'An aura of threat'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1528725,00.html Jihadist websites offer incitement for potential recruits and intimidation for the wider public, writes Simon Jeffery Thursday July 14, 2005 When Tony Blair spoke yesterday of the need to confront the "perverted and poisonous" doctrines of Islamic extremism, he was concerned mainly with the clerics and ideologues who promote them but, increasingly, the internet now stands by their side. Once there were tapes, videos and leaflets used to bring in new recruits or keep the old ones on message. For extremists, jihadist websites are a step up since they allow all these elements to be combined and accessed by anyone with an internet connection. They also allow the extremists in the field to communicate with their friends and enemies outside. The Iraq war has seen statements and videos, such as that of the horrific execution of British engineer Kenneth Bigley, quickly dispatched to the wider world. The addresses change as security services or individuals chase them from one service provider to the next, but the sites - a mix of articles, photographs and message boards - are as eagerly followed to their new homes by the devotees. Most are in Arabic, large numbers are hosted in south-east Asia, but some are springing up in Europe. There are rumours and suggestions - often unsubstantiated - that the websites are used to pass messages and plan attacks. Sarah McBrien, an intelligence analyst who monitors jihadist websites, disputes this reading, arguing that they mainly serve a propaganda function. "Because a lot of these forums and chatrooms are open access, I'd say one of their main roles is propaganda and incitement to new recruits. They are not asking new recruits to join them because that is just asking to be caught, but they are there trying to radicalise people. "Some statements on the London bombings were posted on closed forums, where the audience are people who are more involved in jihadist movements. But on the open access sites any young boy in the Arab world or in Europe can have a look at them." She says the content can range from ideological articles to sections on how to attack people, or how to survive, eg, by trapping wild animals, for jihadists who might have to live in the countryside for a while. "In a way it is trying to draw young recruits in by making it exciting." The propaganda potential is such that there are competing organisations (not just the monitoring departments of national security services) that seek to suppress them. The Israeli-based Internet Haganah (haganah is the Hebrew word for defence, a name given to the Jewish paramilitary force that became the Israeli army) follows and records the latest developments in the jihadist online world. It then tracks down the service providers and tries to get the websites taken down. Qal3ah is one of the most recent to go. The site claims to be a discussion forum for religious and political views, but it is also known as a place where Islamic extremists go to put themselves in the public domain. Decapitation videos of hostages captured by forces loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi were posted there, as was a claim of responsibility for the London tube and bus bombing on July 7. Qal3ah has been down since July 9. The website may, however, go up again at a different location. Tracking down extremist websites is not a matter of typing keywords into Google. Ms McBrien admits that makes her job more difficult. "I have to find where the websites have been moved to," she says. "They put it on a message board but a lot of the time you have to search quite hard to find where the new ones are going to be." The Middle East Media Research Institute, a US-based group, illustrates some of the dead links associated with the jihadist internet with a July 2004 report on the main websites and their hosts and service providers. Most addresses divert to pages offering the site name for sale, and advertiser links for Jewish singles sites on more than a few of them suggest they are now in different hands. None of this is new. The jihadist websites move to fresh locations and, suggests Ms McBrien, are becoming more and more media savvy, even taking on board techniques more often associated with marketing. She uses the example of the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, who have claimed most of the major jihadist attacks outside Iraq, as well as some events that were not even attacks - such as the 2003 power cuts in Canada and the north-east United States. Yet no one knows if the group exists or, in a very contemporary sense, is simply a brand. "It seems that it is a promotional thing, a marketing thing, to say we're here and we're active," she says. "In the last statement they said the attack had been planned over a long period of time, which is purely aimed at frightening people. It is about an aura of threat." -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. 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