Al Qaeda Disseminates ‘Assassination List' of Prominent American Businessmen, Well-Known Figures

The latest issue of the English-language, Al Qaeda magazine "Inspire," released just days before the 14th anniversary of the attacks on 9/11, includes a kill list of top U.S. economic and business leaders.

NBC News reported that "economic personalities" and "wealthy entrepreneurs" on the list included the Koch brothers, former Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernake, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, investor Warren Buffet and others, misspelling some names and misidentifying some people in pictures.

Image source: Inspire magazine

"We present to you, a model to follow and an assassination list which will help us achieve strategic goals," the introduction paragraph to the "Assassinations: Field Tactics" article, which lists 10 men along with their headshots, stated. "We believe that placing this feasible programme to Lone Mujahideen will allow us to achieve great goals in this war. Whoever understands the components of the American economy knows the importance these personalities play in the revival of the American Economy. The assassination of these economic personalities or their migration from America or the mere fact that they live in insecurity, will later on bring instability to the American economy. The economy is a major component of America's supremacy in the world."

The magazine then says that these men could secure their safety and wealth by:

1. Drawing all their money from American banks, and moving them to banks that are not related to the American stock market.

2. Investing their wealth outside American soil.

3. Declaring via media that the are far from American policies toward Muslim and America's support for Israel.

"There is compelling evidence from the Boston Marathon bombings and other various thwarted terror plots that homegrown jihadists have specifically looked to the magazine for guidance on what targets to attack — and have taken that advice quite literally," NBC counterterrorism analyst Evan Kohlmann said in the news station's report.

CBS News reported that the magazine also called upon African Americans to rise up "against the oppression and injustices directed towards you."

A copy of the September issue titled "Assassination Operations," also includes topics like "Charlie Hebdo Military Analysis" and "Remembering Boston," referencing the attacks on the French satire magazine and the Boston Bombing. The magazine also features a black-and-white image of the World Trade Center twin towers beginning to go down in the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The image is captioned "Some things are too beautiful to be forgotten. Will we ever experience such a sight once more?"