Most-Wanted Al Qaeda Fugitive Said Bahaji Utilized Jihad Web Site That Urged Sniper and Assault Weapon Training in United States
Washington, DC—Muslim holy warriors should use lax firearms laws in the United States to get sniper and military assault rifle training according to a jihad training pamphlet posted on a web site that has been used by a most-wanted Al Qaeda fugitive. The Violence Policy Center (VPC) has obtained the full text of the pamphlet, which has also reportedly been found in abandoned terrorist safe houses in Kabul, Afghanistan. The pamphlet informs jihad trainees, "In some countries of the World, especially the USA, firearms training is available to the general public," and that "it is perfectly legal" to obtain weapons such as AK-47 assault rifles. It urges would-be warriors to take advantage of those lax laws and learn firearm fighting skills, especially sniping and assault rifle firing.
Said Bahaji—who authorities say helped obtain U.S. visas in Germany for the two pilots who crashed jetliners into the World Trade Center towers on September 11—has been linked as a subscriber to a newsletter published by the pro-jihad site on which the instructions for firearms training in the United States originally appeared. Bahaji has been described as the "brains" of a German terrorist cell that provided direct logistical support for the terrorists who hijacked the jetliners. The site has been cited as supporting the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
"This document and the link to the cold-blooded assassins who carried out the suicide attacks show conclusively that our lax gun laws and our tolerance of the most extreme factions of the gun culture have turned America into a one-stop shopping mall and training playground for terrorists," says Tom Diaz, VPC Senior Policy Analyst. "Since September 11, Americans agree that our country will never be the same and that we must make sacrifices—it is beyond time now for the Bush Administration to grasp this internal terror threat and to insist that its supporters in the National Rifle Association and the gun industry step up and make their share of the sacrifice."
Diaz—author of the October 2001 VPC study