This could be as big as when Sinatra broke with Capitol and formed the Reprise label: a jihadist website has denounced Al-Jazeera as “the channel of the infidels” and announced that the Elvis of jihad, Osama himself, would be posting his latest on the Net, and presumably bypassing the dinosaur media. Who would have imagined that the jihadists have trouble with their own mainstream media also?
“Web site to carry new bin Laden tape on Iraq,” from Reuters (thanks to Sr. Soph):
DUBAI (Reuters) – An Islamist Web site said on Friday it would carry a new recording from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden about “foiling plots” in Iraq.
The Web site said the 56-minute recording would also be about the Islamic State in Iraq, an al Qaeda-linked group in the country.
It did not say when the video or audio recording, produced by al Qaeda’s media arm As-Sahab and entitled “The Path to Foiling Plots in Iraq,” would be posted.
Al Qaeda messages have been often released within three days of their announcement on Web sites.
“May God expose the cover-up by Al Jazeera, the channel of the infidels,” said the Web site, which is often used to issue messages from al Qaeda.
It was not clear whether this meant bin Laden would speak about a controversy in which his supporters have accused the popular news channel of misrepresenting his comments on Iraq.
Some Islamists have said Al Jazeera misrepresented bin Laden’s views by airing excerpts of comments he made in October that insurgents had made mistakes in Iraq because of fanaticism.