This article is from the archive of our partner .
The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder reports that the first-ever English-language magazine purportedly written by al-Qaeda officials has surfaced in the vibrant online jihadi community. The magazine, "Inspire," contains such violent (and unintentionally, one assumes, humorous) tips as "how to make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom." If the magazine is real, it raises an interesting question: What exactly happens at the Inspire editorial meetings? A number of foreign affairs journalists, combining their knowledge of terrorism with their experience at editorial meetings, are venturing a few guesses.
"What if we put Osama on the cover of every issue? Worked for Oprah." #inspireeditorialmeetings
Can we get a fatwa on what constitutes a halal sports section? It can't just be bouzkashi! #inspireeditorialmeetings
How can we fact check whether the "bomb in the kitchen of your mom" recipe works? #inspireeditorialmeetings
"I dunno, I feel like this 'The Jihadi case for Israel' piece is just sort of contrarian for its own sake..." #inspireeditorialmeetings
"I'm sorry, Ayman, but we're can't publish your piece on Yemeni basketweaving as jihad. It's too in the weeds." #inspireeditorialmeetings
"AP or Chicago Manual of Style? Which one is under the thumb of the global Zionist conspiracy?" #inspireeditorialmeetings
"Yeah, I didn't like the hed either, but Osama's really attached to it. He thinks that pun is hilarious." #inspireeditorialmeetings
"You know we should really get Mark Thiessen to do a guest op-ed." #inspireeditorialmeetings
"Did you pick up the phone or did you just pull this quote from Zawahiri's press release?" #inspireeditorialmeetings
I'm looking forward to the spinoff, al Qat Fancy
This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.