Last year there were fears that al Qaeda might begin working with ISIS. At the time this seemed like a real and terrifying possibility. That hasn’t happened thankfully, in fact quite the reverse seems to be occurring.
Over the last few months al Qaeda have publicly denounced many of ISIS’s actions but this week they released an interview with an al Qaeda member which slams them even harder.
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With this sort of news it’s always difficult to understand what the motivations are. Are al Qaeda, who aren’t exactly nice guys, trying to change their public image? Would they like the West to go “hang on a minute, they’re saying all the right stuff, maybe al Qaeda ain’t so bad?” Possibly, perhaps they want to be seen as more grounded and slip surreptitiously into legitimate politics. Who knows what their game is?
I’m just pleased they’re telling ISIS to chill out, not that I think for one second they will listen.
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The following comes from a transcript of an interview with Adam Gadahn (pictured at the top). Gadahn was born in California but after a rather peculiar life ended up as an al Qaeda member. The interview runs on for 80 pages and the majority of it concerns itself with ISIS bashing.
Oppression of any kind is wrong, and [there] will be darkness for its perpetrator on the Day of Judgment. The Ummah’s [Muslim community’s] Jihad is not a video game; it is real life, with real consequences, in this world and the next.
Gadahn was killed in a counter-terrorism strike by the US military in January, but this interview has only recently surfaced.
My dear brothers: While no one can deny the considerable strength and prowess of the Islamic State group [ISIS] in military terms, at the same time, the crimes it has committed against Muslims cannot simply be overlooked or forgotten with time, because in Islam there is no statute of limitations… And if these wrongs are not brought to an end and rectified here in this world, then a severe punishment has been promised both for those who committed them as well as those who encouraged, condoned or justified them, even if from behind a computer or mobile phone thousands of miles away.
Gadahn also makes mention of ISIS’ murder of British humanitarian – Alan Henning who was dispatched live on camera:
[T]he brothers in An-Nusra [al Qaeda’s faction in Syria] sought the release of Henning soon after his kidnapping, but regrettably, their appeals — like the rest — fell on deaf ears. Alan Henning didn’t go to Syria as a soldier or a spy. He went to Syria as a member of a Muslim aid convoy to distribute relief supplies to displaced and needy Syrians. But rather than thank him, some interlopers rewarded him first by kidnapping him and then by slaughtering him on camera.
I don’t know what al Qaeda’s battle plan is, but we all know what ISIS’s plan is and the sooner they’re stopped the better.
