ISIS Exposed: Beheadings, Slavery, and the Hellish Reality of Radical Islam (22 page)

          
People now expect their news in 140 characters or less. They’re seeking shorter YouTube, Snapchat, or Vine videos for entertainment. ISIS seems to understand this. While al-Qaeda is launching wordy publications like
Inspire
or announcing a new terrorist franchise in the subcontinent of India via a 55-minute video, ISIS is using Instagram and Twitter to deliver shorter punches and gain maximum exposure. Not many individuals
have watched an entire Osama Bin Laden movie, but nearly everyone in the United States has seen a tweet from ISIS.

So, too, have an untold number of young Muslims across Europe. ISIS has appealed to them through everything from “selfie” tweets taken by ISIS supporters in front of Spanish landmarks (vowing to reclaim Spain for the caliphate) to tweets featuring photos of its fighters holding jars of Nutella, the hazelnut spread so popular in Europe.
Come join us,
the photos seem to beckon.

Unless we join you first.

CHAPTER SIX

LONDON FALLING: THE BATTLE FOR BRITAIN

“I BELIEVE THERE WERE MANY POSITIVE OUTCOMES FROM
9/11 . . . the legacy of that is what you see today in the Islamic state that has been established in Syria and in Iraq.”

It was September 11, 2014, the thirteenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks—and I was interviewing a man who has openly supported al Qaeda and called for sharia law to be imposed in every corner of the globe.

“I think the Muslims are defending themselves around the world,” said Anjem Choudary, leader of the radical Islamist group al-Muhajiroun, banned by the British government under the UK’s counterterrorism laws. “There is a giant that has woken up. The Sharia is being implemented. [Muslims] are getting rid of the dictators, which many of the Western regimes put in place—in Iraq, in Syria, in Libya, in Tunisia, in Egypt. And that is affecting the interests of the West. . . . Communism is dead. Capitalism is dying. Islam is the future, I believe, for mankind.”

During our talk, Choudary prefaced Osama bin Laden’s name with the honorific title, “Sheikh,” and followed his mention of the deceased al
Qaeda leader with a heartfelt, “May Allah bless him.” Coming from Choudary—whose al-Muhajiroun group once praised the 9/11 hijackers as “The Magnificent 19”—this veneration of history’s most notorious terrorist was no surprise.
¹

Over the past few years, I’ve spent hours talking with Choudary, Great Britain’s most notorious and outspoken radical Islamist. The previous two encounters, which I described in my books
The Terrorist Next Door
and
The Brotherhood
(2013), had been in person, on Choudary’s London home turf. On those occasions, he always made sure to bring along some of his followers—a somber, bearded crew who looked like they had just stepped out of an al Qaeda recruitment video.

This time, however, there would be no such jihadi ambience. We were speaking long distance via Skype—and our discussion focused not so much on 9/11 as it did another date: 6/29. That would be June 29, 2014—the day ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the establishment of a caliphate across a broad area of Syria and Iraq, in the process branding himself as “caliph,” or leader, of all Muslims worldwide.

I was eager to get Choudary’s thoughts on the Islamic State. After all, he was one of Europe’s most visible Salafists and had long pined for the return of the caliphate. I figured that Choudary’s take on ISIS would be a pretty good indicator of what the rest of Europe’s ever-growing radical Salafist community felt about al-Baghdadi and his minions. As expected, “Great Britain’s Most Hated Man” gave the new caliphate his enthusiastic endorsement.

“There are two types of people in the world today,” said the long-bearded Choudary, clad in a skullcap and grinning confidently as the black flag of Islam loomed over his shoulder as a backdrop. “Those who believe in man-made law, the head of which is Barack Obama, and those who believe in [sharia] law, the head of which at the current time is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. And I believe these will fight each other economically, politically, militarily, ideologically . . . there is a war taking place, Erick.”

To hear Choudary declare outright that the Islamic State and its ilk are at war with the West was striking. As we’ve seen in previous chapters, President Obama and his team can’t seem to decide whether America is at war with ISIS or not—Secretary of State John Kerry, in particular, has mumbled and bumbled his way through many an awkward press conference and media interview when pressed on that very question. Perhaps it’s all just an “Overseas Contingency Operation” against “Man-Caused Disasters”—to quote some of the administration’s own cringe-worthy jargon regarding Islamic terror. The Obama administration has treated Islamic terrorists as common criminals, trying them in civilian courts rather than in military tribunals, always with an eye toward shutting down Guantanamo Bay prison. This does not exactly scream “war footing.”

But according to our jihadist enemies, a war it most certainly is—whether we choose to fight it or not.

“I think it’s fascinating that you acknowledge this is a war,” I said to Choudary. “Because some Western leaders say, ‘Look, this is all just a criminal action. . . .’”

“There is a war taking place,” he reiterated. “I was just reading . . . that there are up to one thousand people who are joining the Islamic State’s army every single day. And these people look down the barrel of a gun and they see paradise. They love to die, the way that you and others love to live. You cannot defeat people like that.”

Actually, history has shown that you can—but it takes strong leadership, an unwavering commitment to victory, and an acknowledgment that a nation is facing an existential, fanatical enemy bent on its destruction. Unfortunately for the United States, the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue does not fit the bill.

“I believe this [ISIS] army will grow much stronger,” Choudary continued. “Because the regimes in Muslim countries are so weak. They are so unjust, they are implementing so much oppression, that I think [the caliphate] will spread very, very quickly. The Muslim world will be united
very quickly. And then I think you will have a superpower unparalleled in the world. After that, I believe it will be easy to annex many other countries like China, and Russia, and even America one day.”

“This is a long term vision?” I asked.

“Well, I think it’s a short term vision, actually,” replied Choudary. “I think these things will happen rapidly. Regime change is something that has become quite an easy phenomenon for those people under the Islamic State nowadays.”
²

There was a time not too long ago that the British media and political establishments heard Choudary’s big claims and predictions and regarded him as little more than an annoying rabble-rouser. Sure, he and his supporters would hold fiery rallies around the country calling for the establishment of sharia law and harassing troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Plus, Choudary would pop up on various talk shows praising acts of terrorism and slamming the British government for its supposed oppression of Muslims. But he was just a fringe, extremist loon with a tiny, inconsequential following—or so “enlightened” British elite thinking went.

Then reports started to trickle in of several of Choudary’s followers being arrested for plotting attacks against the British homeland, or of traveling abroad to fight alongside the likes of the Taliban. As one British terrorism expert told me, Choudary’s teachings take his disciples right up to the edge of violence—from that point, it’s just a hop, skip, and a suicide belt away from jihad, if they so choose.

There was white convert Richard Dart, radicalized by Choudary and later convicted for planning to bomb the British military repatriation town of Royal Wootton Bassett.
³
Then there was Afsor Ali, former spokesman for another banned Choudary-led group, Muslims Against Crusades, sentenced to jail in August 2014 for possessing terrorist materials.
⁴
And of course, as we have already seen in
chapter five
, there was former Choudary follower Michael Adebolajo, who, along with an accomplice, nearly beheaded British soldier Lee Rigby in a horrifying terror killing on a London street in May 2013. The list goes on.

According to Breitbart London, Choudary’s banned al-Muhajiroun group “has been linked to nearly one in five individuals convicted of terrorism offences in Britain over the last decade.”
⁵
Likewise, the UK non-profit HOPE not hate—a leftist organization that is openly hostile to conservatives and opponents of Islamism—nevertheless issued an eye-opening report stating that at least seventy people who have been convicted of terrorism or terrorist-related offenses in the UK, or who had died overseas, have been linked to Choudary’s al-Muhajiroun network: “Anjem Choudary’s group now leads a network of hardline Islamist organisations across Europe. These include groups in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Denmark and Italy. It is also closely linked to Islamist extremist groups in Germany, Norway and Finland. Together, they represent the largest extreme Islamist network in Europe linked to domestic or overseas terrorism.”
⁶

The same report found that “al-Muhajiroun-connected groups across Europe have sent between 200–300 people to Syria, making it the largest single recruiting network in Europe” for terrorist groups like ISIS. Given that the report was published in November 2013, months before ISIS recorded its biggest successes in Fallujah, Mosul, and elsewhere, that 200–300 figure has almost certainly grown.

In short, Anjem Choudary is a very dangerous man, a virtual jihadi pied piper. At this stage, only the most stubbornly naive would dismiss him as a non-threat—indeed, as can be seen in the report quoted above, even the far-left HOPE not hate group has recognized him as a national security menace. Yet, incredibly, except for a brief stint in jail in September 2014 for allegedly supporting terrorism (he made bail and promptly blasted the British government),
⁷
Choudary continues to walk the streets of London freely, spewing hatred and stirring up his followers—and collecting welfare benefits to boot. You read that right. Choudary is one of a number of radical Islamists who receive benefits from the very British government they openly mock and despise.
⁸
He likewise encourages his followers to avoid work and collect welfare, saying in one lecture, “the normal situation
is for you to take money from the kuffar [non-Muslims]. So we take Jihad Seeker’s Allowance. You need to get support.”
⁹
The British government seems all too happy to oblige—allowing Choudary to avoid the distraction of a 9-to-5 job as he devotes his time and energy to talking up the fledgling Islamic State.

In August 2014, a loud group of pro-ISIS demonstrators handed out leaflets in London’s busy Oxford Street tourist district extolling the new Islamic State. They were holding signs saying, “Khilafah [caliphate] the Dawn of a New Era” and one of the leaflets read:

          
After many attempts and great sacrifices from the Ummah of Islam throughout the world, the Muslims with the help of Allah have announced the re-establishment of the Khilafah and appointed an Imam as Khaleef [Caliph].

                
As Muslims around the world we all have many great responsibilities towards the success and spread of the Khilafah across the world.

          
1.
  
Pledge
our [Allegiance] to the Khaleef [Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi].

          
2.
  
Obey
the Khaleef according to the Shariah.

          
3.
  
Advise
the Khaleef if he does anything wrong.

          
4.
  
Dua
[Prayer]—Make dua to Allah to help and guide the Khaleef.

          
5.
  
Migrate
—Those that can migrate and resettle should migrate.

          
6.
  
Educate
Muslims and non-Muslims about the Khilafah.

          
7.
  
Expose
any lies and fabrications made against the Islamic state.
¹⁰

A few days after the demonstration, Choudary admitted that the pro-ISIS agitators were his students, telling a radio interviewer, “Yes . . . I’ve
known them for several years. They’ve attended many demonstrations . . . many lectures of mine. Very good chaps.”
¹¹

Ah, very good chaps. Fish, chips, Khilafahs. All very English, you see.

Choudary—born in England to parents of Pakistani descent—is undeniably charismatic. A former solicitor, he’s a witty fast-talker steeped in the intricacies of radical Salafist ideology. His Twitter feed, which he updates regularly, is one way he reaches his network of followers. The tweets, as reported by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) are vintage Choudary: “They include calls for jihad; calls for shari’a law to replace democracy, including stoning to death and cutting off criminals’ hands; for the conquest of the West; for non-Muslims to pay the
jizya
tax to Muslim rulers; support for terrorist attacks inside the U.S. and U.K.; he expresses his delight in manifestations of Allah’s wrath against the West, such as ‘tornados, floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes,’ and calls for Western leaders, including President Obama and Prime Minister Cameron, to convert to Islam.”
¹²