Counterterrorism Blog

The NEFA Foundation has obtained and translated the first three episodes from a new series published by Al-Qaida's "Islamic State of Iraq", titled "The Secrets of History: Zarqawi As I Knew Him." Written by a member of Al-Qaida's Shariah Committee in Iraq, the series offers an intimate perspective into the mind of the late Al-Qaida leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his interactions with various lieutenants. A copy of the translation can be downloaded from the NEFA Foundation website, care of the TerrorWatch subscription service. Some highlights include:

- “Before my arrival in Iraq, there was an incident that happened that Shaykh Abu Musab and others related to me later. It was the story about a foreign reporter seeking to conduct an interview between the two Fallujah battles [i.e. mid-2004] and we were fortunate to have Abu Anas [al-Shami] present. Abu Anas spoke English well and, during the interview, he made an accidental slip of the tongue and mentioned the presence of foreign Arab fighters in Iraq. Afterwards, the commander of Fallujah saw Abu Anas sitting outside on the street with his head in his hands, embarrassed and ashamed… When Abu Musab found out what had happened, he sent Abu Anas to one of the houses and ordered him to stay there, making sure his daily needs were met by two brothers assigned to stay with him. Eventually, when the stay of Abu Anas grew longer than he had expected… he wrote an appeal to Shaykh Abu Musab, reassuring him that he remained loyal to [Zarqawi]—using the words, ‘I am a ring on your finger.’ …As a result, Abu Musab softened and allowed Abu Anas to leave the house…”

- "...By Allah, how the media lies and how the corrupt infidel American Army lies as well. What a difference between the two sides: the mujahideen and the crusaders. The Shaykh Abu Musab once strongly objected to publishing a statement containing more than the actual number of enemy casualties, and he explained, ‘the Muslims are watching us, and are waiting to see what we do, so we should not betray their trust by fabricating casualty counts as the enemy does...’”

- "In its stupidity, America tried to recruit one of [Zarqawi's] followers [who they were holding prisoner] to conspire to assassinate him using advanced technology. He agreed in order so that they would release him, and following his liberation, he told everything to the Shaykh [Zarqawi]. Praise be to Allah that American generals think in this silly way. They think that we fight for money and prestige—and what they do not understand is that our arteries are filled with the ideology of jihad. Even if they managed to reach Zarqawi, praise be to Allah, we have a million more Zarqawis because our Ummah is the Ummah of jihad and jihad is at the top of our religious hierarchy.”

- “Many days passed and Zarqawi was eventually killed. However, the star of his successor has risen as he has demonstrated rare abilities… and I can confirm that the last statement from… Condoleeza Rice—in which she offered some odd words of admiration for Zarqawi’s capabilities—was merely an effort to diminish and weaken the position of his successor after he caused them severe losses. They have invented a new trick: elevating the status of [Zarqawi] so that perhaps his followers will have less faith in his successor—despite the lengthy experience of his successor, his firsthand knowledge of the arts of war, and his relationship with prominent jihad leaders across the Islamic world… Even in the absence of our Shaykh al-Zarqawi, we have found someone else who can close the gap, continue on this path, and direct actions that we will benefit from, based on unique ideas and notions. [Abu Hamza al-Muhajir’s] decision to unite various groups in order to form the Islamic State of Iraq, and his pledge of allegiance to Abu Omar al-Baghdadi as the Amir al-Mumineen, are more than sufficient—even should he accomplish nothing further. And I say, if you kill Abu Hamza, then our Ummah will give birth to a new Abu Hamza and the jihad will not stop…”