Archive for Suri

Abu Musab al-Suri – Released?

January 11, 2012 Al-Awlaki, Suri No comments

Rumor on the boards the past couple weeks has it that Abu Musab al-Suri has been released.  IMHO, if this is true, it would be a disaster for the United States.  Here’s why:

Suri literally wrote the book on decentralized violent extremism.  He understood Maoist encirclement strategy and was able to apply it to helping al-Qaida transcend itself from a group to a network to a global ideology.  Suri believed in the persuasive power of education. He was a pioneer in the use of new media technology.

Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan would not have been able to accomplish what they did without Suri’s body of work.  Awlaki was never the arch nemesis that we painted him to be. Yes, he was compelling for the global media to hype.  Sure, he resonated with the emotionally bruised Western fencesitter. But he was painting by number on a worksheet that had been already drafted by Suri.  Samir Khan just helped to translate that image into digital pixels.

I have been warning quietly for some time now that the release of Suri could breathe life into the global al-Qaida support movement in a way for which we are not prepared. The mere symbolism of his freedom will galvanize the online community.  His videos are already being re-uploaded. His audios, re-posted. His books and articles are going to find  their way back to the top of jihadi must-read lists.

One must naturally ask the question: why would the Syrian authorities release him?   Jihadi posters are greeting the news with caution. In the mainstream news sites, particularly Sooryoon.net, some commenters seem to believe that this was a result of the Syrians being pressured by Zawahiri’s last video to release Suri in exchange for the American, Warren Weinstein.  Another commented that this was a strategy move by the Syrian regime to thumb the Americans in the eye.  There might be something to that if Suri is indeed released.

Abu Musab al-Suri could indeed help to lead a disjointed, embattled and internally fractured al-Qaida into a new era by reconceptualizing what al-Qaida means.  For now, let’s hope he remains rotting away in a prison cell.  But stay tuned.

GIMF Launches the new “Al-Qadisiyyah Media”

January 10, 2011 Media, Suri, Uncategorized One comment

Here’s the announcement from GIMF:

The struggle between truth and falsehood between the army of Allah and the army of Taghut has been in existence since the beginning of creation, and will last till the Final Hour. Today as well, we see this struggle, in which the Cross-worshippers have mustered all they can to fight the truth. One of the greatest means they have mustered is the media, a means which has become of of the most important weapons in modern warfare. It would not be an exaggeration to say that in every war which has taken place in our present times, the military campaign has been preceded by a media campaign to gain the favor of the masses.

In light of these facts, we Muslims must counter the enemy, which has occupied Muslim lands with all means possible which will weaken them, expose their true evil selves, clarify the truth to people, and demolish their falseness.

For this, today, by Allah’s Grace, we bring you the glad tidings of the formation of “Al-Qadisiyyah Media”, an extension of the media foundations in existence today which have become a source of anguish for the occupying enemies.

Al-Qadisiyyah Media takes its name from a great battle, the Battle of Al-Qadisiyyah, which took place during the time of Al-Farooq, Umar b. Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, which was the door to the conquest of As-Sind by the heroic commander, Muhammad b. Al-Qasim during the Umayyad Caliphate.

We also remind the Muslim youth that Muhammad b. Al-Qasim, the commander of these armies which conquered As-Sind, was only 17, yet he conquered one of the greatest kingdoms of the time – India.

Muhammad b. Al-Qasim would not pass a city without utterly defeating its army, until he reached the forces of Raja Dahir, the greatest of the Kings of India. Their in Sind, he fought their army and their king, Raja Dahir, was killed by Al-Qasim b. Abdullah At-Ta’i, may Allah have mercy on him.

The conquest of Sind was one of the greatest successes of Commander Muhammad b. Qasim, may Allah have mercy on him, which was granted between the years 89 and 94 AH. This greatly impressed both Hajjaj b. Yousuf, his paternal uncle, as well as the Muslim masses.

Al-Qadisiyyah Media will focus on releasing and translating materials into the languages of the Indian Sub-continent, from them Urdu, Hindi, Bangla, Pashtu, and Persian.

Any productions of Al-Qadisiyyah will be officially released by Markaz Sada al-Jihad of the Global Islamic Media Front. Any material not released by Markaz Sada al-Jihad does not represent Al-Qadisiyyah Media.

The logo of Al-Qadisiyyah Media is as follows:

My favorite part of the announcement are the last two paragraphs:

“…will focus on releasing and translating materials into the languages of the Indian Sub-continent, from them Urdu, Hindi, Bangla, Pashtu, and Persian.”

and

“Any productions of Al-Qadisiyyah will be officially released by Markaz Sada al-Jihad of the Global Islamic Media Front. Any material not released by Markaz Sada al-Jihad does not represent Al-Qadisiyyah Media.”

because they both get to the heart of matters we’ve been discussing for awhile now on here. The first was the big push from al-Suri to make as much content available to as many jihadis as possible in as many languages.  Remember, al-Suri had even identified priority languages for translation.

The second excerpt gets on the issue of brand management, which we’ve discussed a lot too.  When you are dealing with a diffuse, decentralized, ideational movement like al-Qaeda, you need to ensure that your brand remains in tact.   These kinds of preemptive protocols are useful for doing keeping the wheels on.

It’s also not the first time that a media group has promised to use the GIMF’s Markaz Sada al-Jihad for distribution purposes.  You may recall that in May 2007 the Army of Islam, in the middle of the abduction of Alan Johnston, said that the only trustworthy media from the would be sourced by way of Markaz Sada al-Jihad, by way of the GIMF or Al-Hesbah Forum and/or the Al-Firdaws website.

We’ll see if it’s anything more than a one-hit-wonder media outlet.   The problem is that any periodic jihobbyist is already swimming in a sea of jihadi media outlets.  Dan Kimmage and Evan Kohlmann have both done some helpful work on problematizing this sea.  I just dont see how yet another jihadi media group can cut through the noise and establish any real market-share, but stay tuned.

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