 Al-Qaida agent believed to be Adam Gadahn of Orange County, Calif., threatens U.S. in new 9-11 tape |
Exactly four years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror onslaught against the U.S., a brand new communiqu? broadcast on ABC News is targeting Los Angeles for more attacks.
“Yesterday, London and Madrid. Tomorrow, Los Angeles and Melbourne, God willing. At this time, don’t count on us demonstrating restraint or compassion,” the 11-minute tape warns. “We are Muslims. We love peace, but peace on our terms, peace as laid down by Islam, not the so-called peace of occupiers and dictators.”
Intelligence officials believe the man whose face is partially covered to be Adam Gadahn of Orange County, Calif. Gadahn sent a similar tape for the al-Qaida terrorist network last year.
“Don’t believe the lies of the liars at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and 10 Downing Street,” Gadahn insists. “They have dispatched your sons and daughters to die lonely deaths in the burning deserts of Iraq and the unforgiving mountains of Afghanistan.”
According to ABC, Gadahn went from a typical southern California teenager who liked heavy metal music to an operative for al-Qaida in just a few years. He reportedly converted to Islam at an Orange County mosque, and was influenced by terrorists who brought him to Pakistan.
Only a few years ago, Adam Gadahn was a southern California teenager with interests in the environment and heavy metal music.
His family says he converted to Islam at an Orange County mosque. There, officials say Gadahn came under the influence of militants who took him to Pakistan.
His latest message warns of an imminent attack on Americans unless the U.S. halts its military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Also threatened are Great Britain and Australia.
“We love peace, but when the enemy violates that peace or prevents us from achieving it, then we love nothing better than the heat of battle, the echo of explosion, and the slitting of the throats of the infidels,” the tape says.
“The statement broadcast this morning on Good Morning America should come as no surprise to anyone,” said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the city’s police department in a joint release this morning. “The statement was meant to instill fear, and fear is the most important weapon the terrorists possess.”
While local officials admitted L.A. is a terror target, they said there are no known, credible threats against the city, calling the tape propaganda.
On the rest of the tape, Gadahn tries to dispel rumors that Osama bin Laden is dead, and he closes by mentioning the names of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers who flew planes into New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
“Everyone of us is Mohammed Atta,” he says.
