Free Republic

Show availability of Iran for al Qaeda training, plotting. This week, prosecutors in New York introduced eight documents recovered in Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan as evidence in the trial of a terrorism suspect. The U.S. government accuses Abid Naseer of taking part in al Qaeda’s scheme to attack targets in Europe and New York City. The files do not support the view, promoted by some in the Obama administration, that bin Laden was in “comfortable retirement,” “sidelined,” or “a lion in winter” in the months leading up to his death. Some of the key revelations in the newly-released...

"What is the Islamic State? Where did it come from, and what are its intentions? The simplicity of these questions can be deceiving, and few Western leaders seem to know the answers. In December, The New York Times published confidential comments by Major General Michael K. Nagata, the Special Operations commander for the United States in the Middle East, admitting that he had hardly begun figuring out the Islamic State’s appeal. “We have not defeated the idea,” he said. “We do not even understand the idea.” In the past year, President Obama has referred to the Islamic State, variously, as...

In his modest house located on a hill in a marginalized and poor neighborhood in the city of al-Rusaifa, which is adjacent to al-Zarqa, the stronghold and origin of the Jordanian Salafist jihadist movement, Sheikh Isam al-Barqawi — known as Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi — receives his followers coming from Ma'an, Amman, Salt, Irbid and a number of Palestinian camps. These cities and communities have sent hundreds of their youth to fight in Syria, Iraq and other countries. This meeting took place after four years in detention, which ended a few days ago, after he was convicted on terrorism charges. Maqdisi...

Video and Link included. 18 July 2010 "VIEW OF SURVEILLANCE FROM INSIDE AL-MAQDISI'S HOME IN JORDAN"

Note: Photo included. "Authorities release Al Maqdisi" 2010-07-11 SNIPPET: "AMMONNEWS - Jordanian security authorities on Sunday morning released Essam Al Barqawi, known as Abu Muhamamad Al Maqdisi, a prominent figure in the Salafi Jihadist current, three days after he was arrested for violating traffic law. Al Maqdisi told Al Jazeera Net after he was released that he was apprehended while getting his car fixed last Thursday by Preventative Security personnel "who monitor him in all his moves," Al Jazeera reported." SNIPPET: "He expressed that police officers dealt with him with "confusion" considering him a "terrorist," as a police officer told...

More Fitna in Cyberspace: Mihdar vs al-Maqdisi Brynjar Lia February 7th, 2009 | AQ in Iraq, Jihadi media Is another chapter in the history of cyber-jihadi infighting about to be written these days? The latest controversy is a series of attacks by the webforum Madad al-Suyuf on Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, perhaps the most influential salafi-jihadi clerics alive. That the cyber-Jihadis quarrel with one another should come as no surprise. Despite calls for unity and brotherly counseling, jihadi writers frequently fight it out in the open. In fact, inter-jihadi quarrels seem to have become more common and less ‘brotherly’ in tone...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden may be the leading symbol of global Islamist militancy but the al Qaeda leader wields less influence over Islamist ideology than more obscure religious thinkers, according to a new study issued on Wednesday. The study also found that Ayman al-Zawahri, bin Laden's second-in-command, appears to be insignificant among Islamist intellectuals despite his image as a driving force behind the al Qaeda network. The Militant Ideology Atlas, compiled by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, instead showed Palestinian cleric Mohammed al-Maqdisi as the most influential living Islamist thinker. Maqdisi, reportedly a mentor to the...

Iraq's al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi reproached his spiritual mentor for criticising suicide attacks in Iraq, saying this only weakened the jihad, according to an internet statement attributed to him on Monday. Issam Baraqi, better known as Sheik Abu Mohammad al-Maqdisi, last week told Al-Jazeera television that random suicide bombings in Iraq were not valid and that it was wrong to "declare Shiites infidels or make them equal to Jews or Christians". Al Qaeda Organisation for Holy War in Iraq, led by Zarqawi, has carried out some of the deadliest attacks against US forces, the Iraqi Government and forces and...