Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Did Personally Kill Daniel Pearl

by Florian Flade

„With my blessed right hand…“ – The hand of Al-Qaida leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in Daniel Pearl Execution Video

„I decapitated with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew, Daniel Pearl, in the city of Karachi, Pakistan. For those who would like to confirm, there are pictures of me on the Internet holding his head“

– Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confession during U.S. military in 2007

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The alleged 9/11 chief planner Pakistani national Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told US interrogators in 2007 he personally killed the US Wall Street Journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002. Pearl was kidnapped on January 23 2002 while on his way to interview a Pakistani Jihadi leader in Karachi. The group which later claimed responsibility for the abduction called itself „The National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty“. Pearl´s kidnappers claimed the Jewish American was a CIA agent working in Pakistan to hunt down al-Qaida.

Several demands for Pearl´s release were sent via e-mail, including the release of all Pakistani terror prisoners held by the US. Pictures showing the journalist holding a newspaper and a man standing right next to him, holding a gun to Pearl´s head were attached to the e-mail sent by the kidnappers.

On February 21 2002 the kidnapper group released a disturbing video showing the execution of Daniel Pearl. Titled „The Slaughter of the Spy-Journalist, the Jew Daniel Pearl“ the 3-minute tape shows Pearl´s throat being slit and later the beheading is shown as well as the mutilated body of the journalist. A unknown man is then seen holding the head of Pearl in front of the camera.

Daniel Pearl´s body and head were found on May 16 2002 north of Karachi.

About a year later – on March 1 2003 – the alleged 9/11 chief planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was arrested by Pakistani security forces in a compound in Rawalpindi. The CIA then sent Mohammed on a tour around secret intelligence prisons around the world before imprisoning him at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. During military interrogations the Pakistani al-Qaida leader confessed of having planned the 9/11 attacks and also executed Daniel Pearl.

Pakistani investigation had revealed Mohammed´s involvement in the Pearl murder. It was suspected Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had ordered the American hostage to be killed but it was not known or confirmed he himself beheaded the journalist. Human Right´s critics questioned the CIA confession transcripts of Sheikh Mohammed and said they could not be trusted as the al-Qaida suspect probably confessed due to torture and abuse.

Now a report by the Georgetown University says US intelligence officials have erased any doubts Khalid Sheikh Mohammed´s claims of personally having killed Daniel Pearl. A new report filed by Georgetown University says new technological tools were used to compare the hand of the murderer of Pearl with the actual hand of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed who is in Guantánamo Prison waiting for his trial. The Pearl murder video did not show the killer´s face or identity, only the hands are seen cutting off the hostage´s head.

A technique known as „vein-matching“ delivered new information and resulted in the conclusion Mohammed indeed did kill Pearl himself. During this process the blood veins seen on the hand of the killer were compared with those of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – the images matched.

More in my Welt Online article

Canadian Resident Organized Al-Qaida Suicide Bombings?

by Florian Flade

Al-Qaida in Iraq Propaganda – „Martyrdom-Lovers“

Abu Muhammad, a policeman in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul explained to the news media what he had witnessed in the morning of April 10th 2009 when he was on duty in the southern part of the city. The policeman saw a truck filled with about a ton of explosives hidden under grain driving right behind two US Humvees on the street leading to Mosul´s police headquarters right next to U.S. Military’s Forward Operating Base Marez.
The American vehicles entered the compound and stopped. The next moment the truck driver rammed his vehicle through a metal barrier and slammed into a sandbagged wall. As Iraqi guards shot at the truck, the driver detonated the explosives next to the Humvees about 50 yards from the gate.

Five US soldiers died in the blast that left a 60-foot crater in the ground and destroyed the two US vehicles in the convoy. „There was more than 1,000 kg of explosives in the truck, which leveled three buildings“, an Iraqi police official said. Staff Sergeant Gary L. Woods, 24, of Lebanon Junction, Kentucky; Sergeant First Class Bryan E. Hall, 32, of Elk Grove, California; Sergeant Edward W. Forrest Jr., 25, of St. Louis; Corporal Jason G. Pautsch, 20, of Davenport, Iowa; and Army Private First Class Bryce E. Gaultier, 22, from Cyprus, California – all lost their lives in the suicide bombing that is said to have initially targeted the Iraqi police headquarter of Mosul.

The next day one of the leaders of the terror cell that orchestrated the deadliest attack on US troops since March 10th 2008, chatted over the internet with a man living in Canada. „Did you hear about the huge incident yesterday? Is it known?“, the Canadian resident asked the Iraq-based terrorist. „Yes“, responded the member of the Iraqi terror network. „He was one of the Tunisian brothers“, explained the man in Canada whose name is Faruq Khalil Muhammad Isa (alias „Tahir Sharif Sayfildin“)

The 38 year-old resident of Canada obviously was proud of the action of the Tunisian suicide bomber. He had reason to be proud because he allegedly was the one who sent a group of Tunisian jihadis into battle in Iraq. Isa is suspected of being a member of the terror network that conducted the deadly bombing. He was arrested yesterday by Canadian authorities in Edmonton on charges filed by U.S. officials. Prior to the arrest there had been a cooperation of U.S., Canadian and Tunisian authorities to gain information about the terror suspect´s involvement with the Iraqi terror group.

In a complaint filed on January 14th by prosecutors in New York City, Faruq Khalil Muhammad Isa is charged with providing support to a Iraqi bases terror network: „The defendant is charged in connection with his support for a multinational terrorist network that conducted multiple suicide bombings in Iraq and that is responsible for the deaths of five American soldiers.“ The defendant Faruq Khalil Muhammad Isa is also suspected of being involved in another suicide bombing on March 31th 2009. That day two Tunisian militants who traveled to Iraq via Libya and Syria in October 2008 with the bomber that killed the five US soldiers in the April´09 Mosul bombing, attacked a police station and killed seven Iraqis.
„A day or two after the bombing, the brother of one of the bombers received an anonymous phone call in which the caller repeated three times that the bomber had “been martyred two days ago in combat with the Americans in Mosul“, the U.S. complaint of the Department of Justice reads.

Canadian Faruq Khalil Muhammad Isa allegedly recruited eight Tunisians via the internet and organized the two groups´ travels to Iraq where they joined al-Qaida in Iraq. In March 2009 he tried to recruit a second group of Tunisian jihadis according to the complaint. „Try to delete everything…off your computer.Don’t leave one character of information or anything behind…Don’t leave any trace…Do not forget to keep reading Qur’an and repeat the famous prayers on the way until you meet with God“, Muhammad Isa told one of the Tunisians in online communications. Upon his departure from Tunisia the militant was arrested by Tunisian authorities.

„There is no more pressing duty after the declaration of faith than fighting the enemy“, the Canadian man told his motives to another person in January 2010, „Fighting comes before the other four pillars of faith…Islam came for the good of humanity. So if someone doesn’t like good, we fight them, like those dog Americans.“ The same month Faruq Khalil Muhammad Isa talked to the leader of a Iraqi al-Qaida cell about his plans to come to Iraq and take up arms against US troops. He is „1,000,000 percent“ committed to the cause of Jihad in Iraq, Isa explained the Iraqi terrorist leader. „Even if I can’t work over there, I can work here“, he stated.

According to the complaint which includes information received by wiretapping, in November 2009 Isa told his mother his greatest wish was to die a martyr. On May 28th 2010 he told his sister living in Iraq she should carry out a „Go learn about weapons and go attack the police and Americans“, he said, „Let it be that you die.“

My Periscope Post Article

Crime As a Form of Jihad – Al-Qaida Calls for Bank-Robbery

by Florian Flade

In the latest issue of Al-Qaida in Yemen´s English-language Online magzine „Inspire“, US-Yemeni preacher Anwar al-Awlaki calls for Muslims in the West to steal the wealth of unbelievers and infidels to support Jihadi means and finance terrorism. Titled „The Ruling On Dispossessing the Disbelievers wealth in Dar al-Harb“ Awlaki´s text states Muslims in the West are not obliged to act according to the laws and rules of the Non-Muslim country they live in and respect its laws. It is theologically justified to steal the wealth of the kuffar, Awlaki argues. To do this becomes even more necessary as Jihadis worldwide lack funding and financial support.

„Dear brothers: Jihad heavily relies on money. In Quran, the physical jihad is associated with jihad with one’s wealth in eight verses. In every verse but one, jihad with wealth preceded the physical jihad“, Awlaki writes, „That is because without wealth there can be no jihad.“ The Jihadi cleric goes on by explaining: „Our enemies have realized that. Therefore they are „following the money trail“ and are trying to dry up all the sources of funding „terrorism“.“

As today´s Global Jihad largely and mainly depends on detonations of supporters, it´s financing is therefore very vulnerable. „It is about time that we take serious steps towards securing a strong financial backing for our work rather than depending on donations“, Anwar al-Awlaki´s text reads. Instead of depending on their own pockets to finance war against the infidels, Muslims should take from the infidels´pocket, Awlaki highlights. „We as Muslims should seek the wealth of the disbelievers as a form of jihad in the path of Allah“, the US citizen and wanted terrorist says: „That would necessitate that we spend the money on the cause of jihad and not on ourselves.“

The al-Qaida allied cleric argues the taking of wealth and property of Non-Muslims according to common and majority theological opinion is only allowed in countries where a war between Muslims and Non-Muslims is taking place (Dar al-Harb = „land of war“). This situation, Awlaki writes, nowadays exist in countries of the West as well, as these countries send out troops to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq, and are at war with the Muslims: „It is the consensus of our scholars that the property of the disbelievers in Dar al-Harb is halal (allowed) for the Muslims and is a legitimate target for the Mujahidin.“

„Every Muslim who lives in Dar al-Harb should avoid paying any of his wealth to the disbelievers whether it be in the form of taxes, duties, or fines“, Awlaki writes. The question if this should involve illegal activities to raise money for jihad is a rather complex issue to Anwar al-Awlaki. „For Muslims who are associated with groups that work for jihad, we recommend that the decision to involve oneself in any illegal activ-ity to acquire money from the disbelievers be taken by the Amir“, he states. Muslims without any affiliation to a group and without any leader figure shall spend all the money gained from criminal activities to support the Jihad.

„The West has been plundering our wealth for centuries“, Awlaki argues, „Now is the time for payback. Allah willing, the chickens will come home to roost.“

Anwar al-Awlaki was born in the US-State of New Mexico in 1971 but grew up and spend his teenage years in Yemen. Later he studied and worked in the US for several years. He was a preacher at two mosques visited by some 9/11 hijackers. After September 11th 2001, Awlaki fled the USA and moved to the UK. In 2004 he migrated to Yemen and is now suspected of hiding somewhere in the Shabwa region with his family.

US officials believe Awlaki has close ties to the Yemeni branch of al-Qaida and has become a spiritual leader to the organization. He himself never admitted of being a member of al-Qaida but he appeared in a al-Qaida produced propaganda tape and writes for the notorious „Inspire“ magazine that attracts mainly young Muslim men in the West.

On the internet Awlaki had his own blog spreading his message of violent Jihad has a means to defeat and conquer the West. The Fort Hood shooter Major Nidal Hasan who killed 13 American soldiers in 2009 was in contact with the US-Yemeni preacher Awlaki. Both exchanged e-mails about religious justification for suicide bombings. Awlaki also knew the Nigerian underwear bomber Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab who tried to blow up an US airliner over Detroit after being recruited and trained by al-Qaida in Yemen.

Investigations of several terror plots in Western countries have revealed Awlaki´s influence on Islamists living in Europe and North America. US authorities labeled him the most dangerous terrorist in the world and the US government has approved assassination operations against Awlaki. He is the first US citizen on a hit-list by the CIA, ordered by the President to be captured or killed.

In December 2009 Anwar al-Awlaki survived a US drone attack in Yemen and later gave an interview to a Yemeni journalist who was sentenced to 5 years in prison two days ago because of his connections to al-Qaida.