“We dropped down the jet that belonged to the American Company UPS, but the media of the enemy did not attribute the work to us as we were secretive about the operation in order to do it again, and this time we did this with two devices; one of them sent through UPS and the other through Fedex; both American companies.””

““And we wonder: why didn’’t the enemy show what had happened to the UPS jet that was dropped down? Is it because the enemy wasn’’t able to uncover the reason for the jet’’s collapse, or did the Obama Administration want to hide the incident in order to not show its security failure, especially that the operation was [shortly] before the American midterm elections?””

““And we say to Obama: we pointed three attacks to your planes within one year, and we will continue Allah-willing to direct our attacks on the American interests and the interests of America’’s allies.””

““And praise to Allah,our improvised device allows us the opportunity to detonate it in the air, or after it reaches its final target, and it is designed to bypass all the detection machines. And we say to Al-Saud: Allah has scandalized their cooperation with the Jews as these devices were headed to Jewish Zionist temples, but you interfered in your betrayal to protect them, so may Allah’’s damnation be upon the oppressors.””

““And as both operations enjoyed success, we intend on publicizing the idea for our Mujahideen brothers in the world, and broadening the circle of applying it to include the civilian airplanes in the West plus cargo airplanes. So, O’’ enemies of Allah, await the good news of what [may] harm you.””

““And our Sheikh Usama bin Laden, may Allah protect him, said: ‘‘and if our messages to you could be carried through words we wouldn’’t have brought them to you in planes.’’””

““And Allah is in charge of His affair but most people do not know””

““Al-Qaeda Organization in the Arabian Peninsula””

As Gregory Johnson of Waq-al-Waq notes:

One interesting note about the statement is that it addressed the reported Saudi role in providing intelligence ....And it did so from an angle that most of the reporting in the west hasn't focused on. Much of the reporting has been on the Saudis helping the US, but AQAP is portraying this as a case of the Saudis betraying God to help the "Zionist Jews," who were the addressed target of the bombs even if they were never intended to make the synagogue.

AQAP issued two other statments, #27 and #28, "denying responsibility for the two bombs outside a club in Aden and the other an update on events in Mudiya, which is in Abyan." Johnson says #27 is the most interesting of the three.

But for me, by far the most interesting statement is #27, which denies that AQAP had anything to do with two bombs outside a sports club in Aden on October 11....This is AQAP speaking directly to its target audience. It isn't speaking to the US or Saudi governments....

....Statement 27 is different. It is a list of six reasons for why AQAP couldn't have been behind the two bombs in Aden. None of these are reasons like: we weren't in Aden at the time, but rather explanations for why the bombing in Aden was outside the realm of what AQAP does.

This is important. I can't stress this enough. This is AQAP talking about itself and what it believes about itself and what it wants Muslims in Yemen to believe about it.

Johnson says the U.S. and Yemen have an opportunity here to destroy AQAP's narrative:

For example in reason number 4, AQAP states that its members are bound by shariah law and that they can only kill and fight people that shariah law permits them to kill and fight. One sentence later that statement says that AQAP "differentiates" between those it is permitted to kill and those it is not permitted to kill.

Johnson says the U.S. and Yemen need to put out statements in Arabic in Yemen, pointing out the inconsistencies:

Ask questions like: AQAP says that it is bound by shariah law and that it can only kill people that shariah law permits it to kill, but if this is true how could it have carried out the parcel bomb plot that was intended to kill people in Chicago by exploding over the city? What about all the Muslims who live in Chicago? Are they not true Muslims if they live in America? Are they not protected by shariah law if they live in America? What about your relatives and former neighbors who are currently living in the US, are they not true Muslims? Are they fair game for al-Qaeda to attack and kill? Does shariah law permit their killing?

I think a dedicated effort to combating AQAP's rhetoric and vision of itself would not only pay short term dividends in terms of limiting recruiting but is also part of a long-term strategy when it comes to making sure AQAP doesn't re-emerge in the future.

Any time I read an article about AQAP and Yemen, I always check Waq-al-Waq for what Johnson writes. He was an indispensable source when the formation of AQAP was front and center in the news, and then stopped blogging for a while, but now is back. Johnson doesn't publish direct links to AQAP's statements, and they can be hard to find, but Jihadology usually has them.