Al-Qaeda's new English-language magazine is an "unfortunately well done" publication aimed at convincing Americans to carry out terrorist attacks at home, a top US lawmaker said Monday. Representative Pete Hoekstra, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said "Inspire" magazine showed the group "has shifted its focus" from radicalizing recruits in training camps.
"This is an unfortunately well done magazine that is proof positive that al-Qaeda and its affiliates have launched a direct appeal for Americans to launch small-scale attacks here at home," Hoekstra said in a statement.
"It provides al-Qaeda's warped rationale to carry out the attacks and a how-to guide to get the job done. Now they're just hoping someone picks up a copy and is 'inspired' to do it," he said.
The first edition of Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's (AQAP) Inspire magazine was released on Sunday, according to SITE Intelligence, a US service that monitors Islamist websites.
Inspire -- a 67-page publication provided by SITE from jihadist forums that are sometimes password-protected or otherwise difficult to access -- appears to have been designed with care.
Its cover features an image of a silhouetted man with a rifle under the headline "May Our Souls Be Sacrificed For You!," an article attributed to radical US-Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.
With article titles such as "Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom" by the "The AQ Chef," or a packing list included in "What to Expect in Jihad," parts of the magazine have a friendly, if extremist, scouting manual feel.
