Sebastian Gorka - Why We Fight - Why We Fight - Defeating America's Enemies - With No Apologies

The section includes the now infamous article: Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom , [18] Inspire magazine, Summer 2010, p. 33-41. which provides detailed instructions on how to prepare an improvised explosive device (IED), how to make detonators, primary charges, improvised timers for delayed detonation, and how to make such devices as lethal as possible through the use of nails and other metal ingredients to act as shrapnel. Note the explicit wording:

“The inflammable substance needs to be contained in a strong container that would allow the pressure to build up and thus cause a damaging explosion.”

The author recommends pressure cookers as the most effective container for the improvised explosive with shrapnel glued to the inside, and for maximum destructive effect advises that the device be placed “in a crowded area.” [19] Inspire magazine, Summer 2010, p. 40.

The terrorist tradecraft section then provides instructions or how to use commercially available encryption keys to secure Jihadist communications and prevent detection by law enforcement, and gives advice on how to blend into one’s surrounding and immerse oneself in local (infidel) culture to avoid detection.

Near the end of the magazine comes an article by Anwar al- Awlaki himself, the individual considered to be the main driver behind Inspire . Entitled: Shaykh Anwar’s Message to the America People and the Muslims of the West , [20] Inspire magazine, Summer 2010, p. 56-58. it includes the statement:

“I for one, was born in the US, and lived in the US for 21 years. America was my home. I was a preacher of Islām involved in non-violent Islāmic activism. However, with the American invasion of Iraq and continued US aggression against Muslims, I could not reconcile between living in the US and being a Muslim, and I eventually came to the conclusion that jihād against America is binding upon myself, just as it is binding on every other able Muslim.”

Discussing the Fort Hood terrorist attack, he describes its perpetrator, Major Nidal Hasan, as using violence in response to actions of the US government:

“Ni āl Ĥassan [sic] was not recruited by al-Qā`idah; Ni āl Ĥassan was recruited by American crimes, and this is what America refuses to admit. America refuses to admit that its foreign policies are the reason behind a man like Ni āl Ĥassan, born and raised in the US, turning his guns against American soldiers. And the more crimes America commits, the more mujāhidīn will be recruited to fight against it.”

Most significantly, Awlaki gives a very operational choice to Muslims living in un-Islamic countries such as America, a choice based upon the principle of al wala al barra . He tells the Muslims of America and the West:

“To the Muslims in America I have this to say: How can your conscience allow you to live in peaceful coexistence with a nation that is responsible for the tyranny and crimes committed against your own brothers and sisters? How can you have your loyalty to a government that is leading the war against Islām and Muslims?” [21] Inspire magazine, Summer 2010, p. 58.

“Hence, my advice to you is this: you have two choices: either hijra [migration] or jihād. You either leave or you fight. You leave and live among Muslims or you stay behind and fight with your hand, your wealth and your word. I specifically invite the youth to either fight in the West or join their brothers in the fronts of jihād: Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia.” [22] Inspire magazine, Summer 2010, p. 58.

This message of leave un-Islamic lands or fight is reinforced by the one-page document found in the Defendant’s possession entitled: Jihad: The Forgotten Obligation . This states univocally that:

• There is “no deed equivalent to Jihad.”

• That Holy War is “the obligatory act.”

• The most virtuous deed is Jihad.

• Other deeds cannot compete with Jihad.

• The person who does Jihad in Allah’s path is superior to other Muslims.

The Office of the US Attorney also supplied me with over sixty-five audio or video files consumed by the defendant. These represent a significant collection of Jihadist materials and below are the details of the files most relevant to the bombing of the Boston Marathon.

Aseer nasheed : this is an audio and video file which uses the Islamic chant or nasheed format to disseminate the Jihadist Movement’s call to violence in the face of perceived oppression.

The audio track is, in the YouTube file accessed by the defendant, combined with a series of images and written statements. The opening images of the video are of men in Islamic dress being held in prison, in confinement. The nasheed speaks to the observers’ feeling restless as if they are the actual captives and continues with the following words displayed on the screen:

This feeling of humiliation is surrounding me, as I see our heroes being chained by the worthless (disbelievers) [ this is accompanied but what appears to be an image of Guantanamo detainees ] I am imprisoned O my Lord, without any guilt (except determination), motivated by the call of Jihad [ these words being superimposed over an image of Omar Abdel Rahman, also known as the Blind Sheikh, who is currently serving a life sentence in relation to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing .]

Then the following text is displayed:

O my Lord! The one who is Almighty over the people

People whose oppression no words can describe

[ with the image of US soldiers amongst civilians in either Iraq or Afghanistan ],

And have patience O captive you are free

To the hereafter you will go without any chains….

The video continues:

O unshakeable one… you will roar and you will revenge for that sake of Allah (swt) [ subhanahu wa ta’ ala / Glory to him the exalted]

This is followed by a still shot of a poster with the words:

What can my enemies do to me?

I have in my breast both my heavan ( sic ) and my garden.

If I travel they are with me, never leaving me.

Imprisonment for me is a chance to be alone with my Lord.

To be killed is martyrdom & to be exiled from my land is a spiritual journey ,

It continues:

And the hope of the heroes is to live with dignity

And if they die then Jannah [ paradise/heaven ] and Hurul’een [ chaste females ] await

And the hope of the heroes is to live with dignity.

This is accompanied by three photos of Abu Hamza al Masri and the superscript: May Allah (SWT), Free our Brother in Islam.

Abu Hamza, also known as Kamel Mustafa, was the UK-based radical cleric extradited to the US and convicted earlier this year of material support to terrorism. [23] U.S. v. Mustafa, Kamel Mustafa et al. This is followed by the words: “ And if they die then Jannah and Hurul’een wait” and a picture of Ali al- Timimi with the superscript: May Allah (SWT) Release our Beloved Sheikh from the hands of the Kaffireen [Infidels].

Al-Timimi was convicted of enlisting individuals to wage war against the United States in the Virginia Jihadi Network trial of 2005. [24] U.S. v. Al Timimi , 04-CR-385.

The defendant also consumed material concerning “Commander Khattab,” a Saudi national whose real name was Thamir Saleh Abdullah Al-Suwailem. He is significant insofar as he was a key figure in not only the mujahedeen resistance against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s, but also in the First and Second Chechen wars against the Russian Federation.

The Commander Khattab video file [25] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmX-Wbyo99A . is a hagiographic representation of the Jihadist’s life in the form of a nasheed with numerous battlefield images, including Khattab with a surface to air man-portable missile system (MANPAD).