J-10
03-11-2005, 11:24 PM
Iraqi insurgents put the Web in their arsenal
By Robert F. Worth The New York Times
Saturday, March 12, 2005
BAGHDAD It is an all too familiar ritual. Hours after an attack on an American convoy or an Iraqi police patrol, a brief statement begins appearing on Islamist Web sites claiming the attack was carried out by fighters loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraq's most wanted man.
.
But in the last two weeks something has changed. Every day now, new messages appear on the Web offering encouragement to resistance fighters, and last week Zarqawi's group started an Internet magazine.
.
Other Islamist groups are joining the effort, including one calling itself the Jihadist Information Brigade.
.
The Iraqi insurgency appears to have mounted a full-scale propaganda war.
.
And while the methods are not new - most militant groups now rely on the Web to recruit new adherents - the recent flurry of propaganda from Iraq has a distinctly defensive sound. The violence here has not let up, but the relatively peaceful elections, and the new movements toward democracy in other Arab countries, appear to have had a dispiriting effect on the insurgents, terrorism analysts say.
.
"I think they feel they are losing the battle," said Rita Katz, director of the SITE Institute, an American nonprofit group that monitors Islamist Web sites and news operations. "They realize there will be a new government soon, and they seem very nervous about the future."
.
One recent Web posting, for instance, angrily disputed "the infidels' claim that the mujahedeen are weakened and their attacks are fewer." Another insisted that Zarqawi is "in good health" and still planning operations. Yet another warned against recent entreaties to insurgents to "sit down at the bargaining table" with Americans and their allies.
.
It is hard, of course, to be certain of the authenticity of Internet postings. But American officials say those that appear with the Zarqawi logo seem to be credible, and that has led them to conclude that he does indeed have a news operation.
.
Even before the January election, Zarqawi released a tape of a lengthy didactic speech explaining why democracy was heretical. The new Internet magazine repeats some of that material and makes further efforts to persuade Iraqis that when it is finally formed, the new elected government will not be legitimate.
.
Zarqawi's group, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, is also making efforts to cast itself as a defender of Muslim lives. After an attack Wednesday on a hotel in central Baghdad, the group quickly released an Internet statement taking responsibility.
.
It noted, "As for the time, the deadly attack should always be before the start of the working day so that it won't harm Muslims who are passing by."
.
Last week, the Zarqawi group quickly denied news reports that it was responsible for a suicide car bomb in Hilla that killed 136 people. The attack was aimed at police and army recruits gathering outside a clinic, but many civilians, including women and children, were also killed. Residents of Hilla staged large and angry demonstrations against the violence that was featured on Arabic satellite television stations and Web sites.
.
The Zarqawi group's denial noted, correctly, that it had taken responsibility for a separate attack on the same day aimed at American soldiers in southern Baghdad, not for the Hilla attack.
.
Terrorist groups around the world rely increasingly on Internet chat rooms, more anonymous than traditional Web sites, to recruit fighters and to communicate with one another.
.
Zarqawi became widely known last year after his group released a videotape of the beheading of an American hostage, Nicholas Berg, and in a sense he is simply bringing his news operation up a notch. But the jihadists seem highly sensitive to perceptions that they have been weakened or demoralized in recent weeks.
.
Many of the groups' new messages, for instance, refer to American claims that some of Zarqawi's loyalists have been captured, and that the noose is tightening around him.
.
The jihadists often complain that their own successes are not getting enough play. "Where are the media correspondents in Iraq, and where is the media coverage in Mosul, Anbar, Diyala, Samarra, Basra and southern Baghdad?" they demanded in a statement Monday.
.
To some extent, the insurgents are creating their own media coverage, and successfully. After the hotel attack Wednesday in Baghdad, for instance, the group quickly issued their own videotape of the bombing, along with statements explaining why and how they chose their target. Within hours, all of it was appearing not only on Arabic Web sites and chat rooms, but on television stations and even in some Western news reports.
.
But just in case, they are adding a forum of their own as well. The new Internet magazine is called Zurwat Al Sanam, Arabic for "the top of the camel's hump," a metaphorical phrase meaning the ideal of Islamic belief and practice.
.
Like other Qaeda-linked Web publications, the new magazine is partly a reaction against the Arab state media, which often refuse to acknowledge terrorist attacks, said Michael Doran, a professor of Near East Studies at Princeton University who monitors traffic on Islamist Web sites and chat rooms.
.
But the new propaganda effort may also be motivated by a belief that as the war grinds on, it may get harder to recruit foreign fighters, said Katz, of SITE, or Search for International Terrorist Entities. For that reason, the insurgent groups appear to be focusing more on winning and retaining the sympathies of Iraqis, she added.
.
It is impossible to say how successful these Internet appeals will be. But one thing is clear: the Internet is a two-way mirror, allowing outsiders a fuller view of the insurgents' ideas.
.
On Wednesday, for example, a message was posted on an Islamist Internet message board pointing out that the recent shooting of a newly freed Italian hostage had increased political pressures on Italy to withdraw its troops from Iraq. The writer proposed taking another Italian hostage in Iraq to "add fuel to the fire while it is hot" and perhaps force Italy out of Iraq.
.
That posting drew a response from Abu Maysar al-Iraqi, the pen name of the spokesman for Zarqawi's group. He promised to "repeat the nightmare, again and again."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/03/11/news/prop.html
By Robert F. Worth The New York Times
Saturday, March 12, 2005
BAGHDAD It is an all too familiar ritual. Hours after an attack on an American convoy or an Iraqi police patrol, a brief statement begins appearing on Islamist Web sites claiming the attack was carried out by fighters loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraq's most wanted man.
.
But in the last two weeks something has changed. Every day now, new messages appear on the Web offering encouragement to resistance fighters, and last week Zarqawi's group started an Internet magazine.
.
Other Islamist groups are joining the effort, including one calling itself the Jihadist Information Brigade.
.
The Iraqi insurgency appears to have mounted a full-scale propaganda war.
.
And while the methods are not new - most militant groups now rely on the Web to recruit new adherents - the recent flurry of propaganda from Iraq has a distinctly defensive sound. The violence here has not let up, but the relatively peaceful elections, and the new movements toward democracy in other Arab countries, appear to have had a dispiriting effect on the insurgents, terrorism analysts say.
.
"I think they feel they are losing the battle," said Rita Katz, director of the SITE Institute, an American nonprofit group that monitors Islamist Web sites and news operations. "They realize there will be a new government soon, and they seem very nervous about the future."
.
One recent Web posting, for instance, angrily disputed "the infidels' claim that the mujahedeen are weakened and their attacks are fewer." Another insisted that Zarqawi is "in good health" and still planning operations. Yet another warned against recent entreaties to insurgents to "sit down at the bargaining table" with Americans and their allies.
.
It is hard, of course, to be certain of the authenticity of Internet postings. But American officials say those that appear with the Zarqawi logo seem to be credible, and that has led them to conclude that he does indeed have a news operation.
.
Even before the January election, Zarqawi released a tape of a lengthy didactic speech explaining why democracy was heretical. The new Internet magazine repeats some of that material and makes further efforts to persuade Iraqis that when it is finally formed, the new elected government will not be legitimate.
.
Zarqawi's group, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, is also making efforts to cast itself as a defender of Muslim lives. After an attack Wednesday on a hotel in central Baghdad, the group quickly released an Internet statement taking responsibility.
.
It noted, "As for the time, the deadly attack should always be before the start of the working day so that it won't harm Muslims who are passing by."
.
Last week, the Zarqawi group quickly denied news reports that it was responsible for a suicide car bomb in Hilla that killed 136 people. The attack was aimed at police and army recruits gathering outside a clinic, but many civilians, including women and children, were also killed. Residents of Hilla staged large and angry demonstrations against the violence that was featured on Arabic satellite television stations and Web sites.
.
The Zarqawi group's denial noted, correctly, that it had taken responsibility for a separate attack on the same day aimed at American soldiers in southern Baghdad, not for the Hilla attack.
.
Terrorist groups around the world rely increasingly on Internet chat rooms, more anonymous than traditional Web sites, to recruit fighters and to communicate with one another.
.
Zarqawi became widely known last year after his group released a videotape of the beheading of an American hostage, Nicholas Berg, and in a sense he is simply bringing his news operation up a notch. But the jihadists seem highly sensitive to perceptions that they have been weakened or demoralized in recent weeks.
.
Many of the groups' new messages, for instance, refer to American claims that some of Zarqawi's loyalists have been captured, and that the noose is tightening around him.
.
The jihadists often complain that their own successes are not getting enough play. "Where are the media correspondents in Iraq, and where is the media coverage in Mosul, Anbar, Diyala, Samarra, Basra and southern Baghdad?" they demanded in a statement Monday.
.
To some extent, the insurgents are creating their own media coverage, and successfully. After the hotel attack Wednesday in Baghdad, for instance, the group quickly issued their own videotape of the bombing, along with statements explaining why and how they chose their target. Within hours, all of it was appearing not only on Arabic Web sites and chat rooms, but on television stations and even in some Western news reports.
.
But just in case, they are adding a forum of their own as well. The new Internet magazine is called Zurwat Al Sanam, Arabic for "the top of the camel's hump," a metaphorical phrase meaning the ideal of Islamic belief and practice.
.
Like other Qaeda-linked Web publications, the new magazine is partly a reaction against the Arab state media, which often refuse to acknowledge terrorist attacks, said Michael Doran, a professor of Near East Studies at Princeton University who monitors traffic on Islamist Web sites and chat rooms.
.
But the new propaganda effort may also be motivated by a belief that as the war grinds on, it may get harder to recruit foreign fighters, said Katz, of SITE, or Search for International Terrorist Entities. For that reason, the insurgent groups appear to be focusing more on winning and retaining the sympathies of Iraqis, she added.
.
It is impossible to say how successful these Internet appeals will be. But one thing is clear: the Internet is a two-way mirror, allowing outsiders a fuller view of the insurgents' ideas.
.
On Wednesday, for example, a message was posted on an Islamist Internet message board pointing out that the recent shooting of a newly freed Italian hostage had increased political pressures on Italy to withdraw its troops from Iraq. The writer proposed taking another Italian hostage in Iraq to "add fuel to the fire while it is hot" and perhaps force Italy out of Iraq.
.
That posting drew a response from Abu Maysar al-Iraqi, the pen name of the spokesman for Zarqawi's group. He promised to "repeat the nightmare, again and again."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/03/11/news/prop.html