Besides being posted on the official Hamas website, the handbook appeared on a Yahoo Geocities site:
http://www.bushcountry.org/news/columnists/jreynalds/c_010303_jreynalds_yahoo-terrorist-handbook-poison.htm
Yahoo Hosting Terrorist Handbook That Provides Step by Step Guide To Poisoning Non-Muslims
By Jeremy Reynalds (bio)
The introduction for an on-line Islamic handbook providing poison recipes encourages its readers to start practicing on non-Muslims.
It reads in part http://www.geocities.com/ithap2002/poisons.pdf.
*** See UPDATE at end of article below ***
"The subject matter of this book deals with poisons ... The lethal doses given often have a question mark beside them. That is because the quantities given are not established medical facts – only estimates based on experiments on rabbits. It is hoped that the brothers who work on this subject will research further, carry out their own experiments (on kuffar (unbelievers) preferably) and refer to medical books to fill in what is missing."
Writer Abdel-Aziz says that the instructions were gleaned from a poisons course taken with a number of "terrorist groups," or "freedom fighters," depending on your perspective. He then gives a word of caution to people who might be using his instructions as a recipe book to kill.
"As I was learning from people whose first language was not English, some of the names of chemicals, properties, etc., are wrong. (So) Be very careful when preparing poisons. It is much, much more dangerous than when preparing explosives. I know several Mujahids whose bodies are finished due to poor protection etc. On the positive side, you can be confident that the poisons have actually been tried and tested (successfully, he he!)"
In a postscript to his introduction, Abdel-Aziz provides some words of caution to wannabe Mujahids. He tells them not to become "an over paranoid James Bond figure," especially when they have yet to do anything illegal. He adds that they shouldn't be worried about special forces like the Seals, either, as all they are is "just a bunch of boys with big egos and good at running long distances."
However, while he provides a note of caution about overestimating special forces, he also tells potential terrorists not to think too highly of themselves, saying there is no such thing as a super terrorist. "I've been with the likes of Hekmatyer, Black September and associates of Carlos the Jackal, and just like the Special Forces, they're only human. The training and preparation is nothing compared to the strength of the individual's character and the assistance Allah provides on the day!"
The handbook starts off with a section on home made poisons. For example. One is called ricin, or the poison from castor nuts.
The handbook gives step by step instructions and precautions:
"Take the skin off several castor nuts and weigh the white part of the nuts. Grind the nuts and add four times their weight of acetone. Leave the mixture in a plastic container for three days. Filter the mixture. The residue, once it is dried, is ricin in powder form." (Leaving it another three days will produce a liquid form of the same poison).
According to Abdel- Aziz, 1ml of the liquid solution was tested on a rabbit which immediately began to have a hard time breathing. That was followed by mucus coming from its mouth and it died in four hours. Double the dosage given to another rabbit resulted in death within two minutes.
Wanting to be "helpful," Azziz provides some convenient notes. He writes that the solution is easily given in alcohol and while the powder form may be difficult to dissolve it can be used inside food as its taste is not very strong.
This is followed by a recipe to make Betaluminium poison, a "sticky coffee colored liquid," which Abdel-Aziz describes as an untreatable biological poison (as opposed to a chemical one). Depending on the way it is given, death takes place within about 12 to 36 hours. The writer suggests that the best way to give this poison to someone is to place a minute quantity in someone's food just before it's served.
The booklet also deals with chemical poisons and their effects such as arsenic oxide, sodium nitrite, sodium azide and mercuric nitrate. It describes ways to obtain and/or prepare the substances and also details their physical effects and how long they take to cause death.
Poisonous elements such as thallium and dust of diamond are also described. Commenting on the effects of thallium, the writer comments that it produces "a very painful death-fever, blood in vomit, depression, eventually blood from every hole in the body. No treatment. Use it on a cruel enemy!"
Dust of diamond becomes lodged in the victim's wind pipe when the specks are taken in food. This causes painful and untreatable abnormal growth around the specks.
I've only shown you a fraction of what's contained in this on-line handbook. It also contains a variety of other horrible poisons, and while it's been around for a few years is a "resource" which doesn't belong on the internet. If you'd like to contact the ISP and tell them that this material quite clearly violates section 5a of their terms of service http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/geoterms.html, you can do so by e-mailing netblockadmin@yahoo-inc.com or by calling (1) 408 349 7183.
UPDATE as of 01-01-03 @ 3:50 PM
Bush Country greatly appreciates Jeremy Reynalds for exposing this evil, and our Bush Country readers for exposing this to Yahoo. This article was up less than 2 hrs, and Yahoo has already pulled the handbook from their site. We also thank Yahoo for pulling this garbage off their server. On a side note, the author of the poison handbook has just been identified by the Swedish military as a member of the terrorist organization: GIA "Armed Islamic Group"
Jeremy Reynalds is a freelance writer and the founder and director of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter. He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico and is pursuing his PhD in intercultural education at Biola University in Los Angeles. He is married with five children and lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His work can be viewed here and weekly at www.americasvoices.org. He may be contacted by e-mail at reynalds@joyjunction.org
