De Fez

2/3/2007

The name "De Fez" refers to the Moroccan city of Fez. When the first Muslims raided the town, they killed so many Christians and Jews that the streets ran red with their blood. Celebrating death while shouting Allahu Akbar, the Muslim mujahideen dipped their hats in the blood of their victims, staining them red. Today, the Fez worn by Shriners commemorates this battle. And by saying that they were "of Fez," the modern day incarnations of the original Islamic barbarians were also commemorating the viciousness of that horrible time. I say that with certainty because the Islamic jihadists who dusted off the Fez moniker didn't hail from Fez. They were based in France.

The membership of De Fez was composed mostly of Moroccan and Algerian Muslim immigrants to France who had become French citizens. Their De Fez cell was an amalgamation of the larger Algerian Armed Islamic Group and the Moroccan Salafia Jihadia in Europe.

We have been assaulted by a constant barrage of terror from the Armed Islamic Group, but that does not mean that the Moroccan side of this family was passive. In years to come, the Salafia Jihadia parent of De Fez would be culpable of a vicious raid on Jews in Casablanca, Morocco in May 2003. They were indirectly complicit in the September 2001 suicide bombings of the World Trade Center and directly responsible for the March 2004 Madrid train bombings which killed 191 Spaniards, wounding over 2,000 more. The Moroccan government recognized these associations when they accused Algerian militants from the Armed Islamic Group of funding the Fez cell in France.

De Fez recruited young French Muslims living in the immigrant slums outside Paris. The initial leadership was composed of Abdelilah Ziyad, Stephane Ait Idir, Redouane Hammadi, and Tarik Falah. Idir and Hammadi were captured in Morocco with several other members of the network, and were sentenced to death for their role in terrorist raids. Falah fled to Germany where he was captured and extradited to France. In France, Falah was sentenced to five years in jail. The ringleader of the network, Abdelilah Ziyad, was sentenced to eight years in jail for his role in organizing the Atlas-Asni Hotel attack in Marrakech in August 1994. Over 30 other members of the network were tried in France and Morocco respectively, and were sentenced to terms ranging from a few years in jail to death.

The attacks carried out by De Fez and other members of the larger networks were intended to destabilize the Moroccan regime and usher in an Islamic government. They also demonstrated that you can take a Muslim out of the land of Islam without taking Islam out of the Muslim. As a direct result of their religion, Muslims remain impoverished whereever they go. And they are breeding like rabbits. Thus the threat that young, poverty-stricken Muslims pose in Europe is enormous, especially when they are encouraged and coerced by experienced Muslim militants.

A native of Morocco, Abdelilah Ziyad was the prime recruiter and leader of the French De Fez jihadist organization. Abdelilah Ziyad was a member of the Moroccan Islamic Youth movement and held leadership positions in Salafia Jihadia. He was a staunch opponent of the Moroccan monarchy which he deemed insufficiently Islamic. In the mid 1980s, Ziyad moved to France, and while there, he recruited poor French Muslims to wage jihad in Morocco. Jailed briefly for the murders he orchestrated, Ziyad has been released. His whereabouts are unknown.

Tarik Falah maintains a dual French and Moroccan citizenship. He has been released from prison and his whereabouts are unknown. Redouane Hammadi was a French citizen of Moroccan descent. As a gunner in the 1994 shooting attack on the Atlas-Asni hotel in Marrakech, Morocco, Hammadi was captured by Moroccan authorities. In 1995, he was sentenced to death in a Moroccan court. It is not known whether his execution was actually been carried out.

In that De Fez is primarily a splinter of the Moroccan Salafia Jihadia Group, an introduction to them is in order. Established in the mid 1990s, Salafia Jihadia, meaning the Fight of the Ancestors, is, as their name implies a salafi, or fundamentalist, Islamic terrorist organization. While their doctrines are diametrically opposed, a salafist is to Islam what a disciple is to Christianity. The salaf ancestors were the companions of Muhammad. They alone were responsible for transmitting the oral history of Islam. Without the salaf there would be no Qur'an, no Sira, Ta'rikh, nor Hadith. Without the salaf, there would be no Islam and thus no Islamic terrorism.

Salafia Jihadia's goals continue to be the overthrow of "infidel un-Islamic" governments, whether they be in Africa, the Middle East, or Europe. They use terror as a means to destabilize regimes they consider "corrupt." Salafia Jihadia primarily recruits terrorists from Morocco's slums, which are rife with poverty and display an inadequate access to education. These are the conditions in which fundamentalist Islam flourishes.

Salafia Jihadia is the most popular terrorist organization in Morocco. They are both ally and offshoot of the Moroccan Salafist Group for Call and Combat. Like al-Qaeda, Salfia Jihadia is decentralized. And like them, it is more doctrinal than an organizational. Many see Salafia Jihadia as a network of loosely-affiliated Salafist groups which include al Hijra Wattakfir, Attakfir Bidum Hijra, Assirat al Mustaqim, Ansar al Islam, and the Moroccan Afghans.

In a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, the former Director of the CIA, George Tenet, said that Salafia Jihadia was made up of many small, local, and autonomous cells. He said they received operational help from the Salafist Group for Call and Combat. And while that's true, their strategic and spiritual guidance comes from the Qur'an and Sunnah. Salafia Jihadia is part and parcel of the larger Wahhabi doctrine exported by the fiefdom of Saudi Arabia.

Members of Salafia Jihadia have been charged with arson, thievery, kidnapping, drug dealing, and murder, though the group best known for planning and executing a massive suicide bombing in Casablanca on May 16, 2003 that resulted in 45 casualties. That attack targeted a private Spanish club, the Israeli Alliance Club, a Jewish cemetery, the Belgian consulate, and a hotel popular with businesspeople. All 14 suicide bombers, including the two who backed out at the last minute, were from the same downtrodden Casablanca suburb, Sidi Moumen.

The ruthlessness of that attack in the name of salafi Islam led to a surge in membership as well as to an influx of religious scholars into Salafia Jihadia. Many of them came from the Assirat al Mostaquim (the Straight Path).

Salafia Jihadia's spiritual leader, Muhammad Fizazi, is now serving a sentence of 30 years in prison. Fizazi championed the Wahhabi school of Islam in Morocco. His advocacy of salafi Islam was even endorsed by Moroccan King Hassan, who recognized its growing popularity throughout his fiefdom. It was a deal made with the devil. King Hassan was afraid of the political and religious threats Shi'ite fundamentalists were making on his crown, so invited their chief rival into his kingdom under the auspice of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." He sent Muhammad Fizazi to Saudi Arabia for religious training and to learn indoctrination techniques.

Fizazi would come to call Osama bin Laden a "Companion of the Prophet" - akin to being called a "disciple of Jesus." As such, Muhammad Fizazi said, "All Christians and Jews should have their throats slit." He told Salafia Jihadia's recruits: "to assassinate those who are not good, salafi Muslims... You must love death as much as non-Muslims love life. You must fight the Americans."

Muhammad Atta, the ringleader of the 9/11 suicide bombings that claimed the lives of 3,000 Americans, listened to Muhammad Fizazi. The Islamic imam was a frequent preacher in the al-Qod mosque in Hamburg, Germany, where the Twin Towers plot was conceived and staffed.

Investigations following the devastating March 2004 Madrid train bombings that killed 191 and wounded over 2,000 more Spaniards, uncovered evidence indicating that Muhammad Fizazi and his Salafia Jihadia played a major role in the attack. In fact, Spanish authorities working with their Moroccan counterparts questioned many Moroccans, including several members of Salafia Jihadia, regarding their complicity. One of the investigation's prime suspects was Jamal Zougam, a Moroccan who was spotted on one of the trains shortly before the bombs were detonated. Zougam, who was a member of Salafia Jihadia, planted at least one of the bombs himself.

Jamal Zougam was a disciple of Muhammad Fizazi, and was not only affiliated with Salafia Jihadia, he had close ties with the Salafist Group for Call and Combat. Zougam shared a safehouse with Salafia Jihadia terrorist Abdelaziz Beyaich, who also took part in the Casablanca attack. A wiretap obtained by a French private investigator revealed that Zougam participated in a meeting with Salafia Jihadia leader Muhammad Fizazi in 2001, and that the Islamic imam offered financial support for the terrorist assault on Spanish citizens.

Muhammad Fizazi was finally incarcerated after the Casablanca suicide bombings, in which 12 Muslim bombers murdered 45 civilians. In prison, he has still shown no signs of remorse for having inspired the 9/11 suicide bombing on America, the Madrid train bombings, or of the mass murder of his own people in Casablanca. Such is Islam.