Posted by
Gaius on Saturday, September 02, 2006 8:25:25 PM
How wonderful. Al Qaeda has employed a modern day Lord Haw Haw, the man who did propaganda broadcasts for the Nazis during the Second World War. Although a number of different announcers were given that particular nickname,
the Lord Haw Haw, if you will, was one William Joyce, actually an Irish-American former member of the British Union of Fascists. He broadcast rather nasty propaganda from 1939 until the end of the war. Al Qaeda has
Azzam the American.
The 48-minute video, posted on an Islamic militant Web site, had footage of Al Qaeda's number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri and of Adam Yehiye Gadahn, a 28-year-old American who the FBI believes attended Al Qaeda training camps in Pakistan and served as an Al Qaeda translator.
It was the second time Gadahn has appeared in the same video with al-Zawahiri. In a July 7 video marking the one-year anniversary of bombings against the London transit system, Gadahn appeared briefly, saying no Muslim should "shed tears" for Westerners killed by Al Qaeda attacks.
Saturday's message came days before the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States.
Gadahn spoke for nearly the entire video, wearing white robes and a white turban, sitting in front of a desk with a computer and Islamic religious books in a room with a white wall. He delivered a lecture on Islam and "errors" in Christianity and Judaism, and the video included no direct threats of terror attacks.
He said the United States was losing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and addressed U.S. soldiers who he said were fighting President George W. Bush's "crusades."
"Instead of killing yourself for Bush … why not surrender to the truth (of Islam), escape from the unbedlieving army and join the winning side. Time is running out so make the right choice before it's too late," he said.
Al-Zawahri gave only a brief introduction to the video, calling on Americans to convert to Islam. "To the American people and the people of the West in general … God sent his Prophet Muhammad with guidance and the religion of truth … and sent him as a herald," he said.
Little is known about the degree of Gadahn's role with Al Qaeda. A resident of California who converted to Islam, he disappeared soon after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States. In 2004, the FBI announced it was seeking Gadahn in connection with possible terrorist threats against the United States, though it said it did not have information linking him to any specific terrorist activities.
But Saturday's video — and the length of Gadahn's speech — suggested Al Qaeda found in him someone who could direcly address the American people — in idiom they are familiar with.
"You know that if you die as an unbeliever in battle against the Muslims you're going straight to Hell without passing 'Go,"' Gadahn said, addressing American soldiers. "You know you're considered by Bush and his bunch of warmongers as nothing more than expendible cannon fodder … You know they couldn't care less about your safety and well-being."
"We send a special invitation (to convert to Islam) to all of you fighting Bush's crusader pipedream in Afghanistan, Iraq and wherever else 'W' has sent you to die. You know the war can't be won," he said, using Bush's nickname.
Oh, one thing. William Joyce, was captured at the end of the war. The British gave him a trial. Then hanged him.
(Cross post from main site Blue Crab Boulevard.com)
UPDATE: Others: Wizbang, Assorted Babble, Old War Dogs, Outside The Beltway, Counterterrorism Blog, STACLU, Flopping Aces, Political Pit Bull,