The following are excerpts from a TV report on Kuwaiti cleric Khaled Al-Huseinan, who joined Al-Qaeda. The program aired on Al-Arabiya TV on October 29, 2010.
To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memri.org/legacy/clip/2738.
TV Report: Khaled Al-Huseinan has Become Al-Qaeda's "Theoretician and Religious Authority"
Reporter: "Khaled Al-Huseinan served as an imam and a preacher in several mosques of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Religious Endowments. He participated in many lectures and religious classes. His lectures were extreme by nature, but did not arouse concern in those days, for we are talking about the mid-1990s. […]
"Without any warning Al-Huseinan left Kuwait in 2007, and headed to Afghanistan via Iran, according to some reports. While the 1980s and the 1990s, as well as the period preceding the U.S. attack on Afghanistan following 9/11, witnessed a flow of Arab fighters heading to Afghanistan, the fact that Al-Huseinan went there only four years ago is notable. Nevertheless, he has managed to attain a prominent position in the hierarchy of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. He has become the organization's theoretician and religious authority, due to his statements posted on websites associated with Al-Qaeda."
Khaled Al-Huseinan: "A man sets out to the land of the infidels, the land of prostitution and corruption, in order to complete his studies. He seeks the material world, in order to become an important man - a doctor or an engineer. The strange thing is that his entire family is pleased that he is going. They are all happy, and say: 'You bring us honor.' He is going to the land of the infidels, the land of prostitution and corruption. He seeks the material world. At the same time, another man sets out on jihad for the sake of Allah. He sets out in support of the religion of Allah, to defend what is sacred to the Muslims, and to defend the honor of the Muslim women. All his family are embittered and angry. They all say: 'You brought shame upon us by doing this or that.' They are all angry at him."
Reporter: "It is evident that Al-Huseinan has assumed responsibility for preaching and for ideologically confronting scholars who oppose Al-Qaeda. He also became responsible for the recruitment of new members. This highlights Al-Qaeda's philosophy of focusing on the Gulf youth. Being Kuwaiti, Al-Huseinan is more familiar than others with the special nature of Gulf societies. […]
"Taped footage of Al-Huseinan demonstrates his sharp attacks against the ulama and the muftis he accuses of supporting the regimes. He calls to bear arms and to revolt against the rulers – calls that fuse with the ideology of Al-Qaeda. He considers all lands to be the lands of jihad, including the Islamic countries."
"Are you familiar with the Afghan people?... Your soldiers are no match for them, Obama"
Khaled Al-Huseinan: "There is a consensus among all sensible people – both the ones who lived in pre-Islamic times and the ones who came later – that the battlefields are the place of men and heroes. Even the people in pre-Islamic times, even the infidels, agreed that the battlefields are the place of men and heroes. Some people are afraid to bear arms. When they touch a weapon, they are horrified. What is this cowardice, this horror, this anxiety? They say: 'I'm afraid there will be a problem with this weapon in the future, and they will find my fingerprints on it.' If he is too scared to carry a weapon at present, how can you expect him to go to the battlefield and fight the Crusaders?
"Such a man should feel ashamed to even talk about those heroic young men, who are fighting the Crusaders, the enemies of Allah, who spread corruption on Earth. It is a great problem when people call those mujahideen 'the extremist groups,' 'the fanatics,' or 'the terrorists.'"
Reporter: "In a message to U.S. President Barack Obama, Al-Huseinan revealed that he was moving freely around Afghanistan, encouraging the Afghans to wage Jihad, and that in addition to his role in religious preaching for Al-Qaeda, he conducted military activity, and participated in violent confrontations with the U.S. forces in Afghanistan."[…]
Khaled Al-Huseinan: "The battle is not over yet, Obama. The battle is still alive and has not reached an end. Therefore, Obama… Are you familiar with the Afghan people, Obama? The Afghan people are a model of forbearance. It is a desert people, a mountainous people. Your soldiers are no match for them, Obama. Your soldiers are weary, weary, weary."
