Today, The News, one of Pakistan’s largest newspapers, published this report by Amir Mir on Sanafi al Nasr noting the death of six al Qaeda operatives. An excerpt of the article, titled “Six top al-Qaeda leaders droned in Waziristan,” is below:
The al-Qaeda has confirmed that the recent US drone strikes had killed six of its leaders in the Datta Khel area of North Waziristan, which used to be administered by Hafiz Gul Bahadur — once considered to be a “good Taliban” by the Pakistani establishment.
These six al-Qaeda leaders were killed in the July 10 drone strike that took place in the Doga Mada Khel village in North Waziristan Agency’s Datta Khel area — a well-known hub of al-Qaeda, Haqqani Network, Tehrik-e-Taliban and the Lashkar-e-Zil.
Some of the top al-Qaeda leaders killed in drone strikes in Datta Khel also included Mustafa Abu Yazid, the chief operational commander of al-Qaeda and a close aide of Osama bin Laden, who had claimed responsibility for the 2007 murder of Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi.
Others killed in the July 10 drone strike could not be identified at that time because their bodies were immediately removed from the scene. However, 10 days later, Sanafi al Nasr, the head of al Qaeda’s “Victory Committee”, who is based in Syria and has close ties with al-Qaeda’s general command in Pakistan, has stated that six of his “dearest comrades” were killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan.
Nasr, a Saudi national whose real name is Abdul Mohsin Abdullah Ibrahim Al Sharikh, being the leader of the “Victory Committee”, is responsible for developing and implementing al-Qaeda’s strategy and policies.
If that sounds familiar, it is because The Long War Journal first reported on Sanafi al Nasr’s tweets about the six al Qaeda operatives on July 20.
Amir Mir has copied from The Long War Journal. For example, consider our description of Sanafi al Nasr: “As the leader of the Victory Committee, Nasr is responsible for developing and implementing al Qaeda’s strategy and policies.”
Now here is Mir’s description [emphasis added]: “Nasr, a Saudi national whose real name is Abdul Mohsin Abdullah Ibrahim Al Sharikh, being the leader of the ‘Victory Committee’, is responsible for developing and implementing al-Qaeda’s strategy and policies.”
Our description of Nasr is not based on open sources, or on anything al Qaeda has reported. Nasr’s responsibilities were described to us by US intelligence officials who track al Qaeda closely. In other words, there is no other place Mir could have gotten this information, let alone the exact wording we used, other than from The Long War Journal.
This isn’t the first time we have detected Mir doing this. For instance, on April 25, 2013, Mir published a report at The News on Abdullah Adam, al Qaeda’s intelligence chief, who was killed in a US drone strike. His report was printed one day after LWJ published an account that noted the reports of Adam’s death and also provided a full background on the leader. Amir Mir merely rewrote large sections of LWJ’s report and used it as his own, without citations.
And, on Jan. 4, 2013, after the US killed Mullah Nazir in a drone strike, Amir Mir also lifted large sections of LWJ reporting on Nazir and Pakistan’s views of the “good Taliban” vs. the” bad Taliban.” See this LWJ report from Jan. 3, 2013 to understand where Mir got his “inspiration.”
We know for a fact that Mir reads LWJ. For instance, in this piece about the supposed split within the Pakistani Taliban that was published on Dec. 9, 2012, Mir cites and quotes LWJ four times. We encourage him to credit LWJ reporting in the future instead of using it as his own.
Updated:
Dawn, which originally cited The News as the source of its article on the report of the six al Qaeda leaders who were killed, has now credited LWJ as the source of its report. You can read Dawn‘s article here.
Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
14 Comments
Ha, ha … I’m glad they are reading the LWJ but they obviously weren’t taught the rules about plagiarism in college, according to the American standards. đ Reminds me of grad students I encountered in the Middle East who thought copy pasting from Google was writing a research paper. What do you mean it’s not my work? they asked. I did all the hard work of looking it up on Google and finding what to copy paste into my paper!!
This is a perfect example of how the corruption and lack of ethics in one country can affect someone in another.
Amir Mir and The News are a very good representation of the corrupt nature of the prominent class in Pakistan an their institutions, whether private or governmental. These people have little or no ethics. This is one of the reasons why Pakistan is in the state it is, and why the Taliban and other groups are fighting to bring down this unethical, unjust and immoral establishment. The only reason this corrupt establishment is holding on is because of the support from the West.
You reap what you sow. đ
The updated online version does give credit to LWJ. Dawn’s republication of your story gives it a much wider audience, which is useful.
Plagiarism never gets one very far. I hope he takes your advice and starts to properly source his work.
David,
We do not or have not had an issue with Dawn; Dawn originally picked up its report from The News and cited it as such.
Dawn did the right thing and updated its article, but Amir Mir’s article at The News still does not cite LWJ.
“Mr. Ten Percent” is taken.
We have to come up with something else for this guy.
Abu Adam
“This is one of the reasons why Pakistan is in the state it is, and why the Taliban and other groups are fighting to bring down this unethical, unjust and immoral establishment.”
You must be kidding me. Since when is the Taliban fighting to bring down the corrupt to impose an ethical, just and moral establishment?
With respect to the article, isn’t this what we expect from duplicitous Pakistanis. No shock or surprise here.
The fact that Pakistani newspaper are lifting your reports says quite a deal about your site’ s honesty and attempt to report the news accurately “without fear or favor” . With your reports being accepted in a predominantly Islamic country such as Pakistan, it shows you are doing a great job of reporting the news with credibility.
Abu Adam has been trolling around LWJ lately, throwing out his salafiist/takfiri b.s, to try to make a splash.
I would remind Abu Adam and others like him of the original articles content. 6 of your “closest brothers,” POOF
Gone, Pink mist. Gotta love it.
Now, I’m near certain that a hellfire missile or 8 shoved straight up your jihadi brethrens’ collective tailpipes does NOT make a poof! sound, when it hits. In fact I would bet that there’s no sound at all. And then a very big boom and a very hot fireball.
After all the reporting that LWJ has done on Af/Pak, and terror in general, it’s bound to have made some admirers like amir
Evan,
We are winning! You and your types are loosing! đ People like you can’t win anything…you love life too much! đ
You ran away from Iraq, and it is now in our hands. Syria is ours! You are running away in Afghanistan. Pakistan will be ours soon too. đ We are taking over and you are packing up and going home. đ
Abu Adam,
This is fun, I’ve never actually gotten to talk to one of the enemy. I think you’re a bit silly though…and shortsighted.
Abu, we don’t necessarily need to “be” anywhere to kill you and/or your buddies. We can very easily do that from a long, long way away, while in complete safety and comfort. Can you? No, you can’t. Or, we can make things a touch more intimate and send a message. Maybe send in a few SEAL’s or Delta boys, get up close and personal, and make it look like your rivals did it. Can you do that Abu? No, you can’t.
The point is, we have lots and lots of options Abu, and here you are, mucking up one of the best, if not the best, sites on the Internet, and counting your chickens waaaaaaayyyy before they’ve hatched.
You think we are worried about you and your sort? Think again Abu, in fact, just go ahead and reevaluate entirely everything you think you know about my country and my people. You don’t know squat, you’re totally unprepared.
It’s laughable to think that you and your kind are “winning.”
Abu, your jihad has been hijacked…. You’ve all been played, like fools, one against the other, for years now.
We’ve got your number Abu, and the schism is just the beginning of your inevitable downfall and defeat.
Evan,
Killing us is not a problem for us. The war against people like you will go on until the day of judgment. We will kill you and you will kill us.
What is important is that we have succeeded in sending you whipped cowards home, and we have prevented you from controlling any territory. You ran home to mommy!
I have been around people like you long enough to know that you are nothing more than cowards, who are afraid of dying. My goodness, man, you are all afraid of your own women. How can you fight anyone, except from places where you feel safe and secure? If you don’t control territory, you have nothing. You have won nothing.
When you were here, you hid in your bases, and you only came out for the media show, surrounded by choppers and at least three rings of defense. You love life like we love death. You can only kill from a distance. đ
We are here and controlling land and resources, and there is nothing you can do about, except maybe killing a few of us here and there. This is not a problem at all. We expect this. đ
We sent you running in Afghanistan and in Iraq. We are still there controlling territory and resources.
With all your sophisticated technology and weapons and tens of thousand of soldier, you achieved nothing. đ We are still here and controlling territory and resources.
By the way, you’re also running out of money. Your country is a mess. You’re turning into a third world country. You are coming apart from within. đ You poor schmuck!
Hey Evan,
Check this out!
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/07/28/war-on-waste-pentagon-auditor-spotlights-us-billions-blown-in-afghanistan/
Now in 2014, the US is no longer feared or
admired as it was at the turn of the century.
The Mujahideen have succeeded in exposing
America to the world as the paper tiger they
had always believed it to be. US attempts to
intimidate the rest of the world, particularly the
Muslim world with its invasions of Afghanistan
and Iraq, have backfired disastrously. Despite
possessing the most technologically advanced
military in history, whose âShock and Aweâ
tactics are supposedly so powerful that they
can bring regimes down to their knees in a
matter of weeks, it has failed miserably to
hold on to any territory that the lightly armed
Mujahideen chose to contest.
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq resulted in a
complete failure for the US. After having been
haunted everywhere by the incessant attacks in
Iraq, it fled the country a few years ago, and this
year, it is fleeing from Afghanistan. The stated
goals of the US in Afghanistan were to destroy
Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, but since 2001, Al-
Qaeda has spread throughout the world, not
only as an organisation but also as a manhaj
(methodology). The Taliban have proved to
the world that the US is not to be feared, and
that they can be defeated through a sustained
guerrilla war. Much of Afghanistan is effectively
under Talibanâs shadow government and once
the US leaves, it is only a matter of time until
the entire nation is once again ruled by the
Taliban In Sha Allah I. A recent US intelligence
report itself declared that by the year 2017, the
Taliban will have undone any gains that were
made by the US and its allies.
The American people have grown tired of their
governmentâs hopeless foreign adventures
in the Muslim world. American parents no
longer want to send their sons and daughters
to be cannon fodder in their governmentâs
imperialistic wars. Thousands of US soldiers
have died in Afghanistan and Iraq, and tens
of thousands have returned injured. Then
there is the untold story of veterans who had
witnessed horrific crimes committed against
innocent people, whose memories haunt them
and drive them out of their minds and into a
state of despair that leads to the murder of
close ones and even suicide. On the economic
front, the US is in turmoil. Its wars against the
Muslim Ummah have and will continue to cost
it trillions of dollars. Its national debt currently
stands above $16 trillion. The global financial
crisis affected the US more than any other
nation and showed how much the US and its
people have been living far beyond their means.
The gap between rich and poor is widening;
while their elite live in lavish extravagance, the
majority drown in interest-based debt.
The US claimed that it was the bearer and
exporter of what it terms âhuman rightsâ.
However, during its âWar on Terrorâ, it has
shown that there are no bounds of inhumane
treatment that they will not cross. The world
has witnessed their abuses in Abu Ghraib, their
legalisation of torture euphemistically termed
âEnhanced Interrogation Techniquesâ, their
abduction (so-called âExtraordinary Renditionâ)
of Muslims to secret prisons, their detainment
of child prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, and their
murder of countless innocent civilians in Iraq
and Afghanistan among other places. Whereas
once the US had deceived much of the world
into believing it was a force for good, now the
US is seen as one of the worldâs leading violators
of human rights.
As a result of these ânew realitiesâ, such as its
defeats in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US has
declared that it will be reducing its military force
and will not be planning any more long-term
wars. In recognition of just how much things
have changed, US Defence Secretary Chuck
Hagel has announced his plans to shrink the US
peace-time Army to its smallest size since 1940,
stating, ââŚafter Iraq and Afghanistan, we are no
longer sizing the military to conduct long and
large stability operationsâ. As the US has lost
the will to fight, it has been seeking methods of
warfare that donât put its soldiersâ lives on the
line. This is manifested in many ways, including
its increasing reliance on drones as can be seen
in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia,