Mahmoud Ahmad, Arab News
About 95 percent of Al-Qaeda operatives in the Kingdom are ignorant and most of them do not observe basic Islamic teachings, according to new confessions by Abdul Rahman Al-Rashoud and Khaled Al-Farraj, former members of the terror network. Speaking to Channel 1 of Saudi Television on Friday, they said the Al-Qaeda cell made use of stolen Saudi IDs to rent cars and houses to carry out terrorist operations. Al-Rashoud said he was waiting for the right time to withdraw from the cell but each time its leaders threatened him with exposure.
"Khaled, I gots t'give up dis life o'crime!"
"Abdul, y'know y'can't go straight! Dey'll expose youse!"
"I got it! I'll expose myself!" |
Al-Farraj remembered the moment when they killed his father. "I cannot imagine my father lying in a pool of blood in my house," he said.
"Before someone enters the group, he thinks that it is pure. From my observations, I have seen that they are committing actions that should not come from a group claiming jihad," Al-Rashoud said. "I can tell you that 95 percent of the cell's members are ignorant. They are even more ignorant than the uneducated. They have reached a point where they call all scholars in the country infidels." Ahmad Al-Dakheel, who is head of the Shariah committee in the Makkah cell, is guilty of such behavior. "Dakheel said that all policemen in uniforms are infidels and asked the members to gun them down. If imams at mosques condemn explosions and terrorist activities, then they were also branded as infidels," Al-Farraj said.
| "We say what goes around here! Y'don't like it, yer an infidel! It's curtains fer youse!" |
According to Al-Rashoud, Al-Qaeda members spend a lot of money. "Most of the money came from charitable donations," he added. They convinced donors that they were collecting money for poor Iraqi families. During armed confrontations with security forces, Al-Rashoud said, they escaped in cars taken from Saudis at gunpoint. "I think this is forbidden according to my knowledge of Islam," Al-Farraj said.
| Yes. It's my understanding that car thieves are particularly condemned in the Koran... |
Al-Farraj also spoke about Al-Qaeda's plan to raid a housing compound. "They bought a GMC for the operation, and it was the same car that was reported by the police," he said, adding that Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin, former leader of the cell in the Kingdom, helped in filling the vehicle with explosives. Abdul Aziz Al-Mudaihesh carried out the operation. Al-Rashoud said Al-Qaeda carried out terrorist operations using different names, such as Al-Haramain Brigade and Voice of Jihad. "Actually, they are one and the same," he pointed out.
| Wowsers. I'd never have guessed that... |
 Al-Farraj said he was surprised when Al-Muqrin said Al-Qaeda was not responsible for the bombing of the police headquarters in Riyadh. Al-Farraj also spoke of Aamir Al-Shehri who was injured in the Suwaidi attack. "Al-Shehri was in the car when he was injured. He was taken to a place which they call the clinic where only minor injuries can be treated. Al-Shehri was injured in the stomach and there was a big cut. He was in terrible pain. He stayed there for two months without receiving proper treatment. I remember when I entered the room with Al-Dakheel, he begged Al-Dakheel to find a solution to the problem. Al-Dakheel said he could not do anything for him and left him in that condition until he died," Al-Farraj explained.
"Sorry, al-Shehri. You're expendable!"
"The pain! Aaaaiiiieee! The pain!... What's this?"
"An aspirin."
"It's halal, ain't it?" |
The number of people who came to attend Aamir's funeral was small. "I was very sorry for him. The least they could do was to give him back to his family or take him to a good hospital. They could have sent me to do it. The leaders of the group did not care about the members as much as they cared about themselves," Al-Farraj said. |