AAWSAT.com: "AL-QAEDA REVEALS ITS LATEST THREAT: RAKAN BIN WILLIAMS" by Mohammed Al Shafey (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "London, Asharq Al-Awsat- The Global Islamic Media Front, the voice of al Qaeda on the internet, has revealed its latest threat which it identified as Rakan bin Williams, who would wreck havoc worldwide. The name refers to an English convert to Islam. Al Qaeda’s strategy "will depend on surprise such as when near simultaneous attacks were carried out in Morocco and Turkey. Al Qeada's aim was to target the border between Europe and the Muslim world, east and west, so let this serve as a lesson to the entire west, we have arrived at your borders and no one will be able to stop us", the group said on the internet. The British Sun newspaper indicated last week that al Qaeda was recruiting English men and pointed out six English-language websites affiliated with al Qaeda had published material encouraging Europeans to enlist and undergo military training.") (November 8, 2005)
E-PRISM.org: Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center THE PROJECT FOR THE RESEARCH OF ISLAMIST MOVEMENTS (PRISM) OCCASIONAL PAPERS Volume 3 (2005), Number 8, Director and Editor: Reuven Paz: "RAKAN BEN WILLIAMS: The Next Generation of Jihadi Terrorists in Europe" by Reuven Paz (November 2005) (pdf)
For the record, I've asked that the excerpted CFR post be deleted if there is any copyright infringement.
November 26, 2005
Note: The following text is a quote (minus the graphics):
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Jeremy Reynalds,
P O Box 27693
Albuq., NM 87125-7693
Tel: (505) 400-7145
www.joyjunction.org
AMERICAN INTERNET COMPANY SUSPENDS RADICAL ISLAMIC SITE CONTAINING DEATH THREAT AGAINST WORLD LEADERS
Global Islamic Media Logo
A statement distributed by the Global Islamic Media Front and formerly located on an radical Islamic American hosted Internet site, contained a death threat against a number of world leaders.
The site has now been suspended.
The statement (at www.alfirdaws.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&t=9116) threatens, according to the Society for Internet Research (www.internet-haganah.us/harchives/005294.html), Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. President George W. Bush.
Contacted by e-mail, the Internet Haganah's Aaron Weisburd said the posting promised kidnaping to be followed by decapitation. Weisburd said according to the statement the plan is in place, including the proposed location for Berlusconi's slaughter.
A Picture from the former Al-Firdaws Site
The Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) is known as the voice of al Qaeda on the Internet.
According to the Society for Internet Research (SOFIR) the statement was published on the al-Firdaws forum by "ialam al-islami," who has in the past been a prolific contributor to GIMF forums and sites.
The ominous statement is attributed to "Rakan ben Willyamz," an apparently collective name for native European converts to Islam roaming the continent, preparing to strike.
While there have been questions about the credibility of the statement, including the poor quality of the Arabic, as opposed to the first statement from the imaginary Rakan ben Willyamz (www.sofir.org/sarchives/005248.php), SOFIR said the threat shouldn't be dismissed.
"Arguments in support of the statement (if not the threat) being credible, include the fact that it was distributed by the Global Islamic Media Front. That this ‘Rakan' is a different and less-literate individual doesn't necessarily make the statement non-credible. Since when are terrorists great examples of human intelligence? Certainly there is no disputing that the countries in question are all in al-Qaida's sights ... Increasingly the global jihad is waged by ignorant thugs, and their statements are likely to reflect that."
The ben Willyamz name came to light earlier this year. The Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper (AAWSAT) reported (http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=2577 ) in Aug. that ben Willyamz (or bin Williams), was being touted as someone who would "wreck havoc worldwide."
Al Qaeda's strategy "will depend on surprise such as when near simultaneous attacks were carried out in Morocco and Turkey. Al Qaeda's aim was to target the border between Europe and the Muslim world, east and west, so let this serve as a lesson to the entire west; we have arrived at your borders and no one will be able to stop us," AAWSAT reported that GIMF said on the Internet.
AAWSAT also reported that the British tabloid the Sun indicated al Qaeda was recruiting English men, and referred to six English-language web sites affiliated with al Qaeda that had published material encouraging Europeans to sign up for military training.
A Collage of Images on the Former Site
Earlier this year, AAWSAT reported al Qaeda warned on the al Firdaws forum, "Do not rejoice, Blair, as you will not be able to follow or halt the movements or stop al Qaeda's new soldiers Rakan bin Williams ... Al Qaeda's new soldiers were born in Europe of European and Christian parents. They studied in your schools. They prayed in your churches, and attended Sunday mass. They drank alcohol, ate pork and oppressed Muslims, but al Qaeda has embraced them, so they have converted to Islam in secret and absorbed the philosophy of al Qaeda and swore to take up arms after their brothers. They are currently roaming the streets of Europe and the United States, planning and observing in preparation for upcoming attacks."
At the time of writing, the Al-Firdaws forum was hosted by the Kentucky- based IX Webhosting. Informed of the contents of the forum reported in this story, a company employee acknowledged that the site was hosted by IX and promised an investigation. Within about an hour, this notice was on the (former) Al Firdaws forum, "Account for domain alfirdaws.org has been suspended."
The content of the Al Firdaws forum violated IX's terms of service (www.ixwebhosting.com/index.php/home.dspPage/page/info.dspTOS). A portion of the company's terms of service reads, "If inappropriate activity is detected, all accounts of the subscriber in question will be deactivated until our investigation is complete. Prior notification to the subscriber is not assured. In extreme cases, law enforcement will be contacted regarding the activity."
The Al Firdaws site was registered to Marwan Alansary of the Al Firdaws Company in Amman, Jordan.
ON THE NET...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1513784/posts?page=2858#2858
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November 29, 2005
Note: The following text is an exact quote:
---
Jeremy Reynalds
P O Box 27693
Alb., NM 87125-7693
Tel: (505) 400-7145
www.joyjunction.org
AMERICAN INTERNET COMPANY LOCATED CLOSE TO U.S. MILITARY BASE SUSPENDS AND THEN REACTIVATES RADICAL ISLAMIC SITE CONTAINING DEATH THREAT AGAINST WORLD LEADERS
A statement distributed by the Global Islamic Media Front and located on an radical Islamic American hosted Internet site, contains a death threat against a number of world leaders.
The site was initially suspended and since reactivated. The forum on the reactivated site is now locked, so it is impossible to tell whether the death threat is still housed on the site, but there is no reason to suppose otherwise.
Ironically, the data center housing the Al Firdaws site is located 17 miles from Fort Campell, KY, home of the 101st Airborne (Air Assault) Division (www.campbell.army.mil/newinternet/main.asp).
The statement (at www.alfirdaws.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&t=9116) threatened (s), according to the Society for Internet Research (www.internet-haganah.us/harchives/005294.html), Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.S. President George W. Bush.
Contacted by e-mail, the Internet Haganah's Aaron Weisburd said the posting promised kidnaping to be followed by decapitation. Weisburd said according to the statement the plan is in place, including the proposed location for Berlusconi's slaughter.
The Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF) is known as the voice of al Qaeda on the Internet.
ISP APOLOGIZES FOR TAKING AL QAIDA LINKED SITE DOWN
Last Sat. I called the Internet Service Provider (ISP) and alerted an employee to the Al Firdaws site content. He thanked me and said a company official would investigate. Within a couple of hours, the site was off line.
However, a couple of days later the Al Firdaws site was reactivated. Clearly identifying myself as an investigative writer, I called IX Webhosting (also apparently doing business as Hosting-network Gmbh and www.ecommerce.com) on Tuesday, to see if the company had reactivated the site or if its operators had switched to another service provider.
An employee who answered the telephone said that her company was indeed hosting the site. Then apparently thinking I was the Al Firdaws site owner, she launched into a profuse apology for the site being taken down, as there had not been, she said, any violation of the company's terms of service.
I then reiterated to this individual that I was an investigative writer, not the Al Firdaws site owner, and that the site contained a significant threat against world leaders. Asked who made the decision to reactivate the site, the IX employee said it was a member of the company's management. I asked to speak to a manager. The individual took my telephone number and name, and said I would get a call back.
Informed that I would be reporting the situation to the FBI, the IX employee said that the FBI could communicate with the company by the U.S. Postal Service if they wanted the site taken down.
I also told the IX employee that I would make public my conversation with her. Hearing this, she said I could not do that as to do so would be violating her constitutional rights.
It is clear that the content of the Al Firdaws forum violated (s) IX's terms of service (www.ixwebhosting.com/index.php/home.dspPage/page/info.dspTOS). A portion of the company's terms of service reads, "If inappropriate activity is detected, all accounts of the subscriber in question will be deactivated until our investigation is complete. Prior notification to the subscriber is not assured. In extreme cases, law enforcement will be contacted regarding the activity."
AN AUSTRIAN CONNECTION
IX Webhosting, Hosting-network Gmbh and www.ecommerce.com all list their location as being at 247 Mitch Lane in Hopkinsville, KY. A Fathi Said, apparently based in Austria, is listed as being an administrator for Hosting-network Gmbh and www.ecommerce.com.
While I did not attempt to contact Said, here is a portion of a discussion (www.hostingdiscussion.com/news-and-pr/768-featureprice-com-closing.html) about some of Said's reported business activities.
"Ecommerce.com is under control by Fathi Said (stolen), SiteandSites and a host of other domain names are owned exclusively by Fathi Said. Stay away from any site or business that has Austrian Ownership or Fathi Said or any other affiliation with Fathi Said. The problem with this is that Fathi will set up anywhere at anytime; you may or may not know who is actually behind that company. Fathi will use other names, and etc to fool you, be warned and be careful. Fathi while in office ran several businesses ‘on the side,' and sold services that looked like the respective names but were indeed Feature Price (FP) services, no one at FP approved this but Fathi. Fathi also registered Dotregister domains for the clients and did not title them in the right names or addresses, but with 100% owned by featureprice client, these domains were held hostage, with numerous other domains like Featureprice.com unless the officers of FP were to give him over a half million dollars, the officers called the FBI for Extortion."
More information about Feature Price is available at www.thewhir.com/marketwatch/fea050903.cfm and http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2003/07/07/where_did_the_featureprice_customers_go.html
THE DEATH THREAT AND RAKAN BEN WILLYAMZ
According to the Society for Internet Research (SOFIR) the statement was published on the al-Firdaws forum by "ialam al-islami," who has in the past been a prolific contributor to GIMF forums and sites.
The ominous statement is attributed to "Rakan ben Willyamz," an apparently collective name for native European converts to Islam roaming the continent, preparing to strike.
While there have been questions about the credibility of the statement, including the poor quality of the Arabic, as opposed to the first statement from the imaginary Rakan ben Willyamz (www.sofir.org/sarchives/005248.php), SOFIR said the threat shouldn't be dismissed.
"Arguments in support of the statement (if not the threat) being credible, include the fact that it was distributed by the Global Islamic Media Front. That this ‘Rakan' is a different and less-literate individual doesn't necessarily make the statement non-credible. Since when are terrorists great examples of human intelligence? Certainly there is no disputing that the countries in question are all in al-Qaida's sights ... Increasingly the global jihad is waged by ignorant thugs, and their statements are likely to reflect that."
The ben Willyamz name came to light earlier this year. The Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper (AAWSAT) reported (http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=2577 ) in Aug. that ben Willyamz (or bin Williams), was being touted as someone who would "wreck havoc worldwide."
Al Qaeda's strategy "will depend on surprise such as when near simultaneous attacks were carried out in Morocco and Turkey. Al Qaeda's aim was to target the border between Europe and the Muslim world, east and west, so let this serve as a lesson to the entire west; we have arrived at your borders and no one will be able to stop us," AAWSAT reported that GIMF said on the Internet.
AAWSAT also reported that the British tabloid the Sun indicated al Qaeda was recruiting English men, and referred to six English-language web sites affiliated with al Qaeda that had published material encouraging Europeans to sign up for military training.
Earlier this year, AAWSAT reported al Qaeda warned on the al Firdaws forum, "Do not rejoice, Blair, as you will not be able to follow or halt the movements or stop al Qaeda's new soldiers Rakan bin Williams ... Al Qaeda's new soldiers were born in Europe of European and Christian parents. They studied in your schools. They prayed in your churches, and attended Sunday mass. They drank alcohol, ate pork and oppressed Muslims, but al Qaeda has embraced them, so they have converted to Islam in secret and absorbed the philosophy of al Qaeda and swore to take up arms after their brothers. They are currently roaming the streets of Europe and the United States, planning and observing in preparation for upcoming attacks."
The Al Firdaws site is registered to Marwan Alansary of the Al Firdaws Company in Amman, Jordan.