Ex-Gitmo Detainee Now al-Qaeda Chief

[darrels joy]

Ex-Gitmo Detainee Now al-Qaeda Chief

December 04, 2009
Long War Journal|by Thomas Joscelyn


A former Guantanamo detainee has emerged as a leading ideologue and theologian for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula –- one of the strongest al Qaeda affiliates in the world.

Ibrahim Suleiman al Rubaish was captured by Pakistani authorities in late 2001 and then handed over to American officials who transferred him to Guantanamo. Rubaish was held there until Dec. 13, 2006, when he was transferred to Saudi Arabia and placed in the Saudi rehabilitation program for jihadists. At some point, Rubaish escaped from Saudi Arabia by fleeing south to Yemen.

In February 2009, the Saudi Kingdom placed Rubaish, along with at least 10 other former Gitmo detainees, on its list of 85 most-wanted terrorists.

One of the former Gitmo detainees Rubaish fled to Yemen with, Said Ali al Shihri, is now the deputy of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which was formed when the al Qaeda branches in Yemen and Saudi Arabia merged.

Two other former Gitmo detainees who fled to Yemen along with Rubaish have been killed in shootouts.

Since leaving Saudi Arabia, Rubaish has become an influential proponent of waging jihad against the Saudi royals. Rubaish's influence is so great that he has risen to the rank of Mufti within al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, according to an analysis by the Jamestown Foundation. The role of Mufti is crucial for al Qaeda's operations because the Mufti provides the theological justifications for the organization's terrorism.

The Saudi regime has consistently challenged the religious credentials of al Qaeda's Muftis since 2003, when the kingdom launched a widespread crackdown on the terrorist network in response to attacks on Saudi interests. Rubaish is now the terrorist leader responsible for providing al Qaeda's answer to the Saudi regime's theological arguments.

Rubaish has attempted to establish his religious credentials by writing a book that challenges the authority of Sheikh Salman al Ouda, who is a popular Saudi cleric. Al Ouda himself was once an outspoken critic of the Saudi royal family and repeatedly challenged its legitimacy in the early 1990s. Al Ouda was even cited and praised by Osama bin Laden in a 1994 screed entitled "The Betrayal of Palestine," in which the terror master lambasted the Saudi government's own top Mufti, Bin Baaz, for endorsing the 1993 Oslo Accords.

After being imprisoned for several years, al Ouda changed his tune and renounced his prior disloyalty. Sheikh al Ouda currently supervises the Islam Today web site on behalf of the Saudi regime. In his book, Rubaish chastised al Ouda for his "alliance" with the Saudi regime.

Rubaish has not saved his venom for Sheikh al Ouda alone. In early November, Rubaish questioned Saudi King Abdullah's decision to allow men and women to jointly attend the new King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. According to a translation of Rubaish's statement prepared by the SITE Intelligence group, Rubaish blasted the decision as a violation of sharia law and said that King Abdullah was moving his country towards "secularism."

"If [King Abdullah] is not able to distinguish between good and evil and what is good and harmful, then how can he be put as the ruler over millions of people?," Rubaish asked. "I call upon every Muslim to (distance themselves) from this agent apostate government, that has clearly demonstrated that it prefers infidelity to faith, and that all it wants from Islam is the parts that do not affect its secularist method."

Rubaish's anti-Saudi sentiments have been used to justify al Qaeda's targeting of senior Saudi officials. After a suicide bomber failed to kill Saudi Prince Muhammad bin Nayif, the Deputy Minister of the Interior for Security Affairs, in August of this year, Rubaish released a tape entitled, "Why Muhammad bin Nayif?" Rubaish justified the attempt on Nayif's life by arguing that assassinations have been a commonly accepted tool of Islamic warfare since the days of the Prophet Mohammed.

There is a distinct irony in Rubaish's role as al Qaeda's chief anti-Saudi Mufti. During his administrative review board hearing at Guantanamo, Rubaish was asked about his desire to wage jihad against the Saudi government and America. "Before I mentioned that the United States is a partner with Saudi Arabia, so how could I consider it an enemy of Islam if it's a friend of Saudi Arabia?" Rubaish asked rhetorically in response.

But while Rubaish falsely claimed that he was not an enemy of the US or Saudi Arabia during his ARB hearing, he also made important admissions.

Rubaish conceded that he was trained at al Qaeda's al Farouq training camp. But Rubaish claimed that he did not know al Farouq was an al Qaeda facility. This is an implausible excuse given al Farouq was one of al Qaeda's chief training facilities in pre-9/11 Afghanistan.

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