The recent issue of Sawt al-Jihad ("Voice of Jihad"), which is identified with Al-Qa'ida, published an article titled "A Letter to the Wife of the Slain Pagan Paul Johnson from the Wife of One of the Martyrs." [1] This letter celebrates the murder of the American hostage Paul Johnson in Saudi Arabia. The anonymous letter is attributed to the wife of one of the terrorists killed by the Saudi Security forces. The following are excerpts from the letter: [2]
'The Blood of Your Husband is the Blood of a Dog because He is an Idolatrous Infidel'
"I have heard that you appeared on television feigning innocence and wondering haughtily what was your husband's sin and what was his crime. I believe you are not ignorant of the fact that he was one of the greatest criminals indeed, although he is not considered that according to your standards, you infidels. For you call the criminal innocent and the innocent one, defending his rights – criminal. Or else, what was the purpose of your husband's work with the Apache helicopters? Have you ever believed that these helicopters hover over Afghanistan, Palestine, and Iraq to shower flowers and sweets over the heads of our children there? Or do you know that they throw on them rockets and bombs in order to turn their streets and homes into ashes upon which their corpses become coal? Is his work above reproach, then? Or was he innocent, while he worked on this kind of airplane [sic]?
"Do you know that my husband was killed before my eyes in his homeland? Do you know that those who killed him are security people trained to defend the imperialists and to frighten and kill the Muslim people of the country? When your husband was taken hostage, there was much talk and the world was shaken. However, these same people did not speak half as much when America, the so-called country of justice and liberty, has been detaining more than 600 Muslims in Cuba for the past three years. That is besides our prisoners in Iraq, Pakistan, the land of the Two Sacred Mosques [Saudi Arabia], Jordan, and other places.
"You should know that our brethren whom you detain in your prisons and our brethren whom your husband used to burn with his helicopters are not alone. Rather, there are hearts pounding with love for them, just as you have demonstrated that you have loved your slain husband. Nay, we love them more than you can imagine because the blood of a Muslim is for us more precious than the Ka'ba , but the blood of your husband is the blood of a dog because he is an idolatrous infidel."
'The Corpse of Your Husband shall be followed by Mountains of Corpses'
"Do you know that we have not done anything [yet] about the blood of Muslims and the blood of my husband that was shed for no reason. We are just getting started and the corpse of your husband shall be followed by mountains of corpses of his countrymen, until they leave the country of our Prophet, Allah's prayer and peace upon him, lowly and humiliated. How can you claim innocence for your husband, Allah's curse on him, while you have been hearing the warnings of the Mujahideen calling you to leave our country that is forbidden for you? You however shut your ears and went obstinately with your wrongdoing. This is your penalty. May you shed tears mixed with blood, just as we wept blood because of your airplanes and your troops.
"When my husband was killed you certainly were not interested, nor did you know about it; and if you had known, you probably would have been pleased that he was killed before he reached your husband and his countrymen. However, I find solace in the fact that the Mujahideen were able to reach their target with precision, and they killed your husband by slaughtering him. By Allah, on that day I rejoiced a lot because the real terrorist was killed having been gorged with the blood of our Muslim children."
'We Hate You, Infidels, and We Loathe You to the Bone'
"I don't know whether you know that we hate you, infidels, and we loathe you to the bone. How could we not, while you are given preference over us even in our own country? For a long time did one of our airplanes hover to search for your husband while he was held hostage? There was much talk – even by people who pretend to be Muslim clerics – about negotiating with the Mujahideen, in order to persuade them to set your husband free. But my husband, they prevented us from praying over him, even after his death, and they did not give us his pure body [for burial]. We rely only on Allah to [punish] those who wronged us for the purpose of pleasing your husband and his likes. None has uttered a word about my husband even though everybody knew my husband and attested to his righteousness. That was because of fear of their goddess, America.
"Tell the government, which has appointed itself over us [i.e. the Saudi government], that what they do with our youth who are engaged in Jihad is good: If you kill them, you thereby send them to heaven in the shortest way, Allah willing; and if you let them stay alive, not having overcome them, that is fine for they will fight you and will force out the infidels form the land of Islam.
"By the Mother of the Martyr" [3]
[1] It should be noted that whereas the headline states that the letter is by the wife of one of the martyrs and the phrase "my husband" occurs 6 times in the letter, at the end of the letter there is a byline stating, "by the martyr's mother."
[2] Sawt al-Jihad, issue no. 21.
[3] The following is a footnote appended at this point in the original: "This article reached us shortly after the slaying of Paul Marshal [sic], but its publication was delayed due to special circumstances."
