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October 18, 2006
"Myth of Delusion" Get's Noticed By American Intelligence
How Qaeda Warned Its Operatives on Using Cell Phones
By ELI LAKE - Staff Reporter of the Sun
October 18, 2006
When an aspiring Al Qaeda terrorist is buying a cell phone, it's best that he purchase the chip inside the device under a phony name or from a black market vendor that does not sell the accompanying documentation. If he has any reason to believe his phone has been tapped, he should sell it immediately to a stranger.
This is the kind of advice contained in "Myth of Delusion," a 151-page manuscript making the rounds on password-protected jihadi Web sites. The book recently caught the attention of American intelligence analysts, who estimate that it was released sometime this summer.
An English translation obtained by The New York Sun and whose authenticity was confirmed by a senior intelligence official gives an insight into what America's Islamist enemies believe they know about the CIA and the National Security Agency. It also underscores the paranoid mind at the heart of the international jihad movement, devoting paragraphs to how South Korean intelligence influences America's national security through a newspaper controlled by the Unification Church, the Washington Times.
The author of the book is a little-known terrorist named Mohammed al-Hakaymah, a member of a violent group that recently splintered off from an Egyptian Islamist organization, Gama'a al-Islamiyya, when it signed a cease-fire agreement with Cairo. Mr. Hakaymah gained some notoriety on August 5, when Osama bin Laden's Egyptian-born deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, mentioned his name in an announcement that Al Qaeda was merging with the splinter group.
An independent analyst affiliated with the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation, Chris Zambelis, said yesterday that the book is similar to a military manual published by a Syrian named Abu Musab al-Suri, which was based largely on open sources and information released by the Pentagon.
"You see this kind of thing a lot. On the radical Islamic forums, you have people put up U.S.military manuals advising followers about American military tactics. In terms of an actual manual for intelligence, though, this is the most extensive and comprehensive I have seen," Mr. Zambelis said.
The book also gives a detailed description of how the CIA recruits spies, based on information widely available in fiction and nonfiction books about espionage. But in this section, the author conflates the training of spies and officers, writing that recruited spies are trained in the West Virginia CIA facility known as the Farm, when in fact only officers receive training there.
Yesterday, the senior intelligence official summed up the book as:
"an assessment of American intelligence, a mixture of a couple of things. There is some element of training from things they gather from open sources. ... But this is also clearly propaganda."
The propaganda element appears to be aimed at certain Islamists who have rejected Al Qaeda's view that America, or what the group's leaders call "the far enemy," is too powerful and too efficient to challenge.
One of the purposes of the book is to show that America's intelligence agencies "make mistakes and are not infallible," a professor of strategic studies at Johns Hopkins University, Mary Habeck, said. The author is saying:
"We don't have to fear them like we always fear them. That is why it is called the ‘Myth of Delusion.' One of bin Laden's purposes, he says, in authorizing 9/11 was to break the media blockade, to show the invincibility of the United States as a media myth," Ms. Habeck added.
In his preface, Mr. Hakaymah writes that the book will "use the published reports, news, and research, which expose the extent of the failure of the American intelligence services inside and outside the United States."
He writes that the November 2001 killing of a CIA officer, Michael Spann, in Afghanistan represented an enormous victory for Al Qaeda because the agency had to admit his death publicly.
Wild Thing's comment......
I am glad our intelligence is on top of this. I found it interesting how desperate the Islamists are for information to turn it into propaganda for their use.
Posted by Wild Thing at October 18, 2006 02:55 AM
Comments
So it's making the rounds on "Password protected sites"? Gee.... now those codes should be tough to break.
Let's see, I think I'd start with "Death to America", then Israel, then infidels, then Bush, then the Pope, then Denmark, hmmmmmm, now that I think about it, it might take awhile.
Well, at least we can take comfort in the fact that most Islamists can't read. If it isn't on Al Jezeera they simply won't know how to think.
If the CIA was smart, they would release a book on "How to be a successful suicide bomber in two easy steps". The book should detail the building of the explosive and the detonation. But the CIA should give information that would lead these mental giants to detonate the bombs prematurely.
Maybe they could even sell them "Suicide bomb kits" on Al Jaz-ebay with innaccurate instructions.
If we put our mind to it, this war on terror thing could be fun.
Billy
Posted by: Billy at October 18, 2006 05:28 AM
Billy, hahhaa
"at least we can take comfort in the fact that most Islamists can't read."
I saw someplace where even Mooohamad could not read. hahahaahaha
Posted by: Wild Thing at October 18, 2006 09:50 AM
Luckily these zealots are too busy yelling, screaming, threatening, chanting and pontificating to spend much time thinking well.
I worry more about Westerners who think we can reason with these irrational bastards. Our intelligence is probably working full time to keep up with the various groups and splinter groups of islamic terrorists. I think it would help lighten the load of intel work immensly if we would stop letting moslems into the country.
Posted by: TomR at October 18, 2006 12:48 PM
I agree with Tom. Too many of the Kumbay-ya ya's think we can make nice and hold hands and chant our way to peace with these crazy nut jobs.
They don't understand, these "people" and I use that word losely, are indoctrinated from birth to hate us.
Visit www.teachkidspeace.org, to witness first hand what they teach their children.
Posted by: JennoftheJungle at October 18, 2006 03:28 PM
I agree Tom I will never understand why we keep letting them in. I could care less if they are wanting to come in as students or anything the answer shoud be no way.
Posted by: Wild Thing at October 18, 2006 06:13 PM
JennoftheJungle thank you so much for the link.
Posted by: Wild Thing at October 18, 2006 06:14 PM
I like the idea of the how-to book, Billy. It woldn't have to have words - just pictures, like all those instruction sheets that come in "build your own desk" kits.
I'm so over this bending over backwards to be nicey nice with those who would just as soon slit my throat. I keep praying that certain others will too. C'mon, Condi! WTH!
Posted by: yankeemom at October 19, 2006 12:26 AM
Yankeemom, I know just how you feel. I held off till this latest quote of hers to say anything.
Great comment Yankeemom, thank you!!
Posted by: Wild Thing at October 19, 2006 07:44 PM
