the Idolaters Out of Arab Island
AFGP-2002-603856
Various Admin Documents and Questions
AFGP-2002-801138
Letter to Pakistani Scholars from bin Laden
AFGP-2002-901188
Al Adl Letter
Letters from bin Laden
AFGP-2002-003345
Brief Biography of Ayman Al-Zawahiri
2RAD-2004-600457
If anyone wants to read the 3 documements from the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2006/05/alqaedas_assassination_program.php
Click on the blue highlighted PDF ("Al Qa'ida in raq Situation Report" [PDF])
You might be interested in this?
It's thanks to Iraqis like Mr. Awani who continue to do his job day in and day out even with the threat to himself and his family (29 attempts to assasinate him, at work the same day they tried last time, family has to live in a compound, one of al-Qaeda's eight main targets), that Iraq will be able to stand by itself one day soon.
I wonder if this is the guy who was on Fox (last night?) who set up his own police force and has pretty much taken care of his area of the town he lives in, running out the terrorists and having law and order established, all without any coalition help (don't know why that was, I only heard the story in passing, if anyone can help with the details (town, his name etc) I'd appreciate it).
Its under the world section in Fox News video titles Restoring order in Iraq.
I would post a link but I am at work.
Restoring Order in Iraq
One man took the law into his own hands and made a difference
http://www.foxnews.com/video2/player05.html?050306/050306_leventhal_iraq&FNL&Iraq%20Update&acc&World&-1&col
Right page, right title, different video tho:
http://www.foxnews.com/video2/player05.html?050306/050306_leventhal_specreport&Special_Report&Restoring%20Order%20in%20Iraq&acc&World&-1&exp
And yes, that's him. Great story! Thanks for finding it!
http://rayrobison.typepad.com/ray_robison/saddam_and_alqaeda/index.html
The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point just released a study on al-Qaeda. Part of the study included al-Qaeda documents captured in Afghanistan. The study focus is on al-Qaeda, and had nothing to say about any connection between Saddam and al-Qaeda.
But such evidence is there none the less, buried in the details.
One document talks about Saddam:
Doc ID: AFGP-2002-601693
Date: Unknown
Author: Abu Mus’ab
Now look at these passages:
Page 4
"I read your criticism of the doctor "[undoubtedly this is al-Zawahri – RR]
We can conclude from this that these men are at a high level for one of them to be openly writing letters critical of al-Zawahri. It continues skipping a few lines for brevity:
"…that’s what he and along with Abu Hammam and others have done. Some of them went to Saddam; others went to Iran and so on. May Allah make us steadfast to his religion and I praise Him for making me say everything had happen."
Synopsis: A letter from Abu Mus’ab to Abu Mohammed relating a meeting with Abu Musab Zarqawi. The author and Zaraqawi agree that the Muslims fighting in Bosnia, Tajisistan, Chechnya, and Kashmir are polytheists and supporters of secular democracy, and that the Taliban are a front for Pakistan.
Key Themes: Zarqawi tells Abu Mus’ab that he is accused of Takfir (infidelity) because of his views about the Mulsims in Bosnia, Tajikistan, Chechnya, and Kashmir. Their interest is in secular democracy and are all too willing to seek accommodation with secular power. The author is relating a meeting between himself and Zarqawi. Now look at the Harmony number AFGP-2002-601693. That means this document was written, captured, and processed into the Harmony database before the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
http://www.ctc.usma.edu/aq_601693.asp Doc ID: AFGP-2002-601693
Date: Unknown
Author: Abu Mus’ab
Length: 2 pages
Title: None (Status of Jihad)
Full Text: English Arabic
Synopsis: A letter from Abu Mus’ab to Abu Mohammed relating a meeting with Abu Musab Zarqawi. The author and Zaraqawi agree that the Muslims fighting in Bosnia, Tajisistan, Chechnya, and Kashmir are polytheists and supporters of secular democracy, and that the Taliban are a front for Pakistan.
Key Themes: Zarqawi tells Abu Mus’ab that he is accused of Takfir (infidelity) because of his views about the Mulsims in Bosnia, Tajikistan, Chechnya, and Kashmir.
Their interest is in secular democracy and are all too willing to seek accommodation with secular power.
http://www.ctc.usma.edu/aq_601693.asp Doc ID: AFGP-2002-601693
Keeping in mind what Stephen F. Hayes from the Weekly Standard has stated.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/760ukool.asp
Similarly, on the al Qaeda documents: The scholars from West Point examine the relationship in the 1980s between the jihadists from the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and the former Iraqi regime. Saddam supported and trained some of these jihadists in his effort to destabilize the Syrian regime. On the one hand, this data suggests that whatever their religious and ideological differences, the jihadists and the allegedly secular Iraqi regime were not opposed to cooperating against a common enemy. This view is supported by an al Qaeda document that reports, among other things, that Osama bin Laden's chief deputy Ayman al Zawahiri sought assistance from both the Iraqi regime and Iran. On the other hand, another al Qaeda document sets forth "lessons learned" from the experience of the past jihadist-Iraq collaboration and concludes that such relationships can be counterproductive and are to be avoided in the future. It's all very interesting and it will be helpful to learn more.
What these documents demonstrate more than anything else is that the U.S. intelligence community and the Bush administration should make document exploitation a high priority.
The left preys on the attention deficit problems of our country while enjoying the priority placed on reality TV (American Idol) rather than why our Presidents poll numbers might have been going down (Iraq).
Republicans need to find a way to combat the MSM and Democrats version of hooked on phonics they use frequently to indoctrinate our public with useful idiot spin.
I hope Tony Snow is up for taking on that task.
Did you miss this?
Did you not get my ping at #8?
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