CBN/Erick Stakelbeck, 8 March 2010: Western leaders are often at odds over how to take on the threat of Islamic terrorism. Al Qaeda, on the other hand, appears totally focused on its mission. The terrorist group is obsessed with destroying the United States. And according to one former colleague of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, they don’t care how many innocent civilians are killed in the process. CBN News recently spoke with former terrorist Noman Benotman in an extensive interview about the inner workings of Al-Qaeda’s leadership. These days, Benotman lives a quiet life in London with his wife and children. But it wasn’t long ago that Benotman stood face-to-face with Osama bin Laden. “He insists on inflicting pain to his enemies,” Benotman said of bin Laden. “Beyond your imagination. You can’t miss it when you talk with him.” . . . .
. . . . Benotman had spent most of his adult life as an Islamic holy warrior–or mujahideen. “If any Muslim appears and says ‘Okay, there is no jihad in Islam whatsoever,’ please believe me, he is a liar,” said Benotman. “A pure liar. People, they need to face it because it is a serious issue. Jihad, it’s part of Islam because it is something that’s in the Koran. There is more than 40 verses, I think, in the Koran that mention jihad.”
Benotman left his native Libya for Afghanistan during the 1980s to join the fight against the Soviets. “My first aim at the time was to just be a martyr, you know?” Benotman explained. “Fighting the enemy for Islam, that was my aim.” He returned home and became a commander in the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group – or LIFG. The deadly terrorist organization was dedicated to toppling the Qhaddafi regime and establishing an Islamic state in Libya. It was also closely tied to al Qaeda.
“Once you start your own group, as a jihadi group, whether you like it or not, you have to communicate, to look for help, training knowledge, logistical support: you name it,” Benotman told CBN News. “That’s why the LIFG had to communicate with all these leaders and all these groups, including bin Laden, al Zawahiri — everyone, you name it. The Taliban.” . . .
. . . Bin Laden’s calm exterior masked a sadistic mindset. “He was always happy about everything that happened, you know?” Benotman recalled. “And how big any operation is or how it has been described by the media, the Western media. It always makes him proud.” One such operation was the 1998 bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa. Al Qaeda killed 200 people and wounded thousands more. According to Bentoman, “It took bin Laden like half an hour talking about the amount of the explosives and how it was being regarded or labeled by the Western governments, including the U.S. Sort of like it was a ‘weapon of mass murder.’ He was very proud about that.”
Benotman said bin Laden’s top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was even more ruthless. “He is the most extremist person in al Qaeda,” Benotman explained. “He is extremely extreme. More than bin Laden. The word, or the concept, ‘civilians,’ it doesn’t exist in al-Zawahiri’s reality or ideology.” That’s why Benotman decided to write a personal letter to his old colleague in 2007. He slammed al-Zawahiri for targeting innocent civilians and called on al Qaeda to cease all operations against the West and in Muslim countries. The letter was widely publicized in the Islamic world. . . . .
