Monday, May 07, 2012

Al-Qaeda sought to convert the Irish

Osama bin Laden was urged by a fellow leading al-Qaeda member to send a message to the Irish people persuading them to support Islam.

According to new declassified documents seized from his hideout in Pakistan following his death last year, bin Laden was advised that there was a possibility of converting Irish people because of their disenchantment with the Catholic Church and anger over the economic crisis.

Among the reasons outlined as to why the Irish might be open to Islam were Irish people's sympathy towards Palestinians and "the soft treatment of the judicial system to Muslims accused of terrorist acts".

The Combating Terrorism Center, a privately funded research base at the US Military Academy at West Point, posted a number of declassified documents belonging to bin Laden on its website today.

They were taken in the raid on his house in Abbottabad last May in which he was killed by US forces.

The documents, which total 175 pages in the original Arabic and 197 pages in the English translation, span a period from September 2006 to April 2011 and include private letters between prominent al-Qaeda members including bin Laden.

American al-Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn lays out the reasons for reaching out to Irish people in a letter to an unknown recipient written in January 2011

Among the documents is a letter from the American al-Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn to an unknown recipient in January 2011 which lays out reasons for reaching out to the Irish people.

The document, which highlights the reasons for issuing a call to the Irish people notes that Ireland was not a participant in "Bush's Crusade wars," but also adds that the country had been part of an EU-wide force engaged in training the Somali army.

It also speculates on the impact of the clerical child abuse scandal and the economic crisis on Ireland.

"What helped to prepare the message was the last economic crisis that affected Ireland a lot, thus forcing its youth to look for sources of living in the outside," writes Mr Gadahn.

"The other matter is the increasing anger in Ireland towards the Catholic Church after exposing a number of sex scandals and others," he adds.

The document says that Irish people, "who were the most religious of atheist Europe," are moving towards secularism.

"Why do not we face them with Islam,?" asks Mr Gadahn.

He goes on to suggest preparing a similar message to Catholics living in Arab regions calling them to Islam and cautioning them against co-operating with "invader enemies."

"Catholics were historically the prominent enemies of the Jews, amongst the other Christians. They were also the original enemies to the Evangelist Protestant who were the vanguard of the Crusades.”

“ Their public in general, these days, is more sympathetic and understanding of the Muslims, than other Protestant and Orthodox Christians," he says.