The Obama Administration’s plans to neutralize the AQAP, with the co-operation of the Yemeni security authorities, took shape after reports emerged in November, 2009, that Major Nidal Malik Hasan of the US Army, who shot down a number of US soldiers in a military camp in Fort Hood in Texas, was in touch with Awlaki in Yemen through E-mail.
The US authorities did not categorise the massacre of fellow soldiers by Major Hasan as an act of terrorism, but Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and others cited the connection between Hasan and Al-Awlaki as proof that the Fort Hood shooting was a terrorist attack. Their suspicions were strengthened by Al-Awlaki’s open approval of the act of Major Hasan.
Major Nidal Malik Hasan of the US Army, who shot down a number of US soldiers in a military camp in Fort Hood in Texas, was in touch with Awlaki in Yemen through E-mail.
Al Jazeera quoted al-Awlaki as saying in an interview: “My support to the operation was because the operation that brother Nidal carried out was a courageous one, and I endeavoured to explain my position regarding what happened because many Islamic organizations and preachers in the West condemned the operation.” While approving post-facto Major Hasan’s action, Awlaki refrained from saying anything which might have created a suspicion that he had prior knowledge of what the Major intended doing.
While continuing to treat Major Hasan’s act as not amounting to terrorism, the Obama Administration decided to act against the camps of the AQAP in Yemen. There were two major air raids in December 2009-supposedly by Yemeni planes, but actually by US aircraft- which reportedly killed 30 members of the AQAP, but none of them was a high-value target. During the same month, the AQAP made an unsuccessful attempt to blow up a plane going to Detroit from Amsterdam through a Nigerian student allegedly motivated by Awlaki.
While the main wing of Al Qaeda based in Pakistan’s tribal areas continued to draw its recruits, volunteers and supporters from the Arabic-speaking residents of West Asia and North Africa, with little command of the English language, the AQAP, after Awlaki joined it, started drawing its adherents not only from the Arabic-speaking population of the region, but also from the community of Muslims in the English-speaking world who felt more comfortable with English than with Arabic.
While continuing to treat Major Hasans act as not amounting to terrorism, the Obama Administration decided to act against the camps of the AQAP in Yemen.
It started an English web journal called “Inspire”, which was directed to the Muslims of the English-speaking world. It served the dual purpose of acting as the propaganda journal of the AQAP and on line training facility for enabling self-radicalised jihadis in the English-speaking world to acquire expertise in the use of weapons and explosives and techniques of waging a jihad without having to visit the training camps of the AQAP in Yemen.
The difficulties faced by self-radicalised Muslims of the English-speaking world due to their poor command of the Arabic language were sought to be removed through ideological and technical manuals and instructions in the English language.
The idea of propaganda, ideological indoctrination, motivation and self-acquired expertise through the medium of the English language was inspired by al- Awlaki, who felt as comfortable with the English language as he was with Arabic unlike Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and other Al Qaeda leaders based in Pakistan and Yemen who felt more comfortable with Arabic than with English. Their poor command of English came in the way of their direct communication with their followers in the English-speaking world.
The idea of propaganda, ideological indoctrination, motivation and self-acquired expertise through the medium of the English language was inspired by al- Awlaki
Under the guidance of Awlaki, the AQAP sought to capitalize on the interest of self-radicalised elements in the English-speaking world to take to jihad. After its failed attempt in October last year to smuggle explosive devices concealed in printer cartridges into the US, “Inspire” wrote that it had adopted a “strategy of a thousand cuts.” It explained this strategy in the following words: “To bring down America we do not need to strike big. In such an environment of security phobia that is sweeping America, it is more feasible to stage smaller attacks that involve less players and less time to launch and thus we may circumvent the security barriers America worked so hard to erect.”
The strategy of a thousand cuts adopted by the AQAP against the US was reminiscent of a similar strategy used by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) against India. The objectives of the ISI’s strategy were to discredit the Indian security agencies in the eyes of the Indian public, cause demoralisation, damage the Indian economy and drive a wedge between the Muslims and the non-Muslims in India.
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