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Adam Yahiye Gadahn

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Adam Yahiye Gadahn

Adam Yahiye Gadahn (Arabic: آدم يحيى غدن; born Adam Pearlman, September 1, 1978) is the American-born English-language spokesman for the al-Qaeda organization. He is notable for his suspected appearances as "Azzam the American" (ʿAzzām al-Amrīki, عزام الأمريكي), a spokesperson in 2004-2006 videotapes which claim to be messages from Al Qaeda to the United States. In 2004, he was added to the FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism list.[1] On October 11, 2006 he was removed from that list, and placed by the FBI on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list.[2] On the same day, Gadahn was indicted in the Southern Division of the United States District Court for the Central District of California by a federal grand jury for treason. He is the first American charged with treason since 1952.[3]

Background

File:Adam Gadahn 20060922.png
An image from the September 2, 2006 al-Qaeda video

Gadahn is the son of Jennifer and Phil Gadahn, a musician best known for the rare but critically acclaimed psychedelic album "Relatively Clean Rivers". Gadahn's Jewish paternal grandfather, Carl Pearlman, was a prominent surgeon and on the Board of Directors of the Anti-Defamation League; his paternal grandmother, Agnes Branch, was an editor for The Chronicle Christian Newspaper.[4] Before Adam's birth, his father, originally Phil Pearlman, converted to Christianity and changed his name to "Gadahn," derived from the name of the Biblical figure "Gideon". Gadahn's family raised and butchered goats in accordance with halal food requirements for sale to Muslim groceries on a farm in Winchester, in Riverside County, California. Adam was homeschooled until mid-1995, when at the age of 16 he moved in with his grandparents in Santa Ana, California. Adam was described by former friends as a "loner" as well as a "follower" who had little experience in social situtations.[5] A fan of death metal, Gadahn contributed music reviews and artwork to a zine called Xenocide. Sample excerpts include this from a review of Acts of the Unspeakable released on the Vile label:

The Bay Area quartet crank it up to a good fast grind on many of these tunes, notably `Tortured Moans of Agony,` Batter Acid Enema`, Blackness Within` and `Skullptures` ... This is an excellent release from some Death Metal pioneers!

and for an EP released by the band General Surgery:

This is basically a Swedish `supergroup` of death, featuring members of Dismember, Afflicted and Creamatory ... Lyrically, the quote on the back cover pretty much sums it up: `Murder is the only way to kill time.`[6]

At age 16, he recorded a 60-minute-long death metal symphony.[7]

In 1995 at the age of 17, Gadahn began studying Islam at the Islamic Society of Orange County. Members of Gadahn's study group were young fundamentalists who "targeted the mosque's chairman, Hitham 'Danny' Bundakji," whom they referred to as `Danny the Jew,` for his practice of "wearing Western clothes and being overly friendly with Jews." [8]

Gadahn converted to Islam later that year, and shortly thereafter posted an essay to the USC website describing his conversion, entitled "Becoming a Muslim."[9] According to his parents, Adam was arrested and convicted of assaulting his former mentor Haitham Bundakji (`Danny the Jew,`) in May 1997, he served two days in jail, but his failure to do 40 hours of community services leaves a warrant for his arrest active.[10]

Gadahn moved to Pakistan in 1998, where he married an Afghan refugee and maintained intermittent contact with his family.[11]

In Pakistan during 2003, Adam was asked by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to participate in a suicide attack in Maryland, but Adam decided against it citing "he had recently married and his wife was pregnant."[12] However, a CIA official "added, Gadahn participated in a number of “face-to-face brainstorming sessions” with Mohammed."[13]

Summer 2004 terror alert

File:Azzam Sept 2005.jpg
An image from the September 11, 2005 tape of "Azzam the American", believed by U.S. intelligence officials to be Adam Gadahn

On May 26, 2004, United States Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller announced that reports indicated that Gadahn was one of seven al-Qaeda members who were planning terrorist actions for the summer or fall of 2004. Gadahn's name was the only new name released by Mueller in this warning. Two of the other alleged terrorists named on that date were Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani and Fazul Abdullah Mohammed. Those two had been listed as FBI Most Wanted Terrorists since 2001, indicted for their roles in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings. The others, Amer El-Maati, Aafia Siddiqui, Abderraouf Jdey, and Adnan Gulshair El Shukrijumah had all been on FBI wanted lists for some time. Jdey had been on the FBI's "Seeking Information" wanted list since January 17, 2002, to which Gadahn was added with the other three as well.[14]

The attack, purportedly designed to affect the U.S. presidential election, never materialized.

Appearances in Al Qaeda videos

In late October 2004, ABC News broadcast a 75-minute videotape of a man who identified himself as "Azzam the American" threatening the United States with terrorist attacks.[15] After the network played excerpts of the video someone from one of Gadahn's mosques told law enforcement officials that he believed the man in the video was Gadahn.[16]

File:Adam Gadahn.jpg
An image from the July 7, 2006 al-Qaeda video released on the internet

In 2005, on the fourth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, an eleven minute videotape message purportedly from Al-Qaeda was broadcast on the ABC News program Good Morning America. The American English-accented speaker, a man whose face was partially concealed, was identified by U.S. intelligence officials as Gadahn. The speaker praised the "echo of explosions and the slitting of the throats of the infidels" [17]and attacked U.S. foreign policy and military activity, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan. He predicted that there would be future attacks in Los Angeles, California and Melbourne, Australia: "Yesterday, London and Madrid. Tomorrow, Los Angeles and Melbourne, God willing. At this time, don't count on us demonstrating restraint or compassion."[18]

On July 7, 2006, Gadahn appeared unmasked on an al-Qaeda tape made public on the internet.[19] On the tape he denounced the United States military presence in Iraq and alleged killings and rapes were committed by American soldiers. Gadahn's family, who had previously said that they could not tell whether or not it was Gadahn who appeared in the al-Qaeda videos, did not immediately respond to the new tape.

On September 2, 2006 a video called "Invitation to Islam" surfaced on various pro-al Qaeda websites. It featuring a lecture by Adam Gadahn for approximately 44 minutes of its 48 minutes with lesser part given to al-Qaeda theorist Ayman al-Zawahiri. In the video, Gadahn stated "If the Zionist crusader missionaries of hate and counter-Islam consultants like Daniel Pipes, Robert Spencer, Michael Scheuer, Steven Emerson, and yes, even the crusader-in-chief George W. Bush were to abandon their unbelief and repent and enter into the light of Islam and turn their swords against the enemies of God, it would be accepted of them and they would be our brothers in Islam." Both Pipes and Spencer have publicly declined to accept Gadahn's invitation to convert to Islam.[20][21] Gadahn praised British politician George Galloway and journalist Robert Fisk for expressing their "respect and admiration for Islam" and for "acknowledging that it is the truth" and for "demonstrating their sympathy for Muslims their causes", but added "I say to them, isn't it time you stopped sitting on the fence and came over to the side of truth?" Gadahn urged American soldiers to "surrender to the truth" and "escape from the unbelieving Army" and "join the winning side."[22]

On May 29th, 2007 another video "Al-Qaeda Video Warning to US by American Adam Gadahn". was released on the internet. In this video Adam Gadahn listed six actions that Bush must take in order to prevent future terrorist attacks from occurring. Additionally this video was released in a modern 16x9 format.

References

  1. ^ Seeking Information Alert for Adam Yahiye Gadahn, FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism, Internet Archive Wayback Machine, June 6, 2004
  2. ^ American Al-Qaeda Member Gadahn Charged With Treason by U.S., Bloomberg, By Robert Schmidt, Oct. 11, 2006
  3. ^ American Al Qaeda Member to Be Indicted for Treason, Fox News, October 12, 2006
  4. ^ http://www.wargs.com/other/gadahn.html
  5. ^ Khatchadourian, Raffi (2007-01-22). "Azzam The American: The making of an Al Qaeda homegrown". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2007-01-22.
  6. ^ Bernhard, Brendan, White Muslims : From LA to New York ... to Jihad?, Melville House Publishing, Hoboken, New Jersey, 2006, p.54-5
  7. ^ Khatchadourian, Raffi (2007-01-22). "Azzam The American: The making of an Al Qaeda homegrown". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2007-01-22.
  8. ^ Bernhard, Brendan, White Muslims : From LA to New York ... to Jihad?, Melville House Publishing, Hoboken, New Jersey, 2006, p.55
  9. ^ Gadahn, Adam Yahiye (1995). "Becoming Muslim". University of Southern California.
  10. ^ Khatchadourian, Raffi (2007-01-22). "Azzam The American: The making of an Al Qaeda homegrown (Page 4)". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2007-01-22.
  11. ^ Ross, Brian and Scott, David (9 November 2004). "American Al Qaeda Unmasked?". ABC World News Tonight.
  12. ^ Khatchadourian, Raffi (2007-01-22). "Azzam The American: The making of an Al Qaeda homegrown (Page 4)". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2007-01-22.
  13. ^ Khatchadourian, Raffi (2007-01-22). "Azzam The American: The making of an Al Qaeda homegrown (Page 4)". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2007-01-22.
  14. ^ Transcript: Ashcroft, Mueller news conference, CNN.com, Wednesday, May 26, 2004 Posted: 8:19 PM EDT (0019 GMT).
  15. ^ Ross, Brian (28 October 2004). "Alleged American Al Qaeda Warns of U.S. Attacks". ABC World News Tonight
  16. ^ LaJeunesse, William et al (29 October 2004). "Officials Believe 'Azzam' Is Gadahn". Foxnews.com.
  17. ^ Bernhard, Brendan White Muslims : From LA to New York ... to Jihad? Melville House Publishing, Hoboken, New Jersey, 2006, p.57
  18. ^ Ross, Brian (11 September 2005). "Alleged American Al Qaeda Warns of U.S. Attacks". ABC World News Tonight.
  19. ^ http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP120106
  20. ^ http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/661
  21. ^ http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/012974.php
  22. ^ http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3CEAF7CA-B984-4E18-A1D2-2691D4A761E9.htm

See also

Footnotes

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