Al-Sahab Video of Commander of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan Abu Yahya Al-Libi Criticizes Saudi Government
On May 30, 2007, the Al-Qaeda media company Al-Sahab posted a 44-minute video of Abu Yahya Al-Libi, a commander of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan who escaped from Baghram prison in 2005. In the message, titled "The Monotheism of the House of Saud... [Versus] True Monotheism," Al-Libi responds to the April 26, 2007 crackdown on Islamists in Saudi Arabia, and to the April 28, 2007 fatwa by the Saudi mufti accusing the Islamists arrested in the crackdown of rebelling against the legitimate ruler.
Al-Libi criticizes the mufti for the denouncement, which he says was based on "false information from the Saudi Interior Ministry" – information which, according to Al-Libi, was meant to satisfy the Americans by demonstrating the Saudis' commitment to fighting terrorism. Al-Libi calls upon the mufti to answer several questions truthfully, and then reconsider whether those who were arrested were indeed "sectarian deviants," as he claimed. The questions were:
"Did the conduct of these young people deviate from what Imam Muhammad Ibn 'Abd Al-Wahhab intended?
"Was [their conduct] informed by the religion of Islam or by that of the U.N.?"
"[Is theirs] a religion of submission to shari'a, or a religion of ruling according to the [U.N.] Security Council?"
In the last part of the address, Al-Libi concludes that the arrested Islamists are not rebels but "true" monotheists who have fulfilled the religious duty of opposing an impious Muslim regime that has deviated from the true path of Allah and collaborated with the infidels against the Muslims.
The video, which is accompanied by English subtitles, can be viewed at: http://switch3.castup.net/cunet/gm.asp?ClipMediaID=889930&ak=null
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The ISI's Brigade of Hand Grenades
On May 30, 2007, Islamic websites posted a 45-minute film, produced by the ISI media company Al-Furqan. The film, titled "Those Who Long for Death for the Sake of Allah," focuses on the activity of the ISI's "Heat Grenades" brigade. The following are the main points of the film:
The film opens with a title, read out by an announcer who explains that "heat grenades" are "anti-tank hand grenades of Russian manufacture that work on the principle of melting by heat." The announcer goes on to describe the grenades' construction and their activation mechanism.[1]
The film takes the form of an interview by Al-Furqan with the soldiers of the brigade, seen masked and sitting in a semicircle holding rifles, with grenades arranged in front of them. The soldiers answer the interviewer's questions on the brigade's activity, telling him, among other things, that "[the aim] of our operations is to strike at certain vehicles that are difficult to get to... After removing the pin and getting close to the target, the lone [jihad fighter] aspires to aim the grenade at the vehicle in order to reap, by means of it, the heads of the infidels... The feeling after the operation is good, [it is] joy and triumph."
Finally, when the interviewer asks what they undertake to do for Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi, one of the brigade members states: "We undertake [the following] to Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi and Abu Hamza Al-Muhajir: We, your soldiers, swear an oath to death. We will not be silent and we will not rest until we make our enemy drink from the cup of death until he is saturated. To live a life of lions, even for a single hour, is in our eyes more honorable than to live a hundred hours of a life of sheep... There is no point in a life in which the honor of our women is harmed... and our religion is treated basely. "
The film includes still photos of the brigade's operations in the Salah Al-Din district and the Baghdad district, showing jihad fighters lying in wait at the side of a road, and when a U.S. vehicle approaches, throwing grenades at it and running away shouting "Allah Akbar."
Also included in the film are readings of jihad verses from the Koran, and excerpts of audio recordings by Abu Omar Al-Baghdadi, Abu Hamza Al-Muhajir, and Abu Mus'ab Al-Zarqawi urging listeners to go out to wage jihad and to "saturate the land with the blood of the infidels."
The film can be viewed at: http://switch3.castup.net/cunet/gm.asp?ClipMediaID=888952&ak=null.
Below are images from the film.
