Anatomy of a suicide car bomb attack (click images) in Iraq, al-Qaida's use of the internet.
Expert Report II: U.S. v. Amawi et al.
Evan F. Kohlmann
January 2008, It was Zarqawi’s tragic suicide bombing attacks—carefully documented on film—that most sparked the imagination of Al-Qaida supporters around the world. Beyond depicting the mere explosions themselves, videos, see one here, released by Al-Qaida in Iraq focused heavily on planning phases and the pre-execution rituals for “martyrs-inwaiting.”
The importance of suicide bombers to Zarqawi’s propaganda was self-evident even as early as his first full-length propaganda film, “The Winds of Victory,” released in July 2004. The video principally pays homage to various suicide bombings carried out by Al-Qaida against Western and Iraqi government targets in 2003 and 2004, including the devastating truck bomb attack on the United Nations compound in Baghdad and the attempted seaborne attack on an oil terminal in the Arabian Gulf off Basra.
The video contains footage of senior Al-Qaida leaders, martyrdom wills read by suicide bombers of Iraqi, Kuwait, and Saudi origin, and footage of several actual suicide attacks carried out inside Iraq. Perhaps the most memorable single clip from the entire “Winds of Victory” film was a nighttime suicide truck bomb attack carried out by Iraqi national Abul-Harith Abdelrahman al-Dosari on a U.S. checkpoint at Khaldiya Bridge in early 2004.
Al- Dosari is first shown reading his will and then subsequently demonstrating the use of his bomb-triggering device:
“To my mother, father, wife, brothers and sisters, and all my beloved ones… I have not forgotten you and will not forget you… I have not left you because of anxiety, but to answer the call from almighty Allah for jihad… we see death as more enjoyable than a thousand steps you take on the flowers among you… All it takes is the press of a button. Following that, with the help of Allah, the banner of ‘No God but Allah’ will prevail, and the person will be finished with this world after fulfilling his mission.”
As al-Dosari walks towards his destiny and a truck carrying nearly four tons of
explosives, he is surrounded by senior Al-Qaida members who celebrate his anticipated sacrifice and chant the lyrics to the song, “Zifou Shaheed”:
“Hurry the martyr, Allah, Allah. Hurry the martyr to his second home in paradise. The wedding procession of nymphs, passionate lovers. Hurry the martyr with his wounds, with his blood, with his clothes on. Pray for him, Oh beloved ones. I say goodbye as a stranger, if we do not meet on this earth, I say goodbye to you… I see that you are leaving and not coming back.”
The DVD folder QCV140 and the DVD marked as 69185_1B1 contain multiple
excerpted portions taken from “Winds of Victory” of specific suicide operations, including the Khaldiya Bridge truck bombing mission executed by Abul-Harith al- Dosari. Additionally, the “My Pictures” folder stored within QCV140 contains at least two screen shots taken from the video “Winds of Victory” depicting the postmortem remains of Abul-Harith al-Dosari.
During audio recording 1D14 from January 10, 2005, participants appear to be discussing the same postmortem images of al-Dosari:
“See, look. This is the guy who committed, May God be praised, the martyrdom driving the car… This is a brother who made martyrdom car bombing on the bridge of Khalidya. Look brother, after – after the whole blow… explosion; when they returned him. My brother, look at his face. I swear to Allah he is smiling… And the whole explosion. Glory be to Allah. Look, I mean Praise be to God, he’s still in one piece.”
The attack itself was video-recorded by al-Qaida representatives
positioned nearby, and the video was subsequently distributed on the Internet.
Separately, the DVD folder QCV140 and the DVD marked as 69185_1B1 also
contain another relevant video excerpt from “Winds of Victory” documenting a
coordinated, multi-pronged suicide bombing attack in the Iraqi city of Karbala in mid- 2004.
The bombers included three Saudis (Abu Saad al-Makki, Abu al-Zubair al-Najdi,
and Abu Amshah al-Shomari); a Libyan (Abu Abdullah al-Liby); and a Syrian (Abu Abdelkarim al-Suri). As the men are shown reading their martyrdom wills, a narrator explains in Arabic:
“These knightly angels gathered together without any prior arrangements or prior relationships. Strangers arrived from various tribes… Abu Saad al-Makki, Abu al-Zubair al-Najdi, Abu Abdullah al-Liby, Abu Amshah al-Shomari, Abu Abdelkarim al-Suri. The heavens invited them to an immortal wedding. They could see with their hearts the beautiful nymphs, while wearing fancy silks, laying on luxurious couches, opening their arms, waiting for the time to get together and waiting for the hour of our reunion [in paradise]… This blessed convoy marched forward and mounted the saddles of death in a charge towards paradise…
They refused to live a life of humiliation like some people; instead, they insisted on inscribing the glory of Islam with their blood.” An accompanying text caption on the video explained, “the mujahideen decided to wipe out the following targets: Polish troops (Abu Abdullah al-Liby will pave the way for Abu
Saad al-Makki so that he can accomplish the mission); a coalition hospital (Abu
Abdelkarim al-Suri will pave the way for his brother Abu Amshah al-Shomari), and the Karbala provincial building.”
Once again—just as with the aforementioned clip of Abul-Harith al-Dosari—this file has the identical name and size as the excerpted version that was first officially released by Al-Qaida over the Internet in August 2004. Likewise, the “My Pictures” folder stored under QCV140 contains at least five still JPEG
images taken from this same video clip.
Folder QCV06 includes copies of two memorable suicide bombing videos
released by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s Al-Qaida faction in mid-November 2004. The first video contains footage of a dramatic suicide car bombing on a U.S. convoy in the restive Iraqi city of Ramadi. [During the transcript of recording 1D12 from November 23, 2004, there is a discussion as participants apparently watch video of the same suicide attack in Ramadi.]
The second video features apparent footage of a November 4, 2004
suicide car bomb attack on a checkpoint about 20 miles southwest of Baghdad manned by soldiers from the Scottish Black Watch regiment in the United Kingdom. The blast killed three of the soldiers and wounded eight others. A civilian Iraqi interpreter working with the regiment also died in the bombing. The masterminds behind the attack were apparently seeking to deliberately kill British soldiers on station in Iraq.
The same video appears to be playing during audio recording 1D24 from February 6, 2005. Folder QCV09 contains copies of another film released by Abu Musab al- Zarqawi’s Al-Qaida faction in January 2005.84 This video contains apparent footage from multiple camera angles of a December 29, 2004 suicide truck bomb attack on a building used as a base by the U.S. military in Mosul.
Subsequent letters from Al- Qaida associates identified the bomber as 20-year old Saudi medical student Ahmed Said al-Ghamdi (a.k.a. Abu al-Miqdad al Ghamdi). According to their accounts, al-Ghamdi “was able to enter [Iraq] after only a single week in order to join the Martyrs Brigade of Al-Qaida’s network in Mesopotamia… Ahmed purchased a truck and purchased explosives with his own personal money… Three days after entering [Iraq], he executed his blessed operation targeting the Americans.” Insurgents filmed al-Ghamdi’s suicide truck bombing attack from three separate angles. The video footage was subsequently
released on the Internet by Al-Qaida’s Jihad Committee in Mesopotamia.
Recent history has demonstrated that there are few religious-ideological barriers in the world of international terrorism. The secular Ba'athist regime in Syria works closely with Hizballah, as a secular Ba'athist regime in Iraq has developed ties to al-Qaeda.It would be a mistake to assume that Islamist international terror groups are driven primarily by the religious associations with radical Sunni or radical Shiite Islam. These groups have their own geopolitical interests in bridging this great Islamic divide - particularly their antipathy for the United States and its allies.
