Historical reading on Somalia and Tajikistan from the militant perspective
Since Somalia and Tajikistan seem to be hot topics of conversation I thought I might point out some useful historical reading in the CTC harmony database at Westpoint.
They are well worth reading, for no other reason than they show an awareness of the complexities and dynamics of Somalia and Central Asia that is all too often lacking in western media reporting. These are all old documents, ie 93-98 time frame for the most part.
Two in particular I think are useful reads are The Five Letters to the African Corps, reportedly between Saif al Adel and Abu Walid al Masri, and Abu Musab al Suri’s The Muslims in Central Asia and the Upcoming Battle of Islam. Links are here and here.
The Five Letters cover off on Somalia and Tajikistan.
Abu Musab al Suri’s report was written for Mullah Omar, and actually formed the basis for his recommendation for the IMU to take charge of the foreigners brigade in Kabul (so al Suri says).
I’m a bit of a fan of always looking backward before trying to see forward and I think there is a lot of value in periodically re-visiting these writings.
For example the reports back and forth about Somalia reveal that the historical links are with people now in Hizb Al-Islam and not in Harakat al-Shabaab. This is worth bearing in mind, especially since al Qaeda has yet to recognise Shabab’s announcement of allegiance and Hizb and Shabaab continue their own internal skirmishes.
There is also a heap of other stuff on Somalia, which you can read about by skimming through the document list, which can be found here.
“Abu Musab al Suri’s report was written for Mullah Omar, and actually formed the basis for his recommendation for the IMU to take charge of the foreigners brigade in Kabul (so al Suri says).”
Interesting coincidence on a foreign fighter brigade in Afghanistan considering your 55th Arab Brigade questions.
The esteemed Syrian theologian’s recommendations may have been put into practice. The Central Asia bit begins on page 30 of the word document.
http://www.terrorfinance.org/the_terror_finance_blog/files/Darko_Trifunovic_-Origins_of_terrorism_in_Bosnia_-_New_writings.doc
“Juma Namangani was nominated as head of LIVO. Besides being the head man, LIVO had also a supreme council in its structure, whose members were: Mula Muhamed Omar (Taliban’s – Afghanistan), Osama bin Laden, Takhir Juldešef (another IMU leader), Hasan Ujgur (one of the master leaders of separatists from Xinjiang) [aka Hassan Makhsum the leader of Hizb-e Islami al Turkestani al Sharqi] and two Taliban commandants known by the names Ubajdolo and Ajmani.”
Thanks Adam. I have seen this, and the stuff below. None of it is primary data. Unlike what I have found. So while I find it interesting, fact wise, there’s a good deal of myth thrown in. Trust me. It was NOT called the 055 Brigade. Whoever the hell Abu Anas was, who commented earlier, *really* knew his stuff on this. Re: the GITMO docs. You have to be careful because a lot of the stuff there is drawn from OS sources and other hearsay. Hence myths like these do the rounds. There’s some crackers in there. Mixing up of camp names, locations, places, people, roles. So it has to be carefully cross checked.
I agree that it wasn’t called the 55th Arab Brigade (as said in a previous comment “the group’s name is nonsense”) but, until I can find open source references to the bits in my head, vague is the best I can do.
I tend to focus more on leadership of a group rather than the group’s name. Names are too easily mangled by a Pashtu trying to pronounce the Arabic for a name that is then heard by a translator/linguist with a head cold who transliterates it into English. Suddenly there’s reporting on a new and dangerous group named Harakat al-Islami.
The leadership nexus of Abd al Hadi al Iraqi, Juma Namangani, Abu Muhammed al Turkestani and the not-identified-in-that-article Taliban leadership was spot on.
The concept of the foreign fighter division in Afghanistan is sound, but the Arab brigade was only a part of the larger group and, based on my research, the lesser of the parts.
I’m interested to see where your research leads you.
Agree very much about the Arab brigade. We’re tracking on similar research – it was by far the smallest contingent. Abu Walid has explained it more to me. All very fascinating.
Love the the synopsis of translation issues.