Pat Dollard | Young Americans

The Californian

September 11, 2008

WINCHESTER—- Adam Gadahn, a Winchester native who became a top al-Qaida operative and the first American to be indicted for treason since 1952, may have been killed in an airstrike, according to intelligence experts cited by a British newspaper.

Gadahn is thought to have been killed in an attack launched from a remotely piloted aircraft in January, according to London’s Daily Telegraph newspaper, which cited unnamed Western intelligence sources in Pakistan.

Internet rumors have circulated about Gadahn’s death since February, pointing to a well-trusted Pakistani news report that Gadahn was killed in the same attack that killed high-profile al-Qaida commander Abu Laith al-Libi in Waziristanin January.

The Telegraph article, published Sunday, also cites that late-January attack as the probable demise of Gadahn, who grew up in a reclusive family on a goat farm in the hills of Winchester. At age 17, he converted to Islam and subsequently joined al-Qaida, becoming its top propagandist.

Another telltale sign that Gadahn could be dead is that he has not produced a new video message this week to mark the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, departing from an annual tradition he launched in 2003.

“If there is no message, it will be taken as near-certain confirmation that he is dead —- killed either in a strike by Hellfire missiles, or perhaps by jihadi colleagues who have grown jealous of his success,” the Telegraph reported.

But on Thursday, federal officials said they could not confirm Gadahn’s death.

Laura Eimiller, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Los Angeles office, said officials have yet to receive “conclusive evidence.”

“Our case is open,” Eimiller said. “We are continuing to seek him and seek information from anyone who might have information on his whereabouts.”

In May, several months after initial reports circulated that Gadahn might be dead, the FBI and State Department launched a publicity campaign to spread the word in Afghanistan about a $1 million reward for information on Gadahn’s whereabouts.

“We produced posters and matchbooks, radio ads, requesting information from anyone who might have it,” Eimiller said. “There’s been some information that has come in,� but clearly he’s not been located at this point. We are continuing to take calls and check out every lead.”

Thom Mrozak, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, also said Thursday that his office is treating Gadahn as a fugitive who needs to be captured.

“He remains under indictment,” Mrozak said. “We’re trying to apprehend him or confirm that he has been killed.”

Wanted by the FBI since 2004, Gadahn was charged with treason in 2006. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

In 2006, Gadahn appeared in a 48-minute video and called on his countrymen to convert to Islam and for U.S. soldiers to switch sides in the Iraq and Afghan wars.

While discussing civilian casualties in Iraq, he said, “It’s hard to imagine that any compassionate person could see pictures of what the crusaders did to those children, and not want to go on a shooting spree at the Marines’ housing facilities at Camp Pendleton.”

Over the years, attempts by The Californian to speak to the Gadahn family have not been successful, but a 10,000-word article in The New Yorker magazine in January 2007 focuses exclusively on Adam Gadahn and his evolution from a shy and intelligent boy who played Little League baseball and attended area Christian homeschooling support groups to “Azzam the American.”

As he grew up, he became disillusioned with his life in Southwest County, the article states.

“He’d be just like, ‘We live out here in this area that’s the end of the universe. Most of the people around me are brain-dead, nobody cares about anything that’s going on, we’re wrecking everything that’s good, all the trees are disappearing, everything is being turned into suburbs. I feel like I’m the only one who notices this,’” recounted a friend of Gadahn to the magazine.

Gadahn moved to Santa Ana and joined the Islamic Society of Orange County, but ultimately was expelled for attacking one of its leaders.

His mother last spoke to him by phone in March 2001. At the time he was in Pakistan, working at a newspaper, and his wife was getting ready to have a child.

The Associated Press contributed to the report.