The Useful Pawns of Terrorism Part 2

Above, a photo of the allegedly reclusive, camera shy Hamza bin Laden.

In the Netflix original movie entitled "The War Machine" Brad Pitt plays General Glen McMahon who commands ISAF force in Afghanistan. By the way, Brad Pitt performs brilliantly as an actor and your Watchman believes General Glen McMahon is actually General McCrystal.  McCrystal is a fellow, retired Army officer that your Watchman met and talked to after he was cashiered for allowing Rolling Stone to interview him and disparage Obama. 

At any rate in the movie General McMahon addresses an European audience and makes the comment, if you have 10 insurgents and kill 2, how many insurgents are left? Well, most everyone would answer 8 but that is the wrong answer says General McMahon. You actually have 20 now because every family member and friend of the 2 dead insurgents will now join the insurgency and fight you.

This is our cunundrum and I think General McMahon makes an excellent point and explains why we, the U.S. and the West, have not been able to defeat Muslim terrorists in the "long war" or the Global War on Terror (GWOT). 


As a friend of mine told me, these Muslim terrorists are like cock roaches, they are every where and if you kill 2 and 4 more appear. The U.S. and the West are clearly losing the birth race with the Muslims. Where the average Westerner has 2 children or less, the Muslims have 7 or more children. In fact, this is how they plan to conquer the world. 

Be clear here, I am not equating Muslim human beings to cock roaches, that is not my point. Muslims are human beings who when they discover true Islam become fanatics. However, I find when Muslims discover Yeshua they become powerful Christian believers. Friends, this is our hope and prayers that Muslims find Yeshua.


Hamza Bin Laden “resurfaced” in an audio message 13 May 2017. The recording was provided by the SITE Intelligence Group, a contractor financed by the US government that specializes in discovering beheading videos.

The group consists of Rita Katz and two “senior advisers,” one of whom is Bruce Hoffman, the Corporate Chair in Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency at the RAND Corporation and former director of the RAND’s Washington DC office. In 2005, Blackwater hailed SITE as “an invaluable resource and I would concur.”

The supposed audio recording by the 24 or 25 year old Hamza, again pictured above, arrived a day before one issued by Ayman al-Zawahiri, who assumed the leadership of al-Qaeda after Osama bin Laden (UBL) was allegedly killed by US special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan on May 2, 2011. Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, your Watchman and several others have cast serious doubt on the validity of the assassination of Bin Laden story. Multiple sources indicate UBL died of long term illnesses in Afghanistan in 2001, shortly after the US invaded the country. Sources have indicated UBL required dialysis. 

As an aside, a CIA agent visited a seriously ill UBL in a hospital in one of the Persian Gulf states prior to 9-11 and UBL's undercover CIA nom de guerre was Tim Osman.  

Part 2 of my "Pawns of Terrorism" articles confirms the Watchman statement earlier that Hamza bin Laden and other senior al Qaeda members found refuge in Shia Iran. The Iranians were wary of the Sunni terrorists though, and placed all the al Qaeda under house arrest and close surveillance. Why, because the Sunnis consider Shia Muslims heretics who must be killed. Hence the wariness of the Shia Iranians.

Back to the May 8-12 message. The al-Zawahiri message praises the work of Jabhat al-Nusra The group is also called al-Nusra Front (Arabic: جبهة النصرة لأهل الشام‎ renamed Jabhat al-Nusra li-Ahl al-Sham in July 2016, meaning: "The Support Front for the People of the Levant [Greater Syria]") and bears the flag shown above. Sham means Syria in Arabic.

Al-Nusra is an al-Qaeda spin-off (further confirmation of what your Watchman told the general in 2007-08) supposedly organized in part by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian who was killed in Iraq by a joint Jordanian and U.S. task force on 8 June 2006. Zarqawi was al Qaeda's "main man" in Iraq and was an Emir in the organization in charge of al Qaeda in Iraq. We, the U.S., attempted to exploit Zarqawi with a Pentagon PSYOP in Iraq from approximately 2003 until his death in 2006, during our war against the Iraqi resistance to US occupation of the country.

SITE says both Hamza, pictured above, and al-Zawahiri have called for unity among the warring Wahhabi groups in Syria. Prior to the message, al-Qaeda and the Islamic State were allegedly portrayed as bitter enemies.

Hamza Bin Laden’s message, according to SITE, focuses on Israel. 

The US and Saudi supported jihadist effort to topple Bashar al-Assad is described as a “blessed Syrian revolution” by Bin Laden, supposedly makes “liberating” Jerusalem more likely.

“The Islamic umma (nation) should focus on jihad in al-Sham (Syria)… and unite the ranks of mujahedeen,” he said. “There is no longer an excuse for those who insist on division and disputes now that the whole world has mobilized against Muslims.”

Israel insists it is threatened by al-Qaeda and its affiliates in Syria and to the South in the Sinai. However, it was discovered that the Jewish state cooperates with al-Qaeda and ISIS. Your Watchman believes the U.S., Israel and Jordan help finance, train and equip Jabhat al-Nusra.

“Israel appears to be de facto allied with the Support Front in the Golan Heights against Lebanon’s Shiite Hizboallah and against the Baath regime of Bashar al-Assad. Israel has been bringing wounded al-Qaeda/al-Nusra terrorists over to Israeli hospitals for treatment, a policy that provoked a riot by Israeli Druze in the Occupied Golan (al-Qaeda has targeted Druze populations, which it considers heretics),” writes Juan Cole, citing a news article by The Wall Street Journal.

Moreover, U.S. terrorist proxies in Syria have been working directly with al-Nusra and other Wahhabi fanatics.

Elevating Hamza bin Laden is part of an effort to refurbish al-Qaeda, long described as the perennial enemy of the United States, now that ISIS and, to a lesser degree, al-Nusra have taken center stage in the highly profitable war on terror. 

As an aside Alawites are Shia Muslims and the avowed enemies of the Wahhabi Sunnis. Bashar al-Assad is an Alawite.

Moreover, the renewed emphasis on al-Qaeda and its declaration of support for the war against Bashar al-Assad inaugurates the next phase of the war in Syria to overthrow the government and allow ISIS to declare a principality in the country as outlined in declassified Pentagon documents.

The effort is particularly crucial now that Russia has stated that the war in Syria “can be described as at a turning point” leading to a possible end of the conflict. Peace talks have taken place in Astana. 

In approximately 2007 or 2008 A general in Qatar asked your Watchman in a briefing  how I viewed al Qaeda. I replied that since approximately 2011 al Qaeda had evolved into a worldwide corporation with a multitude of  subordinate companies that could operate independently. Osama bin Laden (UBL) was chairman emeritus of the corporation while Ayman Zawahiri, the Egyptian was the operational manager and the actual leader of Al Qaeda since UBL was semi-retired and ill.

Al Qaeda operates what it calls a “general command,” which consists of the organization’s senior leadership and their lieutenants, several committees, a Shura (advisory) council of the group’s most trusted advisers, as well as a supporting staff that includes, for example, couriers. We regularly see statements issued by al Qaeda’s “general command,” but few stop to ask what al Qaeda means by this. The “general command” performs various administrative functions, in addition to overseeing the organization’s international operations. For instance, al Qaeda’s amniyat is part of the group’s internal security and counterintelligence apparatus. The amniyat in northern Pakistan is notorious for hunting down suspected spies.

The “general command” of al Qaeda has designated several regions for waging jihad, and an emir is appointed to oversee the organization’s efforts in each of these regions. The emir of each region has much latitude in deciding how to organize his group’s day-to-day efforts, but an emir swears bayat, an oath of allegiance, to al Qaeda’s overall emir (currently Zawahiri). The emirs of each region report to al Qaeda’s senior leadership, including the general manager. The emir in Iraq was Zarqawi, a Jordanian.
 What many refer to as al Qaeda’s formal “affiliates” are really branches of al Qaeda that have been assigned to fight in these regions. The formal branches of al Qaeda, each designated its own region, are: al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), AQAP, the Al Nusrah Front in Syria, and Al Shabaab. All of them have sworn loyalty to Ayman al Zawahiri. In addition to these regions, al Qaeda also maintains facilitation networks in countries such as Iran.

Now for some of the specifics of Hamza's audio message. On 13 May 2017 a new voice was heard on al Qaeda web sites. The voice is that of a soft-spoken 28-year-old. It was as if the dead terrorist was channeling himself through his favorite son.

“Prepare diligently to inflict crippling losses on those who have disbelieved,” Hamza bin Laden, scion of the alleged Sept. 11, 2001, mastermind, says in a thin baritone that eerily echoes his father. “Follow in the footsteps of martyrdom-seekers before you.”

The recording, first aired May 13, is one in a string of recent pronouncements by the man who many terrorism experts regard as the crown prince of al-Qaeda’s global network. Posted just two weeks before Monday’s suicide bombing in Manchester, England, the message includes a specific call for attacks on European and North American cities to avenge the deaths of Syrian children killed in airstrikes.

The recording provides fresh evidence of ominous changes underway within the embattled organization that declared war against the West nearly two decades ago, according to U.S., European and Middle Eastern intelligence officials and terrorism experts. Decimated by U.S. military strikes and overshadowed for years by its terrorist rival, the Islamic State, al-Qaeda appears to be signaling the start of a violent new chapter in the group’s history, led by a new bin Laden — one who has vowed to seek revenge for his father’s death.

Encouraged by the Islamic State’s setbacks in Iraq and Syria, al-Qaeda is making a play for the allegiance of the Islamic State’s disaffected followers as well as legions of sympathizers around the world, analysts say. The promotion of a youthful figurehead with an iconic family name appears to be a key element in a rebranding effort that includes a shift to Islamic State-style terrorist attacks against adversaries across the Middle East, Europe and North America.

“Al-Qaeda is trying to use the moment — [with] Daesh being under attack — to offer jihadists a new alternative,” said a Middle Eastern security official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss counterterrorism assessments and using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State. “And what could be more effective than a bin Laden?”

Hamza bin Laden, pictured above, is hardly new to the Islamist militant world. His coronation as a terrorist figurehead has been underway since at least 2015, when longtime al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri introduced him in a video message as a “lion from the den” of bin Laden’s terrorist network. But in recent months, he has been promoted as a rising star on pro-al-Qaeda websites, with audio recordings from him urging followers to carry out attacks or commenting on current events. Longtime terrorism analysts say the promotion of Hamza bin Laden appears calculated to appeal to young Islamist militants who still admire Osama bin Laden but see al-Qaeda as outdated or irrelevant.

“Hamza is the most charismatic and potent individual in the next generation of jihadis simply because of his lineage and history,” said Bruce Riedel, who spent 30 years in the CIA and is now director of the Brookings Institution’s Intelligence Project. “At a time when Zawahiri and al-Baghdadi seem to be fading, Hamza is the heir apparent.” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is the elusive and reclusive ISIS leader.

But Hamza bin Laden is not advocating his father’s style of jihad. UBL was notorious for his ambitious, carefully planned terrorist operations, directed by al-Qaeda’s generals and aimed at strategic targets. His son, by contrast, urges followers to seize any opportunity to strike at Jewish interests, Americans, Europeans and pro-Western Muslims, using whatever weapon happens to be available.

“It is not necessary that it should be a military tool,” he says in the May 13 recording. “If you are able to pick a firearm, well and good; if not, the options are many.”

Strikingly, for a man who aspires to be the jihadist world’s next rock star, Hamza bin Laden insists on keeping most of his personal details hidden from public view. Even his face.

He is believed to be married, with at least two children, and he allegedly lived for a time in the tribal region of northwestern Pakistan, although his whereabouts are unknown.

His refusal to allow his image to be published may reflect a well-founded concern about his personal safety, but it complicates the militants’ task of making him a terrorist icon, said Steven Stalinsky, executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute, a Washington-based nonprofit organization that monitors Islamist militancy on social media.

“People loyal to al-Qaeda and against ISIS are looking for inspiration, and they realize that he can provide it,” Stalinsky said. “But for today’s youth, you need more than audio and an old photograph.”

What is known about Hamza bin Laden comes from his numerous recordings as well as intelligence reports and scores of documents seized during the 2011 raid by U.S. Navy SEALS on UBL’s safe house in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Included in the document trove were personal letters from Hamza to his father, as well as written instructions from the elder bin Laden to his aides on how Hamza was to be educated and provided for.

The documents reveal a special bond between Hamza bin Laden and his father that persisted despite long periods of separation. The 15th of UBL’s estimated 20 children, Hamza was the only son born to the terrorist’s third wife, and by some accounts his favorite, Khairiah Sabar, a Saudi woman whose family traces its lineage to the prophet Muhammad.

He spent his early childhood years with his parents, first in Saudi Arabia and later in Sudan and Afghanistan, where his father began to assemble the pieces of his worldwide terrorism network. A family friend who knew Hamza bin Laden as a child said he showed both promise and early flashes of ambition.

“He was a very intelligent and smart boy, very fond of horseback riding, like his father,” said the friend, a longtime associate of the al-Qaeda network, contacted through a social-media chat service. “While his parents wanted him to stay away from battlefields, he had arguments with them about it.”

Then came the 9/11 attacks, which brought the bin Ladens international notoriety and made Hamza’s father the world’s most wanted man. As U.S.-backed Afghan militias closed in on al-Qaeda’s mountain redoubt at Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan, UBL dispatched several of his wives and children to Iran, believing that the Islamic republic’s leaders could offer protection from U.S. airstrikes.

Hamza rarely, if ever, saw his father after that. He was still in Iran in his early 20s, living under house arrest, when he wrote a long missive to his father complaining about his life “behind iron bars” and expressing a longing to join his father as a mujahid, or holy warrior, in his fight against the West, according to a copy of the letter allegedly found in UBL’s safe house.

“What truly makes me sad,” he wrote in 2009, “is the mujahideen legions have marched and I have not joined them.”

Iran allowed the UBL clan to leave the country the following year, and by the time of the 2011 Navy SEAL raid, Hamza’s mother and other family members were living at the elder terrorist’s Pakistan hideout. Notably absent from the Abbottabad compound was Hamza, hmmmm. On UBL’s orders, aides had kept him in a separate hideout with the intention of sending him to Qatar to be educated, according to U.S. and Pakistani counter terrorism officials. Already, the patriarch was beginning to see his son as a future al-Qaeda leader, judging from the letters he wrote to his aides shortly before his death.

“Hamza is one of the mujahideen, and he bears their thoughts and worries,” UBL wrote in one such letter. “And at the same time, he can interact with the [Muslim] nation.”

Hamza bin Laden’s sense of personal destiny allegedly deepened with the death of his father and half brother Khalid at the hands of U.S. commandos.

By 2015, when Zawahiri introduced Hamza to the world as an al-Qaeda “lion,” the then-26-year-old already had the voice of a veteran Islamist militant, urging followers in an audio recording to inflict the “highest number of painful attacks” on Western cities, from Washington to Paris.

A year later, he delivered a more personal message intended as a tribute to his dead father. Titled “We are all Osama,” the 21-minute spoken essay included a vow for vengeance.

“If you think that the crime you perpetrated in Abbottabad has gone by with no reckoning, you are wrong,” he said. “Yours will be a harsh reckoning. We are a nation that does not rest over injustice.”

Terrorism analysts have noted several recurring themes in Hamza bin Laden’s audio postings that distinguish his Islamist militant philosophy from the views expressed by both his father and Zawahiri. One difference: Unlike Zawahiri, Hamza bin Laden has eschewed overt criticism of ISIS, perhaps to avoid antagonizing any followers of that terrorist group who might be inclined to shift to al-Qaeda.

The bin Laden family friend suggested that the omission is deliberate, part of an effort to position Hamza bin Laden as a unifying figure for Islamist militants. The associate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to comment freely, noted that Hamza bin Laden enjoys multiple advantages in this regard, as he can claim to be both a descendant of the prophet and a son of jihadist royalty.

“The calculation is that it will be very difficult for the Daesh leadership to denounce Hamza, given who he is,” the family friend said.

The other distinction is Hamza bin Laden’s persistent calls for self-directed, anonymous, lone-wolf attacks against a wide array of targets. Here, he appears to be borrowing directly from the playbook of ISIS, which has fostered a kind of Every man’s jihad that does not depend on instructions or permission from higher-ups. His Internet postings have lauded Army psychiatrist and convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, who murdered 13 people in a rampage on the base in Texas in 2009, and the two Britons of Ni­ger­ian descent who hacked British soldier Lee Rigby to death on a street outside his London barracks in 2013.

None of those assailants were known al-Qaeda members. Yet, by applauding such attacks, Hamza bin Laden appears to associate himself with a more aggressive style of terrorism that appeals to young Islamist militants, analysts and experts said. Such messages also convey an impression of a terrorist network that is far from defeated, said Bruce Hoffman, a former U.S. adviser on counter terrorism and director of Georgetown University’s Center for Security Studies.

“He brings assurance that, even though al-Qaeda has been hammered in recent years, it’s still in good hands, with a junior bin Laden, pictured below, who is ideally situated to carry on the struggle,” Hoffman said. “Since a very young age, Hamza bin Laden wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps. And from al-Qaeda’s perspective, now is the critical time for him to come of age and assume the reins of authority.”