Adam Gadahn: Myths and Facts

By Evan Kohlmann

For those who have not seen it yet, I highly encourage readers to take a look at my colleague Raffi Khatchadourian's piece published in January in the New Yorker, "Azzam the American: The making of an Al Qaeda homegrown." Raffi was able to interview some folks who knew Gadahn back when he was just an odd kid from a goat farm in central California, and it is fascinating to trace the development of his personality over the years. Both by himself and by others, Gadahn is characterized by words like "loner", "socially inexperienced", and his own chosen title as the "revolting geek of mass proportions." The picture that emerges of Gadahn is of an intelligent, but arrogant armchair warrior, largely isolated from his peers, and who is desperately seeking to be heard and to be counted "in the big movement of history that's happening right now."

There are several small areas in which I would challenge Raffi's article, which I believe are worthwhile mentioning:

- The first piece of Al-Qaida propaganda narrated by Gadahn was not a speech by Usama Bin Laden in 2002, but rather the English-language version of "The Destruction of the U.S.S. Cole" produced in early 2001. You can view clips of that narration here.
- U.S. intelligence sources may well believe that Gadahn attended the Al-Farouq terrorist training camp in southern Afghanistan, but there is good reason to doubt the accuracy of that belief. During "The Destruction of the U.S.S. Cole", video footage is shown of training courses taking place both at the Al-Farouq camp and also at Tarnak Farms (near Kandahar). Gadahn incorrectly labeled all of that footage (in English) as having taken place at Al-Farouq. The two camps look virtually nothing alike, and it would be nearly impossible for someone who had been to either place to make that kind of glaring error. In other words, it is very doubtful that Gadahn was ever present either at either the Al-Farouq camp *or* at Tarnak Farms.
- Hisham Diab's ex-wife Sarah Olson makes some interesting observations about Gadahn, but it is not clear whether she was still even living with her ex-husband while he was associated with Gadahn. Her comments may be motivated more by animus towards Hisham Diab than any first-hand knowledge of Gadahn.
- Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir's yarn about spotting Adam Gadahn working as a chef at an Al-Qaida safe house in Kabul can hardly be taken very seriously. Mir is an attention-seeker and is notorious for making similar far-fetched claims, such as last September when he alleged that another most wanted American terrorist suspect, Adnan al-Shukrijumah, "has smuggled explosives and nuclear materials into the US through the Mexican border over the last two years and is hiding somewhere in America where the FBI has not been able to locate him."

Gadahn may be talented and bright, but he is also a volatile fringe character with very little personal appeal--in contrast to other more charismatic figures in Al-Qaida. His smug, overly-dramatic style may work in a limited sense for brief appearances as an English-speaking spokesman on Al-Qaida propaganda videos, but given his total lack of religious credentials or military experience, he is hardly the inspirational spark for a new generation of homegrown American terrorists.

See also: American Greases Al-Qaida Media Machine

TrackBack