Slick al Qaeda online magazine aims to train a generation of killers
This image from an FBI and Department of Homeland Security bulletin shows
the remains of a pressure cooker that the FBI says was part of one of the
bombs that exploded during the Boston Marathon. The surviving suspect has
told investigators that he and his brother were inspired by an al Qaeda
online magazine, federal officials say.
By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News
It is as slickly designed as any magazine you would find at the supermarket
checkout line, or in the seat pocket in front of you on an airplane. It even
has snappy cover headlines - teasing articles like "Make a Bomb in the
Kitchen of Your Mom."
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And now Inspire, the recruitment magazine of al Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula, probably has its next cover story: It allegedly helped inspire
the two brothers accused of bombing the Boston Marathon.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the hospitalized suspect in the marathon attack, has told
federal investigators that the brothers got information on building bombs
from Inspire, law enforcement officials told NBC News.
The magazine, which terrorism monitoring groups say was published for the
first time in 2010, exists mostly as PDFs and obscure links passed around
the Web. In the Internet era, shutting it down would be virtually
impossible, terrorism experts say.
It is published in English and targeted at Western audiences, particularly
young readers who might have inclinations toward terrorism.
"It's one thing to have Osama bin Laden speaking and subtitles, and how
interesting is that going to be to a young, radicalized individual? As
opposed to lots of graphics," said Oren Segal, director of the
Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism.
One issue, published in the summer of 2010, illustrated just how closely
Inspire copied the eye-catching design of American magazines. Articles about
jihad are advertised in the same style that Western publications use for
30-minute recipes or sex advice.
In the summer 2010 issue, headlines invited readers to check out an
"Exclusive Interview with Shaykh Abu Basir." Another advertised a piece
about "Mujahideen 101." At the bottom of the cover: "What to Expect in
Jihad."
Other articles have offered blueprints for destroying buildings and carrying
out attacks against cars, trains and malls - particularly small operations
to unnerve the enemy because "hitting him in his backyard drives him crazy."
The advice for radicals is so practical, said Bruce Riedel, director of the
Intelligence Project at the Brookings Institution, that it even offered
advice on what to wear if you go on jihad - good shoes.
"The message," Riedel said, "is you can advance jihad in your home
neighborhood. You can strike America or Canada or whatever at home and
become a hero. And here's how to do it."
NBC's Pete Williams outlines the charges against Boston Marathon bombing
suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and the types of questions authorities are asking
him now that he is able to communicate, as well as a foiled bomb plot on a
train in Canada.
The same 2010 issue included instructions on precisely how to use a kitchen
pressure cooker, explosives and shrapnel to produce a bomb - the exact
method of attack that authorities say the Tsarnaev brothers used in Boston.
On the cover, the article was teased as being written by "The AQ Chef."
Inspire was the brainchild of Samir Khan, a young blogger and Photoshop whiz
from Charlotte, N.C., who moved to Yemen in 2009 and leveraged his skills to
help al Qaeda produce a magazine that could appeal to young would-be
radicals.
He was killed in September 2011, at age 25, by an American drone strike in
Yemen that also killed Anwar al-Awlaki, a prominent radical cleric. Since
Khan's death, terrorism analysts said, the magazine has taken on a less
professional look.
Part of the magazine's appeal to its audience, the analysts said, is that it
engages its readers: It invites them to share stories of their jihad skills.
And getting published, just as it might in Time or People, imparts a certain
celebrity status.
Jose Pimentel, an Algerian immigrant sentenced to 10 years in prison for
plotting to blow up churches and synagogues in Manhattan, maintained a
website with bomb-making instructions copied from Inspire, the ADL said.
And Naser Jason Abdo, a former American soldier sentenced to life for
planning to use pressure-cooker bombs in an attack on a Texas restaurant,
was found with a copy of the Inspire "Kitchen of Your Mom" article.
"Nothing makes them feel more empowered than having their materials
published," Segal said. "Frankly, that's just really good marketing. Fortune
500 companies are trying to engage their demographics this way."
Because it spreads through chat boards and email, just as a dishy story
about a Kardashian might, or a rumor about the next Apple product, the
magazine is almost certainly read by thousands of people. It is impossible
to say for sure.
"It becomes viral very fast, and people share it the way people used to pass
around baseball cards," Segal said.
The magazine's link to the Boston case is critical, terrorism analysts said.
While investigators have said Dzhokhar Tsarnaev claimed no links to terror
groups, the mention of Inspire shows that the brothers were influenced by al
Qaeda, they said.
"Inspire magazine was intended to inspire and instruct," Riedel said. "And I
think they can say it worked."
Pete Williams and Robert Windrem of NBC News contributed to this report.
Reuters and The Associated Press also contributed.
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