Hunting and Killing the CIA in Afghanistan

CIA Bomber Got His Start as a Jihadist Troll

Wired.com

We’re learning more about the suicide bomber who killed seven CIA officers at a base in Afghanistan last week. It appears as though the man responsible for the worst losses in CIA history served both as a double agent for Jordanian intelligence and a webmaster for a popular and now-defunct jihadist forum.

In a September 2009 interview given to a jihadist journal published by the al-Qaeda-linked al-Fajr media, Abu Dujanah al-Khurasani revealed that his path to suicide bombing started with his time as extremist Internet troll.

In the interview, flagged and translated by the tireless terrorism sleuth and NEFA Foundation Senior Investigator Evan Kohlmann, Khurasani describes himself as having militant aspiration from a young age, saying that he was “raised to love Jihad and martyrdom since my youth.”

But it was in a post to the al-Hesbah online forum where Khurasni’s claims his involvement with organized militancy began to snowball. “My native place was the proud al-Hesbah [forum], and one day I wrote an essay about the failure of Baghdad plans in comparison to al-Falluja battle, and I added evidence from reality, so one of the administrators there confirmed my subject, and that motivated me to continue participation.”

Khurasani was later nominated as a moderator at al-Hesbah and became a prominent voice in the forum. Despite his success in the forum, however, Khurasani claims that the hypocrisy of pursuing “jihad in speech” without committing to “jihad with self” began to eat away at him.

“How can I encourage people to Jihad while I’m sitting away?” he asked. How do I sell them the beautiful musk while my smell is gross? How do I become a burning wick for others to have light? Can any sane person accept that, not me. Jihad in speech is needed, and Jihad with money is needed, but neither of them can replace Jihad with self.”

Though he offers praise for the writings of fellow posters, particularly the prominent al-Hesbah veteran Louis Atiya Allah, Khurasani’s characterizes his relationship with forum members as one of eventual contempt for similar failings.

Khurasani eventually left Hesbah for Afghanistan. “Here, I was newly born … O how great [the mujahideen] are and Allah will reward them. I used to write about them and when I arrived here the pen became silent. Everyday that passes, I speak less than the day before, as I have learned from them that silence is clearer than talk. This is a group half of whom are in paradise and the other half on earth waiting.” A few months later, he blew himself up.

HERE IS OUR DEFENDER OF OUR CONSTITUTION AND CHOSEN ONE IN FIGHTING "VIOLENT EXTREMISM"