Jihad Joe_ Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam - J. M. Berger [85]
For Gadahn, those people were worshippers at the Islamic Society of Orange County, where he formally converted to Islam. The imam at the mosque was Muzammil Siddiqui, a former employee of the Muslim World League. In 1992 Omar Abdel Rahman had visited to give a sermon promoting jihad. In the years since, the Islamic Society had moved more toward the mainstream, but there remained a group of vocal, highly visible militants who were constantly agitating to move the congregation to a stricter posture.13
The newly converted Gadahn was drawn to this group and particularly to two members: Hisham Diab and Khalil Deek, the heads of an organization called Charity Without Borders. Both men were believed to be mujahideen veterans of the Bosnia war.14
The older men drilled the impressionable teenager with religious ideology, pushing him to dress in Arab style and grow a beard. They warned him of the dangers of associating with kaffirs (infidels) and angrily condemned people at the mosque who took part in interfaith outreach. Their condemnations of the Islamic Society’s chairman inspired Gadahn to assault the man.15 In 1997 Gadahn left the United States for Pakistan, his trip paid for by Charity Without Borders. Except for a brief visit home in 1998, he was finished with America.
Deek moved to Pakistan soon after, and the two men lived in Peshawar.16 Reports on Gadahn’s early involvement with al Qaeda are sketchy. He worked for a while on low-level tasks, handling communications and translations for al Qaeda and other militant groups in the Pakistani city. At some point, he crossed over into Afghanistan and became a part of al Qaeda. For a few years, he labored in obscurity.17
Gadahn resurfaced in dramatic style in 2004, when he starred in an al Qaeda videotape. He appeared with his face covered, identified only as “Azzam the American.” In an interview with an unnamed questioner, Azzam answered a series of short questions with a series of lengthy diatribes, outlining al Qaeda’s case against the United States.
Although he delved into Islamic history and ideology, the core of his anger was reserved for his home country. Speaking in English with an affected or acquired Arabic accent, Azzam the American blasted both the United States and the Muslims who live there peacefully:
My country of origin, like many extinct, forgotten nations before it, is at war with the truth and wants to replace the genuine teachings of Islam, the genuine teachings of the religion, with a tame, nonthreatening version of Islam, made up somewhere in the greater Washington, D.C., area. My country of origin is making war on Muslims, killing and displacing thousands of them, occupying their homelands and holy places, and plundering and depleting their resources. My country of origin is spreading immorality, economic instability, environmental destruction, and many other afflictions throughout the Muslim world. Throughout the entire world, in fact.18
In 2005 Azzam’s role became clearer. On the anniversary of September 11, he appeared in a second video, threatening new attacks in the United States (specifically in Los Angeles, a threat that was never realized). A few days later, al Qaeda released a video filmed in the style of a Western news program and titled Voice of the Caliphate.19 Gadahn’s voice was clearly recognizable in the video, speaking in Arabic.
It became increasingly clear that Gadahn was not only the front man on these productions; he was involved in their production. al Qaeda’s video production unit during the 1990s had been truly professional, producing slick, polished propaganda such as The State of Ummah, a two-hour documentary featuring iconic images of al Qaeda’s training camps and a long critique of U.S. policies toward the Muslim world.20
After 9/11 the