La Refinería de Mina en la mira de Al-Qaeda (Ingles)

La amenaza a las instalaciones petroleras mexicanas publicada por la revista Voz del Jihad (Sawt al-Jihad):

Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia Presents the Return of its Publication, Sawt al-Jihad [Voice of Jihad], the Thirtieth Issue, Calling for Strikes on all Oil Interests

Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia issued the thirtieth issue of its former biweekly electronic magazine, Sawt al-Jihad [Voice of Jihad], today, Thursday, February 8, 2006. The issuance of this publication comes nearly twenty months after its last, the group having distributed the 29th edition in April 2005, also following a several month absence.

This issue, 56-pages in length, contains fifteen articles, not including sections with readers’ contributions and messages/responses, which cover subjects pertaining to jihad, Mujahideen operations, martyrs, and scholars.

The Abqaiq oil refinery suicide attack from February 2006 is featured throughout the magazine, some pieces concentrating on individuals involved, and another, titled: “Bin Laden and the Oil Weapon”, discussing this incident, as well as the impact of the Mujahideen targeting oil vis-à-vis America’s dependence upon this resource, and future targets on oil producing countries.

Introducing the magazine is Abu Malik Muhammad bin Abdullah al-Nasser, who lauds the return of Sawt al-Jihad as that which serves as a podium for the Mujahideen to reveal facts and dispel falsity. He announces that specific operations have been planned to target Americans, British, and their “henchman” in Saudi Arabia, aiming to “clean the Arabian Peninsula from the filth of the polytheists and the Crusader bases that spread in the whole of the Arabian Peninsula, the birthplace of Islam and the home of the message.”

Abu Malik also addresses the Emir of al-Qaeda, Usama bin Laden, assuring that the Mujahideen still continue on the path of jihad. Further, he sends greetings to the Islamic State of Iraq and its leaders, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, stating that the Mujahideen in Saudi Arabia spiritually fight alongside their brothers in Iraq.

The featured article, “Bin Laden and the Oil Weapon”, written by Adeeb al-Bassam, begins with a review of the “successful” attack on the Abqaiq oil refinery from last year, dismissing the Saudi Ministry of Interior’s claims of it being a failure. The crux of the article, however, is the impact on the United States and other industrial countries when oil facilities are struck by the Mujahideen. Abqaiq is placed within this context to illustrate the effect, as well as bombing on Iraqi oil facilities and those of the Royal Dutch Shell corporation in Nigeria, and the notion of bin Laden using oil as a weapon is not a strategic change in al-Qaeda policy. For a large portion of the article, Bassem reviews a key part of the 2007 State of the Union address by U.S. President George W. Bush, in which he called for alternative fuel sources and reduced dependency upon the Middle East.

Alternative fuel sources are dismissed by the author, using statements from figures such as British Petroleum Chief Execution John Brown as evidence for its improbability, and he argues that politically and economically, America can never reduce its dependency upon the Middle East and its oil. Thus, the article encourages the Mujahideen to continue to follow bin Laden’s directives and strike oil targets not only in Saudi Arabia, but elsewhere. Substitute sources for oil, like Canada, Mexico, and Venezuela are cited, to which the author writes: “we should strike petroleum interests in all areas which supply the United States, and not only in the Middle East, because the target is to stop its imports or decrease it by all means. Targets, Bassam points out, should be oil fields, pipelines, loading platforms and carriers, which he believes will ultimately choke the U.S. economy.

Bassam concludes: “I assure that the biggest party hurt will be the industrial nations, and on top them, the United States, the holder of the Cross. The producing nations will not be hurt as much; rather, the producing nations will benefit by higher oil prices. It is the same as the economic boom which the Gulf countries had in 1973 after cutting oil imports.”