By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 13 December 2017

The founder of what is now the Islamic State, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, gave a speech on 30 April 2004, entitled, “Blowing up the Intelligence Headquarters: A Response to the Lies of Jordanian Intelligence”.

The speech was a response to Jordan’s announcement four days earlier, on 26 April, that the Zarqawists had been planning to set off a massive explosion in Amman that would have released a deadly cloud of toxins and killed more people than the 9/11 attacks did. The Jordanians said the targets included the U.S. Embassy, the Jordanian Prime Minister’s office, and the headquarters of the Jordanian General Intelligence Department (GID or Mukhabarat). Jordan said the plot was foiled by a raid on the night of 20 April, which killed four jihadists and arrested three, including Azmi al-Jayousi, the ringleader and Zarqawi loyalist, who testified on State television—after the ministrations of the GID—that his cell planned to use explosives and “poisons”.

Jordan’s government said “the attack would have mixed a combination of 71 lethal chemicals, which they said has never been done before, including blistering agents to cause third-degree burns, nerve gas, and choking agents. A Jordanian government scientist said the plot had been carefully worked out, with just the right amount of explosives to spread the deadly cloud without diminishing the effects of the chemicals. The blast would not burn up the poisonous chemicals but instead produce a toxic cloud, the scientist said, possibly spreading for a mile, maybe more. The Jordanian intelligence buildings are within a mile of a large medical center, a shopping mall and a residential area. ‘And there is no one combination of antidote to treat nerve agent, choking agent and blistering agent,’ the scientist said.”

Zarqawi, a Jordanian by birth, denied that any chemical weapons were involved—he said his organisation would use them against Israel if it had them—but admitted Al-Jayousi was one of his operatives and that there had been a plot to demolish the headquarters of the GID, giving a litany of justifications for that, foremost among them that the Jordanians had helped the U.S. in Iraq.

It has to be said that the Jordanian claims about chemical weapons were considered murky by the U.S.: “U.S. intelligence officials expressed caution about whether the chemicals captured by Jordanian authorities were intended to create a ‘toxic cloud’ … but they said the large quantities involved were at a minimum intended to create ‘massive explosions’. Officials said there is debate within the CIA and other U.S. agencies over whether the plotters were planning to kill innocent people using toxic chemicals. At issue is the presence of a large quantity of sulfuric acid among the tons of chemicals seized by Jordanian authorities. Sulfuric acid can be used as a blister agent, but it more commonly can increase the size of conventional explosions, according to U.S. officials.” There is little clarity on this more than a decade later.

An English version of Zarqawi’s speech is given below, drawn from a transcript in an anthology, ‘The Complete Archive of the Sermons and Speeches of the Shaykh Honoured By His Deen, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’ (pp. 92-5), put out by IS shortly after Zarqawi was killed in June 2006.

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Blowing up the Intelligence Headquarters: A Response to the Lies of Jordanian Intelligence

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

From the poor slave, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, to the Islamic umma [community]:

Peace be upon you, and the mercy and blessings of God.

May God honour Islam with His victory, and humiliate shirk [idolatry, polytheism] by subduing it, dispose of the affairs [of the world] by His command, and ensnare the disbelievers step by step [to destruction] through what they hate, He who causes the days to alternate among peoples and grants the final outcome of good to the pious by His grace. May peace and blessings be upon the one who raised the banner of Islam high with his sword.

So, the clamour and noise stirred up by the Jordanian security apparatus has reached its end. It was, first of all, an uproar aimed at portraying the Jordanian people as a targeted victim, the first to be struck [by terrorism] and the first to suffer from it. A dramatic scene [was conjured] that exploits emotions, intended to show the people that the shield is firm and the sword is sharp, and that it lies in wait for those who threaten the safety of the people. It was a failed attempt to conceal the obscene face and the repulsive foundations of this apparatus, whose roots are corrupted and whose branches are regarded with hatred in the hearts of the people of Islam [that face from it] torment, displacement, killing, imprisonment, and surveillance.

It [the Jordanian secret police] is [in reality] a guard dog [kalb hirasah] for the Jews, a fang of the Jewish State [nab Dawla al-Yahud], the protector of its security—as one of its officers openly declared to one of the sons of Islam [i.e., a jihadist imprisoned in Jordan], while mocking and jeering: “Beware of even speaking of liberating Jerusalem as long as Jordanian intelligence exists.” These were words of truth from a liar, an image of reality so clear it cannot be denied, except by the blind.

And here we must pause. Jordanian intelligence lied multiple times:

• At one point, it claimed we were planning to strike the people of Islam and kill innocent residents;
• And at another time, it claimed I failed in plans to preserve al-bayda [lit. “the egg”; the core or sanctuary of Islam] and to safeguard the blood of the people of Islam.

They only said this out of loyalty to their masters—as a sign of allegiance to their allies from among the Jews and the Christians. We have never, as people of Islam, allowed a single drop of forbidden blood [dam haram] to be shed unlawfully. No, we have struck with right, sacrificing ourselves and our blood as a ransom for you. Our blood has been shed for your sake, in defence of Islam and its people.

As for the mention of imaginary numbers or a chemical bomb that would kill thousands of people—that is an outright lie. God knows well that if we possessed this kind of bomb—and we ask God to grant it to us soon—we would not hesitate for one moment to try to use it against the cities of Israel—Eilat, Tel Aviv, and others. The bombs are not made in Wadi al-Awla [the Valley of the First Ones] and available for sale in the markets, as brother Azmi al-Jayousi mentioned. May God free him from captivity. All talk about a chemical bomb or poisons is a fabrication by the Jordanian intelligence services, and that appeared clearly [when the Jordanians put the captured jihadist’s confession on television]. The marks of torture were visible on the face and hands of the brother.

[While there was no chemical plot] Yes, there was a targeted operation planned to destroy the headquarters of Jordanian intelligence—an operation to strike at the very source of the black evil [al-shar al-aswad] in our lands. And that was for the following reasons:

First: The Jordanian government has become firmly established upon kufr [disbelief], and it has openly declared war against the banner of God and His Messenger. It has suspended the implementation of the shari’a, and established lewdness and debauchery, and has exceeded all the Arab regimes in betrayal. It has become a mount for every disbelieving enemy.

Second: Jordan was, and still is, a rear supply base for provisions and equipment to the American army occupying Iraq, as was previously the case with the State of Kuwait. It has even surpassed that, qualifying to be one of the most evil lines of logistical support—an air corridor that intersects with the Kurdish planes from the north, departing from Jordanian bases such as al-Safawi, Marka, and Azraq.

Third: Jordanian intelligence caused blindness of sight and deafness of hearing, and targeted the knights of Islam in every field. Every prison of theirs is a Guantanamo for the Arabs. Whoever is apprehended by the Americans in Pakistan or Afghanistan is transferred to Jordan, and they are subjected to torture and investigation. After the torture is carried out, they are returned to their original places. There, you find brothers from the Arabian Peninsula and Yemen, Chechnya, Iraq, Egypt, and more—most of them handed over by Jordanian intelligence. Among them is the brother Abu Zubaydah, may Allah release him. He was handed over and became a database and a primary reference for every enemy of Islam to track and hunt the knights of Islam with precision.

Fourth: Iraqi witnesses testify: the largest infiltration scheme began, targeting [jihadist] institutions, under the auspices of Jordan. With diplomatic cover from the Jordanian Embassy, passports and authentication documents were issued. Thus, the Embassy became a den for MOSSAD and a centre for the agents who covet the treasures of the land. And God knows that the Jordanian Embassy remained open during the bombing of Baghdad, right up until the city’s fall—while all other Embassies and Consulates closed their doors at the beginning of the Crusader onslaught.

Fifth: Let us not forget the army here is a remnant of Jordan’s agents [umala], those who perfume the coming and going of the American soldiers who do not follow the Arab deen—may God curse them. In addition, a fleet of trucks for provisions, food, and homes, with equipment, is transported by Jordanian trucks for the American army, to assist their war against the mujahideen.

Sixth: So fear your Lord, Glorified and Exalted, and the days are turning. We are with you. The Jordanian government is experiencing traumatic events. Other nations are showing their true colours: some have taken stances, some have remained silent. What is coming is more severe, and by God’s permission, decisive.

“God is predominant over His affairs [i.e., world events], but most people know not” [Qur’an 12: 21].

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

Emir of Jamaat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad

Iraq—the Land of the Two Rivers [Bilad al-Rafidayn, or “Mesopotamia”]