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ISIS Leader Al Baghdadi's New Message

ISIS released a new audio message by leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi today. You can read the English version here (MS Word Document) or here. It's called "March Forth Whether Light or Heavy."

It strikes me as a pep talk and foreign recruitment effort. There's remarkably little about the West. It's mostly a shout-out to fighters in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Khorasan, Indonesia, the Caucasus and Africa and a call for them to join the war. [More...]

He begins with the religious stuff, saying there's a war against Muslims.

O Muslims! Do not think the war that we are waging is the Islamic State’s war alone. Rather, it is the Muslims’ war altogether. It is the war of every Muslim in every place, and the Islamic State is merely the spearhead in this war. It is but the war of the people of faith against the people of disbelief, so march forth to your war O Muslims. March forth everywhere, for it is an obligation upon every Muslim who is accountable before Allah. And whoever stays behind or flees, Allah (the Mighty and Majestic) will be angry with him and will punish him with a painful torment.

So there is no excuse for any Muslim who is capable of performing hijrah to the Islamic State, or capable of carrying a weapon where he is, for Allah (the Blessed and Exalted) has commanded him with hijrah and jihād, and has made fighting obligatory upon him.

Baghdadi says they are not seeking recruits out of weakness.

We do not call upon you O Muslim out of weakness or inability. We call upon you out of advice for you, love for you, and compassion for you. We remind you and call you so that you do not attain Allah’s anger, torment, and punishment...

We call upon you so that you leave the life of humiliation, disgrace, degradation, subordination, loss, emptiness, and poverty, to a life of honor, respect, leadership, richness, and another matter that you love – victory from Allah and an imminent conquest.

He calls Islam "the religion of war."

Islam was never for a day the religion of peace. Islam is the religion of war.

...Your Prophet (peace be upon him).... never for a day grew tired of war.

He warns that the enemy will target Muslims everywhere and force them to convert or be killed.

[I]f the Crusaders today have begun to bother the Muslims who continue to live in the lands of the cross by monitoring them, arresting them, and questioning them, then soon they will begin to displace them and take them away either dead, imprisoned, or homeless. They will not leave anyone amongst them except one who apostatizes from his religion and follows theirs. And you will remember what I now say to you, and I entrust my affair to Allah.

... O Muslims, the Jews, the Christians, and the rest of the disbelievers will not approve of you nor abandon waging war against you until you follow their religion and apostatize from yours.

He says only the Caliphate can provide protection to Muslims.

This war is only against you and against your religion. Has the time not come for you to return to your religion and your jihād and thereby bring back your glory, honor, rights, and leadership? Has the time not come for you to know that there is no might nor honor nor safety nor rights for you except in the shade of the Caliphate?

The rest is pretty much about war. He apparently wants the world to think that the fighters in Anbar will next be moving to Baghdad and Karbala. He says that IS believes that the enemy will target Raqqah and Aleppo before Mosul. "So be cautious," he tells the fighters there.

He praises the fighters at Baiji, telling them their assualts "will make the Nusayriyyah in Shām and the Houthis in Yemen collapse."

In the context of the overall speech, it does not seem to me that he's calling for lone wolf attacks on the West, even when he says:

And we call upon every Muslim in every place to perform hijrah to the Islamic State or fight in his land wherever that may be.

The dominant tone in the speech is militaristic, not terroristic. I think he's asking that those in the many countries he mentions sign up to fight in their home countries -- not launch lone terror attacks -- if they can't make it to Iraq or Syria.

The speech isn't dated but there are references to events at Baiji at the end of March, after the time Iranian and British media reported him critically injured and dead. He's obviously alive. Also, the Iraqi defense minister's claim today that Abu Ala’a al-Afri aka Abdul Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli was killed, (the media says he is al Baghdadi's probable successor)may also be false. He gave a sermon in Mosul on Friday. I think this is a photo of him.

~http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk453/TalkLeft/war%20on%20terror/alnusquan_zpshcrolgdg.jpg!

Here's a picture of the latest recruits graduating from Camp Sheikh Abu Omar al-Baghdadi:

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  • Display: Sort:
    "March Forth Whether Light or Heavy." (none / 0) (#1)
    by Mr Natural on Fri May 15, 2015 at 06:09:51 PM EST
    Sounds like Kim Jong-un sold at least one copy of his North Korean style manual.