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August 16, 2006

Middle East: Al Qaeda Group Calls For Media Jihad

The Global Islamic Media Front (al-Jabhah al-'ilamiyah al-islamiyah al-'alamiyah) is regarded as the official mouthpiece of Al Qaeda. A year ago, it served more to disseminate rough and ready videos, and news items regarding items it wished to place into the public domain. It was used last August to announce on various websites that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had become the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, for example.

But in October last year, the group went public with requests for people with media skills. The GIMF said that it would "follow up with members interested in joining and contact them via email", though no contact address was given. In September, Middle East Online stated that the group was a derivative of the "Global Front for Fighting Jews and Christians", which had been set up by Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in 1998.

By September last year, GIMF had already produced 350 documents, including grainy videos of mujahideen attacks, but was already starting to produce small "features".

Yasser al-Sirri, of the Islamic Observatory, based in London, said then: "With the 'war on terror' continuing, Al-Qaeda can no longer find the space to meet, set up camps and train members, so it established a new 'command headquarters' on the Internet to spread fear among its adversaries and boost its men's morale."

Jason Burke, a UK terror expert said: "The terrorists have become producers and film directors, and video cameras have become their most potent weapon."

The drive to recruit video production staff was something I treated facetiously in October, but even then, the videos coming from GIMF were increasing in sophistication. An example can be found from the video of the 7/7 bomber Mohammed Sidique Khan, fragments of which can be found here. Already, compositing techniques and animated backgrounds were being used to enhance the visual appeal of the video, even if the results were a little "art school student" in their style.

But the videos recently showing Ayman al-Zawahiri, the second in command at Al Qaeda are no longer fuzzy images of someone who looks like he may be in a cave. His appearance on the video of Shehzad Tanweer, the suicide bomber, released on the eve of the 7/7 bombings in which Tanweer played the most deadly role of the four bombers, is professional. Zawahiri looks as if he is in a professional TV studio, and lighting and presentation is designed to give the impression he is in a mainstream news broadcast facility, rather than hiding away in some hinterland of civilization.

The video also featured Adam Yahiye Gadahn (pictured), speaking clearly in understandable English of the jihad against the west. Gadahn, whose aliases include Abu Suhayb Al-Amriki, Abu Suhayb, Yihya Majadin Adams, Adam Pearlman, Yayah and Azzam al-Amriki, was born in the US on September 1, 1978, to a Jewish father and Catholic mother. He became a convert to Islam while attending the Islamic Society of Orange County mosque in Garden Grove, California. He was eventually banned from the mosque after slapping the imam, Haitham Bundakji, around the face. In 2004 he had first appeared on an Al Qaeda video, wrapped up to avoid identification, threatening America.

Gadahn, who shows his face openly now, is now believed to be al-Qaeda's propaganda director.

Now, according to the SITE Institute, the Global Islamic Media Front has made another announcement, requesting assistance in its cause from media specialists. The announcement was made to internet forums on Monday (August 14), and urged people to translate statements into English and disseminate them.

There is a need to counteract the media organisations such as al-Arabiya and al-Hurra, which were "falsifying true things", the statement said. "People of jihad have to create a media war that goes parallel to the military war. They should not be short on anything because we see the effect the media has on the nation and people in supporting or denouncing it."

The GIMF is encouraging people to become proficient in the English language and to develop writing skills. It advises Muslims to send out material to US newspapers, TV stations, and also to writers such as Thomas Friedman, Samuel Huntington, and research groups such as the RAND corporation.

Harvard Professor and political scientist Samuel P Huntington coined the phrase "Clash of Civilizations" in 1993 in an article in Foreign Affairs but it is doubtful if there is anything remarkable that an al Qaeda supporter can present to a 79-year old professor that will change his outlook or his texts.

Thomas L. Friedman is a 53-year old Pullitzer prize-winning writer, a columnist on the rather leftist New York Times. He wrote "From Beirut to Jerusalem", Lexus, and The Olive Tree.

Perhaps because Friedman appears to understand the mindset of the current Muslim potential jihadist, Al Qaeda have seen him as a symbol of the sort of person to reach, as if he cannot make up his own mind, and find out his own information. Last Wednesday, he wrote in the New York Times: "Young Israelis dream of being inventors, and their role models are the Israeli innovators who made it to the Nasdaq. Hezbollah youth dream of being martyrs, and their role models are Islamic militants who made it to the Next World."

The announcement from GIMF is not a recruitment drive, but an exhortation for all Muslims to engage with the West, and to engage with forums on the internet. It already appears that some Muslims have begun to take on board the need to counter the supposed "ignorance" which many Westerners have about Islam and are trying to get participation in debate. Even our humble site has been targeted for a circular letter from the Muslim Brotherhood, from a gentleman calling himself Fared Mohammed, who writes:

"Ikhwanweb does not censor any articles or comments but has the right only to remove any inappropriate words that defy public taste. Ikhwanweb is not a news website, although we report news that matter to the Muslim Brotherhood's cause. Our main misson is to present the Muslim Brotherhood vision right from the source and rebut misonceptions about the movement in western societies. We value debate on the issues and we welcome constructive criticism."

I expect other sites which deal with Islam from a critical standpoint will be receiving similar letters soon. If the debates are constructive and intelligent, I cannot see the desire to engage with the West as being too bad. For too long, the voices of Muslim representatives, such as those at CAIR, MAB or MCB have not been voices of great intelligence nor of moral forthrightness. It would be interesting to hear other voices.

Previous direct messages from GIMF have concerned themselves with describing how a Mujahid should prepare for jihad, or making death threats against world leaders. In a media battle, the videos of killings and decapitations, such as those produced by Al Qaeda in Iraq may have an "inspiring effect" upon potential suicide bombers or angry young men. But ideologically, these horror videos, such as images of Westerners having their heads sawn off only inspire revulsion and resistance in Westerners who view them.

The BBC World Service yesterday discussed how the rise of blog sites was a new addition to the news media, and helped in spreading information, and in part, forming opinion. It appears that some within GIMF have realised that appealing to the gut instincts of disaffected youth may be one thing. But the battle that the West and radical Islam is engaged in - the so-called "Clash of Civilizations" - is ultimately one of hearts and minds. If there are any serious philosophical arguments for radical Islam, then presentations of these ideas will be far more influential in changing people's minds than glorifications of savagery and brutality.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at August 16, 2006 9:11 AM

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