aQ Iraq

Reuters, Al Qaeda tightens grip on western Iraq in bid for Islamic state "A short video of the sign was broadcast on jihadi websites last month and reflects a long-held goal of al Qaeda fighters to establish an Islamic emirate."

Jordanian Soldier Killed in Syrian Border Clash

Jordanian Soldier Killed in Syrian Border Clash - NYTimes.com, 22 Oct 2012 "Mr. Maayta said that the group had traveled to Syria and was planning to take advantage of the chaos there to obtain weapons, including dynamite, that they planned to add to existing explosives to increase their power. He said the group had taken “counsel from Al Qaeda in Iraq via the terrorist sites on the Internet,” and had posted its plans online “to enable others to be able to create the same explosives.”"

aQ in Iraq fundraising appeal

Telegraph, Al-Qaeda in Iraq looks for fundraising ideas, "Al-Qaeda militants in Iraq have made an online appeal for new fundraising ideas, saying they are in dire need of money to help thousands of widows and children of slain fighters."

aQ threats online

VOA News, Al-Qaida Threatens Christians in Egypt, Elsewhere in Middle East, 3 Nov 2010

"Al-Qaida in Iraq posted a internet statement saying "the killing sword will not be lifted" from the necks of Christians, in Iraq and across the region."

al-Qaeda in Iraq

longwarjournal.org, Al Qaeda appoints new 'war minister' for Iraq, 14 May 2010

"Al Qaeda in Iraq announced the appointment of Nasser al Din Allah Abu Suleiman as the new minister of war for its political front, the Islamic State of Iraq. Abu Suleiman's appointment was announced in a statement released on jihadist Internet forums."

Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayub al-Masri

AFP, Qaeda in Iraq confirms top commanders killed, 25 Apr 2010 "The SITE Intelligence Group late on Saturday said the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), the Qaeda front in the country, had in a statement posted on jihadist Internet forums announced for the first time the deaths of the two men.

"But the insurgents also vowed in the message that other insurgents would take their place, under plans put in place ahead of the Iraqi-US military strike that killed them in a house north of Baghdad on April 18."

Abu Omar al-Baghdadi

Asharq al-Awsat, Who was the Real Abu Omar al-Baghdadi?, 20 Apr 2010, "When Al-Baghadi was reportedly killed in May 2005, Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Abdul-Karim Khalaf, said "we have brought in people who knew him [al-Baghdadi] for 20 years, and they have identified his body." Khalaf added "we played voice recordings posted by him on the internet, and they confirmed that this is the voice of Abdul-Latif al-Jabouri." However the al-Jabouri family categorically denied that Abdul-Latif was in fact al-Baghdadi. The US also previously announced [in 2007] that al-Baghdadi was a non-existent figure that has no basis in reality."

Abu Ayyub al-Masri and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi 'killed'

alarabiya.net, Al-Qaeda's two top Iraq leaders killed in raid, 19 Apr 2010

BBC News, Senior Iraqi al-Qaeda leaders 'killed', 19 Apr 2010 "Mr Maliki said on national TV that the Iraqi al-Qaeda leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, who led an affiliate group, were dead ...

" ... "During the operation computers were seized with e-mails and messages to the two biggest terrorists, Osama bin Laden and [his deputy] Ayman al-Zawahiri," Mr Maliki added."

Fox, 2 Most Wanted Al Qaeda Leaders in Iraq Killed by U.S., Iraqi Forces, 19 Apr 2010

Islamic State of Iraq statement

LA Times, Al Qaeda-linked group claims two recent Baghdad bombings that killed 95, 26 Aug 09, "The claim of responsibility came in a statement posted on the Internet by the Islamic State of Iraq, the name now used by the Sunni Muslim Al Qaeda in Iraq organization. The group acknowledges few bombings, and those tend to be among the most spectacular."

ISI

Scott Sanford, Jihadica, The Islamic State of Iraq in Gaza?, 18 May 09 "On 15 May 2009, Falluja Forum contributor Wahj al-Rasas (Blazing Bullets) posted photos of leaflets the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) supposedly distributed recently in Gaza. The leaflets claim that the recent announcement of Abu-Omar al-Baghdadi’s capture is a fabrication, the ISI does not know the identity of the person in the alleged photos of al-Baghdadi, and al-Baghdadi is doing just fine. The leaflets were signed by the “Ministry of Information / The Islamic State of Iraq” and the “the al-Shahid Abi-Mus’ab al-Zarqawi Brigade for Jihadi Media Jerusalem.”"

Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi (+ generation gap?)

Caryle Murphy, CSM/ABC News, Jihadi Dispute Points to Deeper Radicalism Among Youths: A Leading Jihadi Theologian Is Under Fire for 'Moderating' His Views, 29 Mar 09"The attacks on Jordanian cleric Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, who was spiritual adviser for the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, are significant because of Mr. Maqdisi's longtime stature as a revered spiritual mentor who legitimizes violence with his religious interpretations of Islamic sacred texts.

"For some outside experts, the bitter verbal dispute in jihadi online forums is alarming because it heralds the emergence of an even more radicalized younger generation of violent extremists."

Significant issue - generating significant online responses.

Dysfunction and Decline: Lessons Learned from Inside al Qa'ida in Iraq

Brian Fishman, Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, Dysfunction and Decline: Lessons Learned from Inside al Qa'ida in Iraq, March 2009 "Dysfunction and Decline: Lessons Learned from Inside al-Qa`ida in Iraq is the latest in a series of CTC reports based in part on documents declassified from the Department of Defense’s Harmony Database. It is being released along with a collection of declassified Harmony documents that informed the report.

"Drawing on al-Qa`ida in Iraq’s own lessons-learned documents, Dysfunction and Decline identifies a number of structural weaknesses that contributed to AQI’s decline, including creating unrealistic expectations among foreign fighters, weak indoctrination and training mechanisms, and command and control structures that diluted command authority within the group."

Available as a pdf in English and Arabic [haven't read it fully yet]

Significant related online content also available via the Combating Terrorism Center website.

aQ Iraq

CBS, Internet Terror Monitor, Online Jihadis Not Optimistic About the Future of Jihad in Iraq, 6 Feb 09 "A heated online debate was launched today about the future of jihad in Iraq on the “Hanein” Internet forums. It started when a member using the name Shemari posted a message entitled “are the mujahideen close to laying down the arms in Iraq?” The user argued that there were a lot of inactions suggesting that jihad in Iraq is coming to an end. He mentioned the inter-fighting amongst the militants, the growing strength of the awakening councils, the army, and the police, the running out of weapons, and the Iraqi people’s rejection of the jihadi movements. “I think jihad in Iraq will be coming to an end within a year or a year and a half,” Shemari predicted."

Research

From the Jamestown Foundation: Abdul Hameed Bakier, Iraq’s Islamic Mujahideen Profiled by Jihadi Websites: Part Two, Terrorism Focus, Volume: 5 Issue: 41, December 3, 2008 "In the last issue of Terrorism Focus, we examined the profiles of three Iraqi jihadi groups based on information compiled by al-Haq, an Islamic news website and later distributed through a number of jihadi internet forums (haqnews.net August 7, 2008). This issue will cover four remaining major insurgent groups mentioned in al-Haq’s research." Also available as a PDF

aQI

AFP/khaleejtimes.com, Al-Qaeda in Iraq weakened but not vanquished: analysts "The jihadists of Al-Qaeda in Iraq are weakened but may regain influence, especially if integration of the anti-Qaeda Sahwa forces into Iraq's security structure is unsuccessful, analysts say.

"The recently-begun process of transferring supervision of the Sahwa (Awakening) groups from the United States military to the Iraqi government is the key issue, according to Mohammed al-Masri, of the University of Jordan Centre for Strategic Studies."

Abu Qaswarah

Long War Journal, US forces kill al Qaeda in Iraq's deputy commander, 15 Oct 08 "US forces struck a major blow against al Qaeda in Iraq's beleaguered network. Abu Qaswarah, al Qaeda in Iraq's second in command, was killed in the northern city of Mosul during a targeted raid ten days ago."

aQ

Strategy Page, Al Qaeda Media Massacre, 27 Aug 08 "Over the last few months, al Qaedas Internet propaganda department has been virtually destroyed. The most visible evidence of that is the sharp decline in al Qaeda press releases (often accompanied by vids of attacks on U.S. or Iraqi troops). Last year, there were as many as 200 of these items a month. Over the past few months, this fell over 90 percent."

aQI

Washington Post/startribune.com, Al-Qaida in Iraq leaders reportedly leaving for Afghanistan, 30 Jul 08 "The leader of the Sunni insurgent group Al-Qaida in Iraq and several of his top lieutenants have recently left Iraq for Afghanistan, according to its leaders and Iraqi intelligence officials. It is a possible further sign of what Iraqi and U.S. officials call growing disarray and weakness in the organization."

Islamic Front for Iraqi Resistance

Abdul Hameed Bakier, jamestown.org, Islamic Front for Iraq Resistance Brigadier Refutes al-Qaeda’s Approach to Combating U.S. Occupation, Volume 5, Issue 28 (July 29, 2008) "A jihadi forum has posted an interview with a spokesman for the Islamic Front for Iraqi Resistance (al-Jabha al-Islamiya fi’l-Moqawama al-Iraqiya - JAMI), an Iraqi Sunni jihadi group (al-Boraq, July 4). The movement has a political wing and a military wing consisting of the Salah al-Din Ayyubi and Sayfullah al-Maslul Brigades (jaami.info). In a video released last December, JAMI claimed its focus was fighting occupation troops, not terrorism or the killing of other Iraqis (al-Jazeera, December 27, 2007)."

OBL/aQ

The Nation/Yahoo! News, Flash! Bin Laden Calls Iraq "Distraction", 20 Jul 08, "Osama bin Laden, the leader-in-hiding of Al Qaeda, announced today that his organization was shifting resources from Iraq to Afghanistan.

""Iraq is not the central front in the War of Terror," he said. "It is a distraction. By sending so many troops into Iraq, we've stretched our forces thin. As a result, I am shifting at least two brigades from Mosul and Diyala province to southern and eastern Afghanistan.""