Adam Gadahn: Al Qaeda's American Voice

Adam Yahiye Gadahn, an American Muslim convert who joined Al Qaeda in the late 1990s, has been featured in several videos produced by the terrorist group’s media wing, Al Sahab, since 2004. His video appearances, which are mostly in English and geared toward Western audiences, demonstrate his anti-Semitic and anti-Christian views and are marked by threats against America and its allies.

The most recent video produced by Al Sahab featuring Gadahn (a.k.a. “Azzam the American”) was released on January 6, 2008, a few days before President George Bush traveled to Israel. In the video, titled “An Invitation to Reflection and Repentance,” Gadahn urged “mujahideen brothers in the Muslim Palestine” to greet President Bush with “bombs and booby-trapped vehicles.” Gadahn also said, “Muslim Palestine will remain Muslim in spite of Bush and his puppets, in spite of the racist tendencies of the Jewish occupiers, and in spite of conspiracies like the Mecca Accord and the Annapolis Cconference.”

Gadahn also urged Christian Americans to convert to Islam because their religion is “baseless and doubt-filled.” Later in the video, Gadahn tore his American passport into several pieces, claiming, “I don’t need it to travel anyway.” He ended his message with prayers “for the victory of Muslims over the Jews, the Americans and their allies.”

Gadahn, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Santa Ana, California, in 2006, on charges of treason and providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization “for making a series of propaganda videotapes for Al Qaeda,” according to Department of Justice. The first American in over fifty years to be charged with treason, Gadahn is believed to be hiding in Pakistan. He is on the FBI’s most wanted list.