| Submit your comments on this article |
| Arabia |
| A Saudi Home: Al Qaeda in the Kingdom |
| 2004-02-09 |
| Extracted from a longer, well-informed bio of Ayyeri on NRO... Before his death this past summer, Shaykh Yousef Al-Ayyiri (a.k.a. "the Cutting Edge") sat near the top of this network [of Islamists who returned from Afghanistan to Saudi Arabia in 2002]. Al-Ayyiri was a well-known and well-liked figure in al Qaeda who had reportedly first joined the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan at the youthful age of 18. Impressed by his enthusiasm and skills as a combatant, al Qaeda gave Al-Ayyiri a position of high importance within the organization as the commander of a training camp in Afghanistan, and also as a personal bodyguard to Osama bin Laden. Knowledgeable sources say that Al-Ayyiri was handpicked in 1993 to travel to Somalia with al Qaeda’s most senior military commander — Abu Hafs Al-Masri — in order to help instruct radical Islamic militias on how to shoot down U.S. helicopters with rocket-propelled grenades... An authentic al Qaeda video released on the Internet in early December featured scenes of black-clad, hooded men carrying out indoor urban-warfare training exercises at a camp inside Saudi Arabia known as Al-Istirahat Al-Amana (the Guesthouse of Goodness). The footage was allegedly filmed during mid-2003, and at least one of the featured trainees was later killed during a confrontation with Saudi security forces. No matter how one chooses to characterize the Al-Istirahat facility, there can be no doubt as to the intentions of those who received terrorist "refresher" courses there. Following their recorded training exercises, the men gathered closely together, brandishing their automatic weapons and singing jihadist tunes. One of the men — Abdallah Al-Utaibi — goes on in the video to read a martyrdom will while sitting in the Al-Istirahat camp, begging God to "destroy" the United States. The presence of these camps — and Yousef Al-Ayyiri's key role in creating them — was confirmed in an electronic communiqué issued in late December by a group calling itself "al Qaeda's Military Committee in the Arabian Peninsula." The "Cutting Edge" manual was given its name "for the great efforts of Sheikh Yousef Al-Ayyiri... One of his last blessed deeds was to establish several training camps in [Saudi Arabia] which several of the hero mujahadeen have come from." The communiqué contained articles from, among others, al Qaeda's reputed senior military commander Saif Al-Adel, lecturing to faithful supporters that "these are times of jihad and preparation for jihad." Finally, the manual suggests that those who are unable "travel to other lands" in order to "join the great camps" can instead covertly mimic their unique and demanding training regimen at home. The loyal soldiers of the late Al-Ayyiri continue to eagerly spread his message and teachings via the Internet, promising terrible revenge against the "crusaders" and the Saudi elite. |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |
| #1 "An authentic al Qaeda video released on the Internet in early December featured scenes of black-clad, hooded men carrying out indoor urban-warfare training exercises at a camp inside Saudi Arabia known as Al-Istirahat Al-Amana (the Guesthouse of Goodness)." --- "The presence of these camps — and Yousef Al-Ayyiri's key role in creating them — was confirmed in an electronic communiqué issued in late December by a group calling itself 'al Qaeda's Military Committee in the Arabian Peninsula.'" Prince Nayef's "there are no AlQ camps in SaoodiLand" game may be coming home to bite him in the ass. But, for now, he apparently is enjoying it. I wonder if he'll still be a Top Dog in his grand game of footsie with AlQ (same for the Mad Mullahs / Black Hats) if they decide to give up on trying to whack the US and concentrate on the much much easier targets - the big fat soft oil-tick targets... Stay tuned for the next thrilling episode of As the Wheel Turns... |
| Posted by: .com 2004-2-9 3:34:18 PM |