American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us
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No country is more central to the American incarnation of Islamic fundamentalism than Afghanistan. In turn, the Muslim leader most responsible for transforming the Afghan jihad into a full-blown international holy war was Sheikh Abdullah Azzam. Killed by a car bomb in Pakistan in 1989 by unknown assailants, he is still regarded reverentially by mujahideen all over the world. On the West Bank, Hamas calls its military wing the Abdullah Azzam Brigades.
Azzam combined hatred for Westerners—Christian, and Jews—with a nostalgia for the days of the Islamic caliphate of centuries long past. “Today humanity is ruled by Jews and Christians—the Americans, the British and others,” he told an audience in Kansas in 1988. “Behind them is the fingers of world Jewry, with their wealth, their women and their media. The Israelis have produced a coin on which it is written, ‘We shall never allow Islam to be established in the world.’”
Between 1980 and 1989, Azzam and his top aide, Palestinian Sheikh Tamim al-Adnani, visited more than fifty American cities, exhorting their followers to pick up the sword. His Alkhifa Refugee Center opened branches in dozens of these cities, with the help of Osama bin Laden—e.g., the Brooklyn, New York, branch, incorporated in 1987.
In the First Conference of Jihad, held at the Al-Farooq mosque in Brooklyn, Azzam instructed an audience of nearly two hundred to carry out jihad no matter where they were, even in America. “Every Muslim on earth should unsheathe his sword and fight. The word ‘jihad’ has a special meaning, every time it is mentioned in the Koran. ‘Jihad’ means fighting of infidels with the sword until they convert to Islam or agree to pay the jizya (tribute tax) and be humiliated. The word ‘jihad’ means fighting only, fighting with the sword.”
Notes
Chapter One: How I Made “Jihad in America” and Lived to Tell About It
1. “48 Hours,” CBS, April 20, 1995.
2. CNN, April 20, 1995.
Chapter Two: Anatomy of Infiltration
1. Roy Gutman, Daniel Klaidmen, et al., “Bin Laden’s Invisible Network,” Newsweek, October 29, 2001.
2. 60 Federal Register 41152, August 11, 1995.
3. United States v. One 1997 E35 Ford Van, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Case No.98C-3548, Filed June 8, 1998.
4. United States v. Usama Bin Laden et al., United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Case No. S(7) 98 Cr. 1023, trial transcript, March 20, 2001.
5. United States v. Usama Bin Laden et al., United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Case No. S(7) 98 Cr. 1023, trial transcript, February 20, 2001.
6. Donatella Lorch, Daniel Klaidmen, et al., “The Plot Thickens,” Newsweek, February 7, 2000.
7. Ibid.
8. Steve McGonigle, “Airline cuts ties with Holy Land Foundation,” Dallas Morning News, March 23, 2000; Judith Miller, “US Suspects Charities are Linked to Terrorists,” The Austin American-Statesman, February 19, 2000.
9. United States v. Mohammad Youssef Hammoud et al., No. 00 CR 147 (W.D. N.C. filed July 20, 2000, amended March 28, 2001), Superseding Bill of Indictment, paragraph 3.
10. “MAYA Condemns Terrorist Attacks,” press release, September 11, 2001.
11. “The Mosque in America,” A study conducted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, April 26, 2001.
12. Sheikh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, “Islamic Extremism: A Viable Threat to U.S. National Security,” An open forum at the U.S. State Department, January 7, 1999.
Chapter Three: World Trade Center I
1. El-Sayeed Nosair, “State of Abraham,” Notebook captured by authorities in El-Sayeed Nosair’s apartment, Cliffside Park, New Jersey. November 5, 1990.
2. Arabic cassette tape captured by authorities in El-Sayeed Nosair’s apartment, Cliffside Park, New Jersey, November 5, 1990.
3. Richard Bernstein, “Explosion at the Twin Towers: The Missing Pieces; Convictions in World Trade Center Trial Solve Only Part of a Big, Intricate Puzzle,” The New York Times, March 5, 1994.
4. “Criminal Practice: Seditious Conspiracy Charge Upheld Against Bombers; U.S., appellee v. Omar Ahmad Ali Abdel Rahman, defendants-appellants; Decided Aug. 16, 1999; Before Newman, Leval, and Parker, C.J.,” New York Law Journal, August 19, 1999.
5. Ibid.
6. Interview with Michael Cherkasky, July 26, 1994.
7. Ibid.
8. “Accused World Trade Center bomber lacked cash for bigger bomb: report,” Agence France-Presse, October 23, 1997.
9. Benjamin Weiser, “The Trade Center Verdict: The Overview; ‘Mastermind’ and Driver Found Guilty in 1993 Plot to Blow up Trade Center,” The New York Times, November 13, 1997.
10. Ibid.
Chapter Four: The Source
1. Sardan Tolga, “Bin Laden Contacts, Activities in Turkey Reported,” Instanbul Milliyet (Internet version), translated from the Turkish, December 7, 1999.
Chapter Five: Hamas
1. This statement was taken from statements given by Hidmi to Israeli authorities after his arrest in Israel in 1993.
2. Ibid.
3. Mohammed Salah, quoted in The New York Times, February 17, 1993.
4. Bin Yousef’s role with the Islamic Association for Palestine is evidenced by numerous volumes of both The Palestine Monitor and Ila Filistin, the respective English-and Arabic-language periodicals produced by IAP.
5. Ahmed bin Yousef, Ahmed Yassin: The Phenomenon, the Miracle, and the Legend of the Challenge, ICRS [Precursor to UASR], 1990.
6. Ibid., p. 56.
7. Ahmed bin Yousef, Hamas: Background of Its Inception and Horizons of Its March, ICRS [Precursor to UASR], 2nd ed., September 1989.
8. Ibid.
9. United States v. One 1997 E35 Ford Van, United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Case No. 98C-3548, Affidavit of Robert Wright, June 8, 1998, para. 53.
10. In the Matter of the Extradition of Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Case No. 95 Civ. 9799, Affidavit of Ephraim Rabin, September 28, 1995, paras. 13–14.
11. In the Matter of the Extradition of Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Case No. 95 Civ. 9799, Affidavit of Joseph Hummel, October 2, 1995, para. 23.
12. “Group Threatens to Kill Americans,” UPI, September 23, 1995.
13. FBI memo by Dale L. Watson, November 5, 2001, “Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development/International Emergency Economic Powers Act,” p. 15.
14. Ronni Shaked and Aviva Shabi, Hamas: M’Emunah b’Allah l’Derech ha-Terror (Hamas: From Belief in Allah to the Path of Terror), Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem, 1994, p. 171.
15. FBI memo op. cit., p. 31.
16. Ibid, p. 45.
17. In a 1994 agreement, the HLFRD “recognized the HLFRD Jerusalem as its sole agency in the West Bank and Israel and authorized it to oversee fund disbursement for programs.” FBI memo op. cit., pp. 19–21.
18. Statement by Muhammad Anati to the Israeli authorities, December 17, 1997.
19. FBI memo op. cit., p. 18.
20. Op. cit., p. 19.
21. Islamic Relief Agency v. The Prime Minister of the State of Israel, Israeli High Court of Justice, Case No. 3704/96, August 11, 1996.
22. The name of the Hamas commander is unknown; however, his speech, given in Arabic, was recorded on videotape by IAP for future distribution. Annual conference of the Islamic Association for Palestine, Kansas City, Missouri, December 27–30, 1989.
23. “Jihad in America,” SAE Productions, aired November 21, 1994.
24. “Announcement of the Information Office of the Islamic Association for Palestine in North America,” Ila Filistin, November/December 1989, p. 8.
25. Yusuf al-Qaradawi, The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam, International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations, 1992, p. 205.
26. Arabic videotape of the
annual conference of the Islamic Association for Palestine, Kansas City, Missouri, December 27–30, 1989.
27. Ibid.
28. “Palestine Celebrations,” Arabic videotape, Kansas City, Missouri, August 25–26, 1990.
29. Arabic audiotape of the annual conference of the Islamic Association for Palestine, Chicago, December 29, 1996.
30. Audiotape of the annual conference of the Islamic Association for Palestine, Chicago, December 28, 1996.
31. Arabic audiotape of the annual conference of the Islamic Association for Palestine, Chicago, December 26, 1997.
32. Arabic audiotape of the annual conference of the Islamic Association for Palestine, Chicago, December 27, 1997.
33. Arabic audiotape of the annual conference of the Islamic Association for Palestine, Chicago, November 27, 1999.
34. Arabic audiotape of the annual conference of the Islamic Association for Palestine, speech by Imam Jamal Said, Chicago, Illinois, November 24, 2000.
35. Arabic audiotape of the annual conference of the Islamic Association for Palestine, speech by Tariq Suweidan, Chicago, Illinois, November 24, 2000.
36. Arabic audiotape of the annual conference of the Islamic Association for Palestine, speech by unknown speaker, November 24, 2000.
37. “IAP President Statement Regarding Israeli Withdrawal From South Lebanon,” posted on IAP’s e-mail listserve IAP-Net, May 24, 2000.
38. “Hamas Communiqué Regarding Zionist Attack on Aseera Shamaliya of Nablus,” posted on IAP’s e-mail listserve IAP-Net, August 28, 2000.
39. Al-Zaitonah, June 2, 2000, p. 17.
40. Steve McGonigle, “Local Firm’s Accounts Frozen; Investment by wife of Hamas leader is behind decision, lawyer says,” Dallas Morning News, September 26, 2001.
41. Steve McGonigle, “Firm’s export license lifted; Company investigated by terrorism task force predicts exoneration,” Dallas Morning News, September 8, 2001.
42. Steve McGonigle, “Terrorism task force detains Richardson man; 41-year-old with ties to bin Laden secretary considered a danger to U.S., official says,” Dallas Morning News, September 23, 2001.
43. The New York Times, September 7, 2001.
44. Statements by Muhammad al-Asi, “Jihad in America or Crusade Against Islam,” videotape distributed by Crescent International, 1995.
45. Statements by Muhammad al-Asi, 23rd annual convention of the Muslim Students Association—Persian Studies Group, Irvine, California, December 25, 1993.
46. Washington Post, March 21, 1994.
47. Washington Post, August 14, 1994.
48. The American Spectator, December 1995.
49. Ahmed Yousef, The Islamic Movement in the Shadow of International Change and Crisis in the Gulf: The Second Seminar on the Future of Islamic Work, UASR, 1991, p. 117.
50. Vision of the Islamic Republic of Iran, January 31, 1990.
Chapter Six: Jihad in the Academy
1. www.usf.edu/History/histpers.html
2. Ziad abu-Amr, Islamic Fundamentalism in the West Bank and Gaza, Indiana University Press, 1994, p. 98.
3. Abu-Amr, p. 99.
4. Articles of Incorporation, Islamic Concern Project Inc., October 20, 1988, Article III.
5. Articles of Incorporation, World and Islam Studies Enterprise (WISE), Inc., February 21, 1991, Article III.
6. Author’s interview with Sami alArian, August 4, 1994.
7. Proof of the shared addresses and office spaces is evidenced by public record documents issued pursuant to the FBI investigation of ICP and WISE.
8. “A not-so-WISE report at USF,” Tampa Tribune, May 31, 1996.
9. Interview with Fathi Shikaki, Inquiry, January 1993.
10. http://www.qudsway.com.
11. Michael Fechter, “Tampa link to Islamic Jihad uncovered during interview,” Tampa Tribune, July 28, 1998.
12. Islamic Committee for Palestine Informational Guide.
13. Al-Liwa, October 3, 1990, as translated by the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) on October 10, 1990. Also see Beverly Milton-Edwards, Islamic Politics in Palestine, Tauris Academic Studies, London, 1996, p. 199.
14. Islamic Committee for Palestine Informational Guide.
15. Author’s interview with Sami alArian, August 4, 1994.
16. ICP rally, Curie High School, Chicago, IL, September 29, 1991.
17. ICP Third Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, December 28–31, 1990.
18. Abu-Amr, p. 90. Ziad abu-Amr is a non-Israeli, non-Western source. He is a respected author and was a professor at Bir Zeit University on the West Bank. His book on Hamas and the Islamic Jihad was originally published in Arabic in 1989 under the title Al-Harakah Al-Islamiah fi Al-Diffah Al-Gharbiyeh wa Kittah Ghaza (The Islamic Movement in the West Bank and Gaza Strip). This book was translated into English and republished in 1994 under the title Islamic Fundamentalism in the West Bank and Gaza. Abu-Amr is currently a member of the Palestinian National Council. Abu-Amr had firsthand knowledge of the WISE–PIJ combination because he attended a joint conference of WISE and USF on December 5, 1991. See William Reece Smith, Jr., Report of his findings to the University of South Florida, p.72, and Shallah’s resume.
19. Abu-Amr, p. 117–118.
20. Meir Hatina, Islam and Salvation in Palestine (Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, 2001), pp. 24–7, 29, 31, 40, 42, 98, 104.
21. Abu-Amr, pp. 94–95.
22. Resume of Ramadan Abdullah Shallah.
23. In a book published in 1990, Thomas Mayer wrote that Fathi Shikaki had met Bashir Nafi in Egypt and developed a relationship with him in Gaza. According to Mayer, Shikaki found Nafi to be an “ideological friend.” Mayer also pointed out that Nafi, while in Egypt, had “given refuge to a suspect in Sadat’s assassination.” See Thomas Mayer, “Pro-Iranian Fundamentalism in Gaza,” in Emmanuel Sivan and Menachem Friedman, eds., Religious Radicalism and Politics in the Middle East, State University of New York Press, Albany, 1990, p. 148; see also Aviva Shabi and Ronni Shaked, Hamas: M’Emunah B’Allah L’Derech Ha-Terror (Hamas: From Belief in Allah to Terror), Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem, 1994, pp. 207, 210–211.
24. Ramadan Shallah lists on his resume that he was on the editorial board of the publication Al Alam out of London from 1987 to 1989, and Bashir Nafi’s resume shows that he was on the same board from 1985 to 1987.
25. In Shabi Aviva’s book Hamas, co-authored with Ronni Shaked, a former officer in the Israeli General Security Services (the Israeli equivalent of the FBI), the PIJ London activities involving Shallah and Nafiare described:
Moreover, he [Shikaki] had founded a front based in London to ensure easier communication with the Occupied Territories…. The main channel of communication between the headquarters in Damascus to the activists in the territories was through the London base of the movement. All activities in London were directed by Dr. Ramadan Shallah, who was born in Gaza. Shallah was one of the first Islamic Jihad members in the territories and was among the people who were most close to Dr. Shikaki.
He went to England to continue his studies and was appointed as the head of the London branch. At the end of 1988, he arrived to London, as well as Bashir Nafi from the Kalandia Refugee Camp. After his deportation from the territories, Nafi was sent to assist Dr. Shallah.
From their base in London, they both ran the activities of Islamic Jihad in the territories—the military activity, the information, the advertising, and the distribution of the communiques. The base in London was responsible for delivering the money to finance the activity and for sending the Islamic Jihad communiques which were distributed throughout the Occupied Territories. The contact man in Gaza was Omar Shallah, who was Dr. Ramadan Shallah’s younger brother, and was a member in one of the PIJ units.
Since they were afraid of someone listening, the Islamic Jihad people used a very sophisticated method of communication: Dr. Ramadan would call his brother from London using codewords which by then Omar meant would have to wait until night for
the next operational orders. The base for communication was an industrial business in the center of Israel from which Omar’s friend used to work, where he could call London and talk for hours with no disturbances. During these conversations, Nafi used to dictate to Omar the context of the next fliers and to tell him about the next military instructions or to guide him in other issues concerning the movement. The text of the fliers and the instructions were sent by Ramadan Shallah to Dr. Jamil Alyan who was responsible for the distribution of the fliers in the territories. (pp. 207, 210–211)
26. According to an article in the Jerusalem Post, from 1986 until 1991 Shallah lived in England where he was “the contact man between Jihad operatives in Europe and the territories. Together with Bashir Nafa [sic], Shalah [sic] headed the organization’s British office, which funneled money to the territories. He also drafted most of the leaflets the group distributed in the territories.” “New Jihad Head was Active in Britain, US,” Jerusalem Post, October 31, 1995.
27. Ramadan Shallah lists on his resume “A Founding Member of…the World & Islam Studies Enterprise WISE (1990) (London U.K. & Tampa)” and “Member of the Editorial Board of Qira ‘at Siyasiyyah (Arabic Quarterly), Managing Editor, Tampa, 1991–Present.” Bashir Nafi also notes on his resume that he was on the editorial board of WISE’s journal Qira ‘at Siyasiyyah in 1990 and attended Islamic Committee for Palestine conferences in 1988 and 1989.
28. See, for example, Mayer, “Pro-Iranian Fundamentalism.”
29. “Islamic terrorism: Tehran to Tampa,” New York Post, November 14, 1995.
30. “A not-so WISE report at USF,” Tampa Tribune, May 31, 1996.
31. Affidavit of William West, INS Supervisory Special Agent, November 17, 1995.
32. Affidavit of Barry Carmody, FBI Special Agent, December 19, 1995.
33. This letter was released in August 2000 as an exhibit in the immigration bond hearings of Dr. Mazen al-Najjar.