'I Am Proud To Be A Traitor To America,' Boasts American Al Qaeda

The second issue of an English-language Al Qaeda magazine includes an article by an American jihadi in which he proclaims "I am proud to be a traitor" and instructions on how to mow down government workers on their lunch hour in Washington, D.C.

Samir Khan, an American citizen who left for Yemen last year, is believed to be the creator of the web magazine "Inspire," which U.S. officials say is published by Al Qaeda's Yemeni affiliate, Al Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and is designed to recruit Western jihadis to launch terror attacks. In a newly released issue, Khan writes about turning his back on America and becoming "Al Qaeda to the core."

"I praise Allah and laugh at the intelligence agencies that were watching me for all those years," writes Khan. "Back in North Carolina, the FBI dispatched a spy on me who pretended to convert to Islam."

Khan says he now "could no longer reside in America as a compliant citizen. … I am proud to be a traitor to America."

Khan was born in Saudi Arabia but was raised in New York and then lived in North Carolina, where he operated web sites from his parent's basement, including one that praised Osama bin Laden and showed footage of attacks against US forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.

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The issue also includes how-to guides in what the authors call "open source jihad." One article suggests equipping a large pickup truck with steel plates and sharp objects to cut down pedestrians. In an article attributed to Yahya Ibrahim, a radical cleric, the article pictures a large Ford pick-up truck and notes, "The idea is to use a pickup truck as a mowing machine, not to mow grass but mow down the enemies of Allah."

The article also calls for conducting midday attacks with firearms on Washington, D.C. restaurants in hopes of killing government employees on their lunch hours. Separately, the author suggests that those "brothers with degrees in microbiology or chemistry ... develop a weapon of mass destruction" like nerve gas.

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Other articles include tips on computer security – how to permanently delete files tha might fall into the hands of law enforcement or intelligence services – and a story with pointers for would-be mujahedin on what recruits should expect when they travel overseas to terrorist training camps.