Saif al-Adel.html



Saif al-Adel
(FBI photo)
Born	1960-63 Egypt

An Egyptian by birth,¹, Saif Al-Adel (Arabic: سيف العدل ‎, meaning sword of justice) is the aliases of a senior member of al-Qaeda. It is possible, but disputed, that he is a former colonel by the name Muhammad Ibrahim Makkawi ( محمد إبراهيم مكاوي ). Al-Adel has also used the alias² Ibrahim Al-Madani ( إبراهيم المدني ) and the alias Omar al-Sumali³ ( عمر الصومالي ). Two dates of birth used by al-Adel are April 11, 1960 and April 11, 1963.²

Al-Adel is under indictment⁴ for his part in the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Africa. According to the indictment, al-Adel is a member of the majlis al shura of al-Qaeda and a member of its military committee, and he provided military and intelligence training to members of al-Qaeda and Egyptian Islamic Jihad in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Sudan, and to anti-UN Somali tribes.⁴ It is possible that his trainees included the Somalis of the first Battle of Mogadishu.⁵ He established the al-Qaeda training facility at Ras Kamboni in Somalia near the Kenyan border.³

Life

In Khartoum, al-Adel taught recruited militants how to handle explosives in the unused sections of Al-Damazin Farms.¹

Several months before the 1998 embassy bombings, al-Adel was helping Bin Laden move his followers from Nizam Jihad to Tarnak Farms. The group had begrudgingly agreed to care for the troublesome Canadian 16-year old Abdurahman Khadr, since his father was away and his mother couldn't control his drinking, smoking and violent outbursts. However, while in Kabul, al-Adel was approached by bin Laden and asked to take Abdurahman to the bus station and have him sent back to his family's home.⁶

In approximately 2000, he was living in the Karte Parwan district of Kabul, Afghanistan. On the local walkie-talkie communications in the city, he was identified as #1.⁶

Since al-Qaeda's military chief Mohammed Atef was killed in 2001, it has sometimes been said that al-Adel would be his natural successor in that role.⁵⁷ But it is no longer clear whether al-Qaeda still has a person with that title.

al-Adel was suspected of involvement in the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Al Sadat, and left the country in 1988 to join the mujahideen in repelling the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.⁷

There has been speculation⁸ that al-Adel and other al-Qaeda members fled Afghanistan to Iran and are still there. The others include Kuwaiti-born spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, and Saad bin Laden, son of al-Qaeda head Osama bin Laden. In 2004, he published a "terrorist manual" entitled "The Base of the Vanguard", an Arabic pun on the phrases al-Qaeda ("the base") and the Vanguards of Conquest.⁹

Saif al-Adel was a key source in a 2005 book on al-Qaeda's global strategy by journalist Fouad Hussein.¹⁰

Al-Adel has been on the FBI's list of Most Wanted Terrorists since its inception in 2001. The State Department's Rewards for Justice Program is offering up to US$5 million for information on his location.¹¹

Writings of al-Adel

In February 2006 the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point published a number of declassified documents from the Harmony database, some of which are known or believed to have been written by Saif al-Adel. One is a letter³ signed "Omar al-Sumali, previously known as Saif al-Adl", about the author's activities in southern Somalia during UNOSOM II (1993-1995). It identifies Ras Kamboni as a suitable site for an al-Qaeda base. It mentions an accomplice of al-Adel called "Mukhtar". In a letter¹²¹³ from "‘Abd-al-Halim Adl" to "Mukhtar", dated 13 June 2002, the author strongly criticises the leadership of Osama bin Laden, blaming al-Qaeda's preceding disastrous six months on bin Laden's recklessness and unwillingness to listen to advice.

If someone opposes [bin Ladin], he immediately puts forward another person to render an opinion in his support, clinging to his opinion and totally disregarding those around him...
Perhaps, brother Abu Mattar has warned you that his opinion [of bin Ladin's leadership] has changed a lot since he got out of his previous situation.

The 2002 addressee "Mukhtar" appears to be the commander of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed:

The East Asia, Europe, America, Horn of Africa, Yemen, Gulf, and Morocco groups have fallen, and Pakistan has almost been drowned in one push. I, not to mention the other individuals who have also moved and fallen, have often advised on this matter. Regrettably, my brother, if you look back, you will find that you are the person solely responsible for all this because you undertook the mission, and during six months, we only lost what we built in years.

In 2004, al-Adel was also alleged to be the author behind The Al-Battar Military Camp, a manual that advised prospective militants about how to strike easy targets.¹⁴

In March 2007 the Pentagon posted on the Internet a transcript¹⁵ of part of the hearing into the combatant status of detainee Ramzi Binalshibh. Some of the evidence against Binalshibh came from a diary of Saif al-Adel:

Sayf al-Adl is a senior al Qaida military commander with a long-term relationship with Usama bin Laden. Sayf al-Adl's role in the organization has been as a trainer, military leader, and key member of Usama bin Laden's security detail.
The diary of Sayf al-Adl was recovered during a raid in Saudi Arabia in 2004. The diary details the Detainee's involvement in the 11 September 2001 terrorist plot and subsequent attack. The Detainee is listed as a "highly professional jihadist" along with "9/11 hijackers", Mohammed Atta and Ziad Jarrah. The diary states that the three were briefed on an operation involving aircraft by Abu Hafs, a senior al Qaida planner.

References