The John Batchelor Show

VIDEO: Al Qaeda Mothership

October 11, 2016

Monday 10 October 2016 / Hour 1, Block A: Tom Joscelyn, Long War Journal senior editor & FDD,  and Bill Roggio, Long War Journal senior editor  & FDD, in re: Al Qaeda is the mother ship; ISIS is a subtribe.  ISIS puts out infographics monthly; strong growth in martyrdom (782); but in Sept the number goes down to 53
Whereas 119 in May 2016. Haven’t kept the trendline moving up. Down in both Iraq and Syria. Ebb and flow in the fight; ISI grew fast initially, although some of the “martyrs” are children forced to blow themselves up.
State Dept annually gives suicide stats: in 2015, average of   61 suicide deaths per month; in 2016, 87.
Video taps of Afgh training camps; Taliban commanders: “We're part of he global jihad; Muslims across the world should be fighting for the ummah.”  For yeas, their English agitprop has been, “We don’t arm our neighbors; we’re just local activists”;  but in Farsi and Pashto and Arabic: “Yes, we're global.”
Good-quality video. Why do they wear masks?  Reminiscent o of early ISIS video – produced by Haqqani network video arm (close to al Q as well as Pakistani ISI).  Expect more slickly-produced vids.