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Adam Yahiye Gadahn

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Adam Yahiye Gadahn (Template:Lang-ar; born September 1, 1978) is an American-born member of the al-Qaeda organization who in recent years has become an English-language spokesman for the group. 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] Also, on October 11, 2006, Gadahn was indicted in the Southern Division of the United States District Court for the Central District of California on a treason charge by a federal grand jury in Santa Ana, California making him the first American charged with treason since 1952. [3]

Adam Yahiye Gadahn

Background

Gadahn was born Adam Gadahn, the son of musician Phil Pearlman. Phil Pearlman changed his surname to "Gadahn" and converted to Christianity before Adam's birth. Gadahn's family raised and butchered goats in accordance with halal food requirements for sale to Muslim groceries on a farm in Riverside County, California. Gadahn's Jewish grandfather, Carl Pearlman, was a prominent surgeon and on the Board of Directors of the Anti-Defamation League, but Gadahn's father converted to Christianity and changed his name to "Gadahn," derived from the name of the Biblical figure "Gideon". Adam was homeschooled until mid-1995, when at the age of 16 he moved in with his grandparents in Santa Ana, California. Gadahn converted to Islam in late 1995 at the age of 17, and shortly thereafter Gadahn posted an essay to the USC website describing his conversion, entitled "Becoming a Muslim."[1] According to his parents, Gadahn moved to Pakistan in 1998, where he married an Afghan refugee and maintained intermittent contact with his family.[2]

Summer 2004 terror alert

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. [3]

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

Appearances in Al Qaeda videos

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
File:Adam Gadahn.jpg
An image from the July 7, 2006 al-Qaeda video released on the internet
File:Adam Gadahn 20060922.png
An image from the September 2, 2006 al-Qaeda video

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.[4] After the network played excerpts of the video, Haitham Bundjaki, the mosque chairman who served as a witness during Gadahn's conversion to Islam, told law enforcement officials that he believed the man in the video was Gadahn.[5]

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 to be Gadahn. The speaker criticized U.S. foreign policy and military activity, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he suggested 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."[6]

On July 7, 2006, Gadahn appeared unmasked on an al-Qaeda tape made public on the internet.[7] On the tape he denounced the United States military presence in Iraq and the alleged killings and rapes 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 surfaced on various pro-al Qaeda websites featuring Adam Gadahn for approximately 44 minutes of the 48 minute video called "Invitation to Islam" which also featured 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 publically rejected Gadahn's invitation to convert to Islam and join al-Qaeda. [8] [9] Additionally Gadahn praises George Galloway and 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 urges American soldiers to "surrender to the truth" and "escape from the unbelieving Army" and "join the winning side".[10]

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
  1. ^ Ross, Brian and Scott, David (9 November 2004). "American Al Qaeda Unmasked?". ABC World News Tonight.
  2. ^ Gadahn, Adam Yahiye (1995). "Becoming Muslim". University of Southern California.
  3. ^ Transcript: Ashcroft, Mueller news conference, CNN.com, Wednesday, May 26, 2004 Posted: 8:19 PM EDT (0019 GMT).
  4. ^ Ross, Brian (28 October 2004). "Alleged American Al Qaeda Warns of U.S. Attacks". ABC World News Tonight
  5. ^ LaJeunesse, William et al (29 October 2004). "Officials Believe 'Azzam' Is Gadahn". Foxnews.com.
  6. ^ Ross, Brian (11 September 2005). "Alleged American Al Qaeda Warns of U.S. Attacks". ABC World News Tonight.

See also

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