Final Warning!

We've heard so many warnings from Al Qaeda that, to me, it was starting to sound like a barking dog that maybe isn't going to bite, at least like it did on 9/11.

An excellent analysis in Jamestown.org's Global Terrorism Analysis (linked by America's Truth Forum Terrorism Update) entitled Al-Qaeda's American Recruit Releases Something Entirely New by Michael Scheuer sheds some light on what may be happening. Here are some excerpts (numbers in brackets are footnotes; see original link):

The American Adam Gadahn—now known as Azzam al-Amriki (Azzam the American)—has emerged as the third most important spokesman among al-Qaeda leaders, following Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri [1]. While officially only a member of al-Qaeda's media committee, Gadahn has joined bin Laden as the only other al-Qaeda member who has devoted entire statements to directly addressing the U.S. president and American citizens. To be sure, al-Zawahiri has ridiculed the president and talked to Americans, urging conversion and warning of coming attacks, but for the most part these statements have been in the context of regional issues—such as Iraq—for which he is the group's lead spokesman. Gadahn, therefore, is at the core of al-Qaeda's most important U.S.-oriented communication projects—although this does not necessarily mean he is fully involved in military operations—and seems to serve as the speaker responsible for ensuring that there is no way Americans can misunderstand what bin Laden is talking about. Speaking in the idiom of American English, and often using contemporary slang, Gadahn is the sledge that drives home the spike of bin Laden's messages for Americans.

So this guy is the mouthpiece to make sure the message gets communicated. This is because the message is deemed important, and Al Qaeda does not want the world to say that America wasn't warned.

In this role, Gadahn's May 29 videotape entitled "Legitimate Demands" constitutes a rare and perhaps singular item in the immense corpus of al-Qaeda's statements, interviews, essays, sermons and editorials [2]. At the most basic level, it completes what appears to have been Gadahn's assignment to amplify bin Laden's effort to satisfy his post-9/11 critics by ensuring that Americans were—according to the Prophet Muhammad's guidance—offered the chance to convert to Islam and warned about coming attacks well before they occurred. Bin Laden both offered conversion and warned Americans multiple times between Spring 2002 and Summer 2006, and Gadahn focused on clarifying bin Laden's conversion offer in a lengthy September 2006 video called "An Invitation to Islam" [3]. Gadahn's words in the conversion video were shorn of most of the Quranic references common to bin Laden's rhetoric and were spoken in the American vernacular.

Again, in accordance with Islamic Law, we are being warned and being offered the chance to "submit" in a language we can understand: idiomatic American English spoken by an American.

Gadahn's bare-knuckled and supremely confident presentation sharpens and clarifies the message of warning bin Laden has repeatedly delivered to Americans; it is spoken by an American, in modern English, and is studded with contemporary slang and catch-phrases. Gadahn's words also have a note of finality about them, as if he is saying there will be no more warnings from al-Qaeda, and the choice for Americans is between surrender and domestic attack. Again, this is out of character for the rhetoric of bin Laden and al-Zawahiri, and it suggests that they ordered Gadahn to make a last-warning to Americans before al-Qaeda attacks inside the United States. The obvious unacceptability of the demands also suggests that al-Qaeda has an attack ready and that nothing short of a U.S. capitulation would deter it. In Gadahn's words, "the die has been cast" and an era has begun that will see "your end, not ours" [10].

Basically, the demands made on us are such as to ensure non-compliance. This khawarij is confidently warning us of an imminent, decisive strike.

The strike is planned to be severe. We are being warned so the world cannot blame Al Qaeda for such a terrible attack coming without notice or without a chance for the US to surrender.

What kind of an attack? Some people have suggested a hit on a US school. But, consider FBI Director Mueller's recent speech about nuclear terrorism.

Al Qaeda is warning us in preparation for the use of nuclear weapons. They're confident because the weapons are already in place in the United States -- ?

Preparations are possibly too far along for them to not use the weapons should they decide not to -- ? -- but in any case, there is probably too strong a desire for their use, and too many resources invested in the preparations.

Also keep in mind that every day that the weapons are around but have not been used is another day that they might get discovered, or that, for some reason, something might go wrong so that Al Qaeda loses them. Nuclear weapons are a big investment, moving them into place in the US is a big investment, and Al Qaeda doesn't want to lose that investment.

It's nukes -- but when and where?