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October 11, 2006

US: Islamist Convert On Treason Charges

Adam Gadahn (pictured) was was born in the US on September 1, 1978, to a Jewish father and Catholic mother. He was a shy teenager, who spent all of his growing years on his parents' goat farm in Winchester, California. His first place of Muslim worship was in Orange County, California which he came to in 1995, aged 17. He did not come to Islam by means of an individual converting him directly - he had come to the ideology through a bookish process of reading and research. A loner, he became involved with the Islamic Society of Orange County, where he made himself known under the identity of "Yahya."

Nancy Pearlman, his aunt, said: "Adam was a very typical teenager. There's no story about his upbringing."

He made his vows, adopting the faith, but soon began to associate with rebel members who prayed at the mosque but frequently argued with its leadership. After a while he was banned from the mosque, after slapping the imam, Haitham Bundakji. Soon after that, Gadahn went to Pakistan, and soon he was a fully fledged Al Qaeda member.

By the time his first Al Qaeda video appeared in 2004, warning that US streets would "run with blood", he was using a multiplicity of aliases, including Abu Suhayb Al-Amriki, Abu Suhayb, Yihya Majadin Adams, Adam Pearlman, Yayah and Azzam al-Amriki. His first appearance on an Al Qaeda video was not open-faced. His features were wrapped up in a keffiyeh scarf.

By that time he was already working for Al Qaeda's video production and propaganda unit, the Global Islamic Media Front (al-Jabhah al-'ilamiyah al-islamiyah al-'alamiyah). Adam Gadahn is now believed to run the video unit for al Qaeda, and when he appears on videos, his face is exposed. He sports a large mullah beard now, but his American accent is distinctive. He appears to be able to speak fluent Arabic now.

He appeared on the video of the 7/7 suicide bomber, Shehzad Tanweer, which was released on the eve of the London bombings' first anniversary. Gadahn appeared again in an Al Qaeda video on September 2, which was posted to an Islamist website. Here he urged Westerners, particularly Americans, to submit to Islam, and to oust their rulers.

He said: "Muslims don't need democracy to rid themselves of their home grown despots and tyrants. What they do need is their Islamic faith, the sprit of jihad and the lifting of foreign troops and interference from their necks."

"To Americans and the rest of Christendom we say, either repent misguided ways and enter into the light of truth or keep your poison to yourself, but whatever you do don't attempt to spread you misery and misguidance to our lands."

But now, he is appearing again in the news as he has become the first US citizen in 50 years, to become charged with treason. The news is carried by Reuters via WPMI.com and the New Zealand Herald, and Associated Press via Chron.com and USA Today.

28-year old Gadahn is named in an indictment handed up by a grand jury in Orange County, California. The indictment states that Gadahn "knowingly adhered to an enemy of the United States, namely, al-Qaeda, and gave al-Qaeda aid and comfort.... with intent to betray the United States."

Since he first appeared wrapped up in a keffiyeh scarf threatening the United States in an al-Qaeda video, Gadahn has been wanted by the FBI. Now, following the indictment, he has been added to its list of most wanted terrorists, and a $1 million reward has been raised as a reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction.

He last spoke to his mother in March, 2001, by phone. He said then that he was in Pakistan, and hat his wife was expecting a baby. He is still believed to be in Pakistan, hiding out in the borderlands of North-West Frontier Province, which are controlled by Taliban and have been home to numerous al Qaeda operatives.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at October 11, 2006 10:20 PM

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