By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 24 August 2022
Tag Archives: Saddam Hussein
The ‘Strategic Plan’ of the Islamic State
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 16 August 2022
United Nations Report Finds Al-Qaeda and Islamic State Reduced, But Reviving
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 30 July 2022
The Challenge for Western Intelligence in Talibanized Afghanistan
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 18 June 2022
Islamic State Appoints a New Leader and Spokesman
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 15 March 2022
Another Islamic State “Caliph” Falls
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 3 February 2022
Islamic State Profiles the Godfather of its Media Department
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 8 May 2021
The 285th edition of Al-Naba, the weekly newsletter of the Islamic State (IS), released on 6 May, had a biography of Abu Muhammad al-Furqan, one of the most important IS leaders, the head of its Central Media Department and its operational ruler when he was killed in September 2016. Continue reading
The First “Interview” with the Islamic State’s War Minister (2008)
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 3 April 2021
The Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) released a forty-five-minute media product, “The First Audio Interview with Shaykh Abu Hamza al-Muhajir”, on 24 October 2008. A translated transcript of the interview is reproduced below, with some interesting and important sections highlighted in bold.
Inducement and Terror: How the Islamic State Deals With Sunni Social Leaders
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 14 March 2021
Abdul Munim al-Badawi (Abu Hamza al-Muhajir), the then-leader of Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia (AQM), released his fourth audio statement on 28 September 2006. The speech was entitled, “Come to a Just Word” (تعالوا إلى كلمة سواء); an English transcript was released by the jihadists and is reproduced below. Continue reading
The First Cabinet of the Islamic State
By Kyle Orton (@KyleWOrton) on 5 March 2021
On 19 April 2007, seven months after the Islamic State (IS) movement declared its “State”, the official spokesman, Muharib al-Jaburi, announced the first “cabinet” for this “state”, appointing leaders for various “ministries”. Unusually for IS in this era, the speech was delivered as a video address—albeit (as can be seen) with Muharib’s face blurred out—rather than as an audio address. The reason for this was clearly to push back against the criticism of the IS movement that its leader could not be the “caliph” of all the Muslims, which at this stage IS was not overtly claiming, while being faceless and nameless, known only by his kunya.