This is true, but others have also long been masterful at using the Internet. “Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, master of the Web war: Al-Qaida leader in Iraq harnessed the Internet to wage his jihad,” from MSNBC:
WASHINGTON – As the U.S. military announced Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s death, al-Zarqawi’s lieutenants did the same, with a statement on his own Web site, with a highly positive spin.
“We are bringing the good news of the martyrdom of our Sheikh,” reads the site. “What hit us is a blessing to our nation. … It will encourage us to continue waging Jihad.”
Jihadi bulletin boards and chat rooms were quickly overwhelmed. Al-Zarqawi’s photo was posted, adorned to glorify his death. One posting said: “Zarqawi’s blood will serve as fuel to burn the invaders and the apostates.”
It is fitting for a man who experts say pioneered the use of the Internet as a powerful tool for terrorists.
“Zarqawi really created the idea of a comprehensive information war on the Internet,” said Evan Kohlmann of globalterroralert.com, a terrorism analyst for NBC News. He pioneered “the use of the Internet in order to provide disinformation, in order to provide support, in order to recruit people directly over the Internet.”
Al-Zarqawi was a master of the propaganda war “” martyrdom videos, military successes and images that repulsed and shocked the West and inspired his followers.
One month into his campaign, he had the full attention of the world with a video of his personally beheading U.S. contractor Nicholas Berg. When the beheading videos got old, he moved to suicide bombing videos. When those got old, he moved to full-length Hollywood-style productions.
Al-Zarqawi also used the Internet to create his own larger-than-life persona “” as a masterly military commander and an equal to Osama bin Laden.