Times are hard for those practicing national security journalism, especially for the glossy magazines that try and take a broader look at the events of the day and put them in context.
Cover of Spring issue
But one of those magazines seems to be doing rather well, judging from its most recent issue that hit the Internet earlier this week.
Unfortunately for most of the world, that magazine is “Inspire,’’ the relatively recent online startup established by al Qaeda’s most enterprising affiliate.
Written in English and using cultural references familiar to U.S. teenagers, it is aimed specifically at radicalizing Muslims in the West.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is now considered to be the al Qaeda arm that is responsible for the group’s most spectacular attempted attacks in recent years. And as Yemen’s president Ali Abdullah Saleh fights an insurrection, U.S. counter-terrorism officials fear AQAP will become even more of a worldwide threat, especially with such sophisticated marketing efforts.
The latest (and fifth) issue of the Yemen-based English-language publication is quite artfully done, and shows the Earth plunging deep into water, and uses the catastrophic tsunami that hit Japan as a metaphor for the “unfolding revolution that has brought with it a wave of change’’ in parts of North Africa and the Middle East. U.S. intelligence officials appear to have confirmed the authenticity of the magazine, dismissing some claims that it is propaganda from forces either opposed to, or supporting, the terror network founded and led by Osama bin Laden.
The cover “tsunami’’ story is purportedly written by Sheikh Anwar al-Awlaki, the firebrand American-born cleric who is among the most wanted men in the world for his calls for jihad against the United States and the West. Reuters is one of many news outlets that treated the magazine’s release Tuesday as a genuine news event, quoting Awlaki’s comments at length.
Western and Arab officials believe the example set by young Arabs seeking peaceful political change in some of these countries is a counterweight to al Qaeda’s push for violent militancy and weakens its argument that democracy and Islam are incompatible, according to the Reuters report. But it also quoted Awlaki, al Qaeda’s most influential English-language preacher, as saying the removal of some of the regimes, which have vehemently fought Islamists, means that jihadi fighters and scholars sympathetic to them will be more free to discuss and organize against their governments.
Magazine's guide to using the AK-47 assault rifle
“Our mujahideen brothers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and the rest of the Muslim world will get a chance to breathe again after three decades of suffocation,” Reuters quotes Awlaki as writing. “For the scholars and activists of Egypt to be able to speak again freely, it would represent a great leap forward for the mujahideen,’’ or holy warriors.
Awlaki is believed to be hiding in southern Yemen an in effort to avoid U.S. efforts to kill or capture him. In the article, he urges al Qaeda’s followers to be patient: “We do not know yet what the outcome would be (in any given country), and we do not have to. The outcome doesn’t have to be an Islamic government for us to consider what is occurring to be a step in the right direction.’’
The online magazine’s cover also highlights an article ostensibly written by Bin Laden’s top lieutenant (and, many say, co-equal in al Qaeda), Ayman al-Zawahiri. The magazine does not appear to have a home on the Internet, but is circulating online in PDF format. (Links to earlier issues).
In recent months, it has caught the attention of “Big Media,’’ with some major newspapers and magazines describing it as a sort of Vanity Fair of jihadists and their sympathizers. The magazine itself says it is trying to radicalize the young and impressionable to take action against the West.
So far, at least one would-be suicide bomber has reportedly claimed to be a fan of the magazine. The magazine started last summer and each issue has included tips on how to blow up Americans and other Westerners.
More recently, al Qaeda launched a glossy women’s magazine that seems to be equal parts Cosmo and Soldier of Fortune. The cover of Al-Shamikha, which means The Majestic Woman, features the barrel of a sub-machine gun and a woman in a long black veil.
It includes tips beauty and fashion… and suicide bombings and how to marry a mujahideen.
The cover of Al-Shamikha
