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It’s alarming that the Department of Defense, which invented the Internet (along with Al Gore, of course), seems to understand so little about how it is used for propaganda — terrorist or otherwise. Recent congressional hearings on terrorism and the Internet indicate a Cold War-era mentality among federal policymakers. They seem to view terrorist propaganda efforts as a monolithic “organized framework” orchestrated by a few Goebbels-like masterminds within Al Qaeda.
State Dept. Stands Alone on Virginia Saudi School :: Articles by IPT :: The Investigative Project on Terrorism
High school students in the Wahhabi-led school learn that “the Jews conspired against Islam” and Sunni Muslims should shun all Shia Muslims. They also are taught that killing an apostate or an adulterer is acceptable under Islamic law. [...]
Counterterrorism Blog: Jihad Against Freedom of Speech at the United Nations
The United Nations’ Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has no problem with its members suggesting that the 9/11 attacks were an “inside job” perpetrated by the United States on itself … Denying the role of Jihadists in the 9/11 attacks is apparently perfectly acceptable freedom of [...]
Responsible and effective public order activities will be evidenced by the proactive policing of order, rather than the reactive policing of disorder. What is increasingly looking like the inability on the part of Denver to engage with the protesters and include them in the planning process rather than alienating them does not bode well for proactive policing of order.
From MaineSecurity.com:
The counter-terrorism community is becoming increasingly concerned with “home-grown extremists inspired by militant Islamic ideology” that is operationally controlled by al-Qaeda. This ideology is being spread rapidly throughout the world and here in the United States via the Internet. Read an interesting commentary on this topic entitled “Virtual Jihad”, Forbes.com, May 19, 2008. Read [...]
Combating Terrorism Center: About the Center
“The Power of Truth?”
On 16 December 2007, Ayman al-Zawahiri invited journalists and Jihadist enthusiasts to ask him questions via the primary Jihadist web forums. Zawahiri promised to personally answer some of those questions in a subsequent statement. On 2 April 2008, As-Sahab Media released the first part of Zawahiri’s response [...]
Last week, al-Qaeda’s Deputy in Command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, resumed answering questions previously submitted to Al-Sahab via the internet. His answers and how they have been analyzed and reported by some journalists sheds new light on the growing criticism of the terrorist organization in the “Muslim world”.
The post below is an excerpt of an email published on the Counterterrorism blog, regarding alleged efforts by the government to airbrush the term jihad from the American lexicon:
As a Muslim trying to help America defend itself against the Islamist jihad, I am outraged that our government is letting us down so badly by cozying [...]
What is it with some American politicians and their fawning over terrorists? Has 9/11 become blasé? Jimmy Carter goes on a highly publicized Terror Tourism trip to sit at the feet of Hamas. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley pronounces Weather Underground bomber Bill Ayers a “distinguished” and “valued” member of the Chicago community.
Hailed as “the world’s foremost Islamic scholar” (Wall Street Journal) and as “the doyen of Middle Eastern studies” (New York Times), Princeton Professor Bernard Lewis’s will speak on the current cultural and political environment in the Middle East at this week’s annual conference of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa’s (ASMEA).
Recent debriefings of captured al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq have provided new insight into the importance of insurgent financial networks. Abu Nawall, a captured 28-year-old al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, was responsible for managing the $6 million plus annual budget of the Mosul branch of the Islamic State of Iraq, an insurgent group formed by al-Qaeda. Abu Nawall arranged payments to the 500 plus al-Qaeda fighters in Mosul, insurgents increasingly motivated more by money than ideology. Abu Nawall readily admitted during his interrogation to have joined al-Qaeda because he was out of work and needed the money. Abu Nawall stated “How else could I support my family?”
The new reality of the Middle East presents new challenges to US foreign policy makers as they shape future US engagements and/or disengagements in part or parts of that region. On the other hand, this new reality gives the United States a larger degree of maneuverability unthinkable of few years ago. As intelligence is key to national security strategy-making, so is cultural intelligence essential to the development of foreign policy strategies.
Speaking after the bombing attack on her life when she first returned, she told me that, yes, she was afraid of the assassins bent on killing her, she was afraid of being arrested again, but that she was more afraid of what was happening to her country and she was determined to restore freedom and safety in this land of her children.
The assassination of Benazir Bhutto will unfortunately speed up the destabilization of Pakistan. Bhutto had the potential of winning the upcoming elections and steering the country away from extremism and towards democracy. Her elimination has created a theatre in which the three key players are a discredited Musharraf, an Islamist Sharif, and a Taliban/Al Qaeda coalition. This spells trouble to the U.S. mission in Afghanistan and the war on terror.No matter whether elections are held or whether Musharraf re-imposes emergency rule, the prospects for long term stability in Pakistan are very dim. The United States needs to do several things in the immediate future to help preserve stability.
