This is absolutely inexcusable and inexplicable, and is probably yet another manifestation of the utter misapprehension of the nature of the jihad threat that prevails in Washington. Probably the learned analysts were so busy telling each other that the mujahedin were against all manifestations of modernity, as if they were some violent Amish subspecies, that they didn't have time to notice their sophisticated use of the Internet -- which we have noted here for quite some time. That use extends not only to proselytizing, recruitment, and education, but also to sophisticated information transfer procedures. From the World Tribune, with thanks to Fjordman:
WASHINGTON — Despite its military superiority, the United States has failed to stop Al Qaida's growing exploitation of the Internet as the group's primary means of recruitment, information and financing."Its use of the Internet is interesting," said Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy director for policy and plans at Central Command. "It uses the Internet to recruit, to train, to proselytize, in some methods to hand out orders and instructions. It uses it for financing. It uses it to show its latest videos to the world."
While he singled out no U.S. successes in thwarting Al Qaida's low-overhead exploitation of the Internet, a global networking resource made possible the Pentagon, Kimmitt was not ready to throw in the towel, Middle East Newsline reported.
"While we find it to be particularly clever, we don't find it to be invincible, and we will continue to defeat it," Kimmitt said.
Over the last few weeks, Al Qaida has sought to recruit experts in Internet and cellular phone technology. On Feb. 19, the so-called Global Islamic Media Front posted a call on the Internet for experts in photography by mobile phone and video camera to "spy on the enemy and expose his ignominy and shame, for us to publish to the masses."
This comes as no surprise to me, considering how easily my own offer of service to both the CIA and NSA were overlooked or ignored or forgotten since I first made them directly following 9/11.
The sad truth is that our government and military have many weak links that are making very bad choices based on both ill-education and small-minded thinking.
One phrase particularly catches my eye, regarding the use of phone cameras to "spy on the enemy and expose his ignominy and shame, for us to publish to the masses."
And this will result in what, exactly? the exposure of another Abu Ghraib? Collateral damage following some firefight in which Allah's "warriors" use women and children as human shields? While I'm totally willing to believe, if still unable to understand, that there could be a howl of outrage, where is the outrage over over the beheaded journalists, missionaries and non-Moslems?
The Jihadis seem to be feeding off of the David and Goliath mentality, in which any success is seen as a sign of their god's favor and in which their own sense of righteousness is used to excuse or to blame any event as they see fit.
What if, however, this process were to be interdicted? What if small phone cameras were used by victims of Jihad, to record and broadcast to the world, indeed to be inserted into Jihadi websites, in order to show the true means that Jihadis exploit to reach their ends? Is it possible that maybe the residue of conscience might be raised in some number of these people and divert them from this path? Is it possible that the wider world will come to know the true face of Islam?
This sounds like propaganda to me, we are all powerful, they can not stop us, we know their deep secrets. If they are so powerful why haven't I been hacked? I trash talk ol mo and islam every day, hack me big bad islamic web hero. Why are sites like this one always on line? Maybe they are lying about their abilities. True, they have bunches of web pages but they are mirrors, the same crap over and over. Most are not in English and it doesn’t matter how many pages are on line what matters more is how much traffic they receive. If we had real gonads we would copy the sites and mirror even more of them, all we would need to do is change a few explosive formulas so anyone stupid enough to build a bomb would blow themselves up. How big is the global islamic media front? ? Two teens and a computer? I have seen the stuff they make, low quality and a tendency to use the same media over and over, all indications of a second year graphics arts student and a low budget.
Bigdog, at first I thought you were being a smart aleck. But now I realize, you make a whole lot of sense. And by the way to all, I thought the West and what, with all it's evil technology wasn't conducive with islam.
Bigdog-
No way would the government do that - it could actually WORK.
Really, Robert, you do yourself a disservice with your comments on this article. The military and other agencies are more than aware that muj use the internet. The challenge has been to coordinate an effective response (note the effective, not merely an action for action's sake), and that is nowhere near as easy as it looks on the surface.
bigdog, by all means, go for it. There's considerable room for private efforts in this war.
All kinds of unemployed, underemployed computer experts, who deserve to be employed, and fully, should receive some of that fortune being spent by the Pentagon on various dubious and cost-ineffective entrprises (did I mention the creation of Iraq as a Light-Unto-the-Muslim-Nations? Try and stop me if you've heard about that before at this website).
While we are at it, the Pentagon, or a foundation, or someone should come to the economic rescuie, by god, of underemployed strategists of the Old School, who graduated before Professors Machiavelli, Mahan, and MacKinder had retired (and that's just those whose names begin with "M")? Don't we deserve it?
We do.
Bigdog,
I can just see it now, the crazy mobots in their caves turn on their laptops ready for their Mission Impossible files to open and show them which unclean infidel gets it next and this pops up
http://www.zombietime.com/mohammed_image_archive/extreme_mohammed/
or this
http://muhammad-cartoon.com/displayimage.php?album=search&cat=0&pos=1
or these with aisha
http://info.pravdaoislamu.cz/index.php/2006/01/31/nakresli-si-sveho-mohameda-vysledky/
They'd probably empty a couple clips into their infidel computers...that'd slow their jihad down pretty quick.
The cruel irony here is that they probably picked up all their IT skills in their US/Western educations.
Internet Haganah's tally of jihadist websites down as of today: 786
3. Who is Internet Haganah? Internet Haganah is a small band of researchers, analysts, translators and consultants located in North America, Europe and the Middle East. We associate and collaborate with each other as necessitated by our common desire to do more than just watch Islamic extremists as they use the internet. We share an understanding that a jihad, or holy war, has been declared against the West, and these jihadists need to be met on whatever field of battle they may appear. Internet Haganah is also the 30,000 people who read this website each month and especially those readers who act on the information we provide here.
5. What are those little blue things on the Internet page? They are little blue AK-47 assault rifles, and we adopted them a couple of years ago when we wanted a graphical way to represent the removal of a jihadist site from a webserver. Internet Haganah is responsible for many, but by no means all, of the Little Blue AK's that have been posted on this site over the last two and a half years. We view this as a collective, global effort to defeat the global jihad.
Just sayin', Gen. Kimmitt
Congress should issue an cybernetic 'Letter of Marque and Reprisal' perhaps?
ugh.
...issue a cybernetic...
"unemployed, underemployed computer experts, who deserve to be employed"
If they are truly experts, they are employed. Anything else is socialism, albeit "war socialism," something I'm certain Profs. Machiavelli and Mahan didn't approve of.
Internet Haganah does good work, but 786 downed sites are 787 sites on new servers. I'm all for such harassment, and IH are very good at it. Even more, I relish not only taking them down, but messing them. But that won't take the muj off the web, and it's probably delusional to think they can ever be taken off the web in any significant way.
"If they are truly experts, they are employed."
Ah, but employed at what? ;)
Ha, Ha. To think that the US military or any military can stop someone posting something on a website is ludicrous. The servers that host the websites are in countries we have no access to. We can track the websites' origins but its much harder to track down actual people that use them if they are in a different country where we have no jurisdiction. Contrary to what Robert Spencer and others imply, the terrorists are mere ants when it comes to computer know-how. They may threaten all they want, but they can do little against us. Even the best hackers today (Europeans) are merely virus writers that have less and less impact as the public buys more and more antivirus software. The only thing the terrorists are adept at is using the Internet for communication purposes which is the easiest thing to do. In fact, I am doing it right now.
Foehammer
Do you really think it's incompetance (on the part of the Pentagon) or is the Pentagon (and the whole American Establishment) pro-Islamic???
Is there a conspiracy among the Insiders to use Islamic terrorism to bring about world govt?
Does anyone have any links to these "websites" of Al Q? I would love to overload them with emails if possible. We can start a little warfare ourselves if need be. Can anyone here hack a website, no need to answer that just get busy.