ji·had·ica

Pathetic Psy-ops

Thomas Hegghammer February 5, 2009

The British tabloid The Sun reported yesterday that al-Qaeda leaders rape male recruits to shame them into becoming suicide bombers. Let me start by congratulating the journalist on being able to fit the four words “al-Qaida”, “gay”, “rape” and “horror” in one and the same headline in the world’s largest English-language newspaper.

I would not normally bother with this kind of nonsense were it not for the fact that it sheds light on the recent reports about AQIM’s alleged plague experiments, covered previously on Jihadica. Both stories were broken in the West by The Sun, and both stories relied on Algerian security sources. We are most likely dealing here with an anti-al-Qaida psy-op, and a very poor one at that.

These latest stories echo an only marginally better operation targeting al-Qaida in Iraq last winter. It involved a steady stream of articles about al-Qaida exploiting all kinds of defenceless people for suicide missions: children, women with Down’s syndrome, orphaned homeless children with mental disabilities, and what not. This rapid succession of articles over the same theme reeked of information warfare. Of course al-Qaida in Iraq has used suicide bombers under 18 as well as female attackers. But given that reports from the same period highlighted a steady influx of able-bodied foreign fighters, why on earth would al-Qaida spend precious resources on disabled operatives? I am surprised that so many serious media outlets have uncritically conveyed these articles.

While the gay rape story wins the prize for worst psy-op ever, the silver medal goes to the Saudis, who claimed in 2003 that al-Qaida had planned terror attacks on pilgrims in Mecca and had booby-trapped copies of the Quran. In fact, since then the Saudi Interior Ministry has made a tradition of “warning against” or “foiling” attacks in Mecca almost every year around the Hajj; most recently in 2007 and 2008. To my knowledge, there is not a single indication in the jihadi literature that al-Qaida or its affiliates have ever contemplated an attack on pilgrims in Mecca. (The Juhayman group which attacked the Mecca mosque in 1979 represented a highly unusual apocalyptic sect).

For the record, several of these reports were subsequently denied. This was the case with the stories about the plague, the use of women with Down’s syndrome and the 2008 Hajj attacks. But of course the denials do not get nearly the same attention as the initial impact story.

Does it matter if we circulate stories that are not completely true, if it helps defeat al-Qaida? Well, maybe not, if counterterrorism is our only concern. But then we shouldn’t complain about the spread of conspiracy theories in the Muslim world.

A Unified Strategy towards Germany?

Anne Stenersen February 2, 2009

Over the past few months, several German-speaking jihadists have appeared in propaganda videos emanating from Afghanistan and Pakistan. Bekkay Harrach (aka Abu Talha al-Almani), who was recently featured in a production by al-Qaida’s official media arm al-Sahab, is only the most recent example. As described in this article, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and its offshoot, the Islamic Jihadi Union (IJU), also boast Germans in their ranks, and have actively used them in their media productions. Meanwhile, a suicide bomber, believed to be from the Taliban, attacked the German embassy in Kabul on 17 January 2009. All of this has been interpreted  as a sign that Germany is being targeted by al-Qaida.

The German focus is indeed intriguing. But what I find even more interesting are the differences between these productions and what they tell us about the landscape of jihadi groups in Afghanistan. Too often, groups like al-Qaida, IMU and IJU are looked upon as one and the same organization. There are certainly links and cooperation. But do they, in fact have a unified strategy against, let’s say, Germany?

Let us start with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, believed to be led by the Uzbek Tahir Yuldashev, a long-time affiliate of Osama bin Laden. A video produced by Jundullah (a media company associated with the IMU) dated September 2008 features several German-speaking jihadists (see English transcript here). They address German-speaking Muslims and urge them to come and fight in Afghanistan. One of the speakers encourages potential recruits to bring their families along, pointing out that “this has become a very family-friendly place”, with possibilities to live ”far away from the front” and with ”hospitals, pharmacies, doctors, and schools”. They do not, however, lash out against the German government or threaten with attacks inside Germany. Rather, the message is more in line with Abdallah Azzam-style “classical jihadism” where Muslims are encouraged to go and fight directly in the “occupied” Muslim lands, in this case Afghanistan.

This is in contrast to the propaganda produced by the Islamic Jihad Union, a group thought to have split from the IMU in 2002, and established itself under the protection of the Haqqani network in the tribal areas of Pakistan. The IJU claims to have several German members, and has been targeting Germany for a while now, both through propaganda and also with operations. In an IJU production from October 2008 entitled “A Call from Hindukush”, the German convert Eric Breininger (aka Abdulgaffar al-Almani) states that Germany’s policies towards Muslims, including its military engagement in Afghanistan, is “increasing the risk of attacks on German soil”. He also encourages the German people to ”approach their own government if they want to be spared from the attacks of Muslims in Germany”. Unlike the IMU, the Islamic Jihad Union has also shown a willingness and capability to actually support terrorist attacks in Europe. Last year the group was linked to the so-called Sauerland cell, whose members were arrested in the fall of 2007 suspected of planning attacks against targets in Germany. The IJU even took responsibility for the failed operation in Germany (see the article by Petter Nesser in this issue of the CTC Sentinel).

IJU’s local hosts, the Haqqani network, do not seem to share their foreign guests’ interest in targeting Europe. Sirajuddin Haqqani, one of the top commanders in the network, stated in an interview with the Pakistani journalist Rahimullah Yousufzai in August 2008 that ”we are busy in our own war here in Afghanistan and it is not our policy to attack or carry out acts of sabotage in other countries”. They seem to have so far turned a blind eye to IJU’s international activities, possibly because the IJU are also active supporting the insurgency in Afghanistan (including an attack against a US guard post in March 2008 carried out by the Turkish-German jihadist Cueneyt Ciftci, described as “Germany’s first suicide bomber”). In combining international terrorism with local guerrilla warfare, the IJU’s approach is similar to that of the rest of the al-Qaida network in Afghanistan.

Finally, it has been reported that a German citizen named Bekkay Harrach (31) has risen to high ranks within “al-Qaida Central”. The news emerged after Harrach appeared in a propaganda video entitled “Rescue Package for Germany”. Harrach’s words largely echoed those of the abovementioned Eric Breininger. Harrach warned that if Germany continues its military engagement in Afghanistan, it will not “get away with it for free”, and therefore, the German people should “stand up and be reasonable” in the September 2009 Parliamentary elections. In other words: vote for someone who will pull the German troops out of Afghanistan, or face the consequences. It is not the first time that al-Qaida has threatened European countries engaged in Afghanistan, or encouraged Europeans to put pressure on their governments (see for example this bin Laden message from 2004, or this one from 2007). It is, however, the first time al-Sahab has tailored a message specifically to Germans. By using a German citizen to address Germans, al-Sahab strengthens the image of al-Qaida as a truly global organization. As we know, al-Qaida already has an American convert in their ranks: Adam Gadahn (aka Azzam al-Amriki), who has been featured in several al-Sahab productions.

However, the differences in IMU’s propaganda on the one hand, and that of IJU and al-Qaida on the other, seem to indicate that there is still no unified strategy among al-Qaida and their affiliates with regards to how to target Germany and other coalition members. The legality of targeting German troops inside Afghanistan, on the other hand, seems to be undisputed.

Document (English): 01-12-09-imu-video

Document (Turkish): 10-21-08-call-from-hindukush

Document (Arabic): 01-19-09-rescue-package-for-germany

For two other reports on the IJU, see Ronald Sandee, “The Islamic Jihad Union” , and Guido Steinberg, “A Turkish al-Qaeda: The Islamic Jihad Union and the Internationalization of Uzbek Jihadism”

AQIM, the Plague and the Press

Hanna Rogan January 23, 2009

There is an incredible story coming out of Algeria these days. International and Algerian media have reported that 40 members of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) were killed by the plague (black death) at a training camp in Tizi Ozou, eastern Algeria earlier this month (see also here). According to intelligence officials, the outbreak was either a consequence of poor living conditions or, more likely, due to a biological weapons experiment gone awry. While this would seem to place AQIM in line for a Darwin Award, that is precisely why we should be careful to conclude too early on the veracity of these rumours.

AQIM, on its side, has been quick to respond to the story, publishing Wednesday (January 21) an official statement refuting the reports. Ascribing the story to “hypocrite pens” and characterizing it as “a plot by the intelligence community”, AQIM “assures that the claims are totally untrue and that the mujahidin are in the best conditions. […] The objective of such misleading news is to deter people from joining the front of the jihad. […] The real plague that threatens the existence of the Umma is the group of apostate and traitorous leaders allied with the Jews and the Christians in the crushing of Gaza, the selling of Palestine and the trampling on our religion, our land and our sanctuaries.” With well-known rhetoric, AQIM turns the attention to its enemies, and invokes the situation in Gaza – a recurring topic in AQIM’s propaganda over the last weeks.

Yesterday’s statement also denied claims that AQIM emir Abdelmalek Droukdal had issued death threats against Egyptian actor Adel Imam for criticizing Hamas last week. Droukdal did publish an audio speech about Gaza last week, but did not (as far as I could tell) mention Adel Imam. On the other hand, he did mention another artist, Algerian-born French Jewish singer Enrico Macias, who has now cancelled a planned visit to Algeria.

AQIM has recently displayed an almost obsessive interest in refuting press allegations. In another statement a few weeks ago, AQIM addressed no less than seven stories from the Algerian press. Among these “false and deceptive” reports were claims that emir Droukdal had been seriously wounded in a clash with security forces, that Ayman al-Zawahiri had ordered the discharge of three AQIM leaders, and that the group had plotted to slaughter 100 Muslims at a fake road block. The statement reassured Muslim readers that AQIM “do not kill innocent people”. The apparent need for AQIM to respond to press reports suggests that the group is on the defensive in the battle for the hearts and minds of the Algerian population. Reports about self-inflicted black death are probably not helping.

Document (Arabic): 01-20-09-aqim-responds-to-plague-rumours

Document (Arabic): 12-23-08-aqim-responds-to-algerian-media-lies

New Issue of Sada al-Malahim

Thomas Hegghammer January 19, 2009

Al-Qaida in Yemen (AQY) has released the seventh issue of its magazine Sada al-Malahim (SM), adding to the mounting evidence that the group is thriving. The slick 44-page publication contains no less than 30 articles by 23 different pen names. Many of the latter are no doubt invented, but the issue must be the work of a well-run media cell of a certain size. An undated picture on p. 16 showing 20 people training in the desert, as well as note on p. 12 inviting readers to submit questions to the journal’s gmail address, suggest that AQY is not about to collapse any time soon.

The front page story, “Gaza under siege by Arab rulers”, is quite interesting. The article hardly mentions Israel and America, but instead lashes out at the Arab regimes and government clerics for facilitating the siege by repressing the mujahidin. “[The rulers] incriminated anyone who merely thinks about liberating the holy sites, which can only be liberated by toppling these governments” [my emphasis] (p. 4). Heard this before? This is basically the good old “near enemy first” argument of the kind found in Ayman al-Zawahiri’s classic article “The road to Jerusalem passes through Cairo”. The statement adds to a number of other indications that AQY is considerably more regime-critical (and thus less pan-Islamist) than its Saudi counterpart al-Qaida on the Arabian Peninsula.

At the same time, AQY also advocates direct confrontation with the far enemy. In the text accompanying the magazine release, the Emir of AQY, Abu Basir, is quoted as saying “we are preparing to open training camps to send you [Palestinians] a generation of reinforcements.” There is in other words a tension in AQY’s ideological production between two strategies: one advocating confrontation with the near enemy and the other with the far enemy. A similar ambiguity, or hedging of bets, is also found in their operations, which have targeted both Westerners and the government. This lack of ideological clarity makes the group less predictable in the short run. But it may also constitute a liability in the long run, as it leaves prospective recruits in the dark as to what AQY is actually fighting for.

Here’s the table of contents (excluding poetry and purely theological pieces):

  • Gaza under siege by Arab rulers
  • Seven years of Crusader wars
  • The ruling on the soldiers and helpers of the Pharaoh of our time
  • The ruling on escaping from the tyrant’s prison and its persecution
  • The ruling on fighting the occupier
  • A dialogue among the deaf (who is debating whom?!) [on interreligious dialogue]
  • Stances on judges
  • How to reach [us]
  • The duty to confront or flee
  • Three years since the escape
  • The power is in firing [on firearms]
  • A word from sheikh Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri
  • The departure of Bush and the arrival of Obama
  • North Africa and the coming hope
  • The message of Shafiq Ahmad Zayd “Abdallah al-Yamani”
  • The Lion of Jawf: Amir Huraydan
  • Victory over the investigators
  • The Mujahid sheikh Nassar al-Marsad
  • Al-Tayammum [Dry ablution] [on life in prison]
  • I would behave if let out of prison
  • Letter from the daughter of a mujahid
  • Preventing and treating colds
  • Letters from the readers

Document (Arabic): 01-19-09-faloja-sada-al-salahim-7

Facebook Fail

Will McCants December 22, 2008

Nusra2 announced yesterday that its Facebook raid was a failure.  Over 120 people signed up but the group was shut down after only 2 days.  Somehow, the statement says, the mainstream media got wind of what was happening and Facebook took action.  Nevertheless, two new groups have formed, one in English and the other in Arabic.

Document (Arabic): 12-21-08-shamikh-response-to-nusra2-group-being-shut-down

Email Invasion Of U.S. and U.K. Universities

Will McCants December 19, 2008

‘Tis the season for cyber-invasions.  Not to be outdone by the Faloja forum’s Nusra2 Facebook invasion, a senior member of the Shumukh forum, Hafid al-Husayn, has proposed sending 100,000 emails to university professors, students, and employees containing “pictures of slain Americans and films of the mujahids’ triumphs in the Islamic State of Iraq and Afghanistan.”  

In a follow-up post, Hafid explains that the purpose of the 100 Thousand Campaign is to shame the West.  He then restates his tactics, this time in English:

We will invade ur universities , we will send the news of mujaheddin and the films, movie , pics of ur killed soldiers in ISI Islamic State of Iraq and Afghan. Now our goal and target is to send the news to 100 thousand lecturers student &,tech of ur universities and Institutes ,and of course they will FWD the email to many friends and beloved people , we are coming.

In a later post, Hafid lists his priorities for the beginning of the campaign:

First, I want a list of the names of the American universities.  Second, I will post the emails of the professors here, and the administrators (of the forum), you, and the good people will select the subjects that will be sent.  We must write a draft in English addressed to the professors in the style that we know our master, Muhammad (PBUH), our renewing shaykh Usama, and our amir al-Baghdadi would use to address the West.”

Jihadis generally have a reputation for being more savvy communicators than the U.S. and its allies.  A campaign like this will tarnish that reputation because its intended effect–the demoralization of the emails’ recipients–will have the opposite impact during the holiday season.

Document (Arabic): 12-18-08-shamikh-campaign-to-email-university-professors

Invading Facebook: Theory And Practice

Will McCants December 17, 2008

That’s the title of a post last week by Faloja member `Umar `Abd al-Hakim in Syria.  `Umar believes that Jihadis have successfully penetrated Youtube and it’s now time to more directly market their materials to the masses.  To this end, he gives an overview of Facebook and why it will be useful for Jihadi propagandists.  To get the ball rolling, `Umar and others announced a campaign yesterday, “Aid Invasion2” (Ghazwat al-Nusra2).  Below is a summary of `Umar’s introductory post, followed by the announcement of the campaign. 

Note that the Facebook invaders believe the propaganda front is outside of the Jihadi forums, a point I have made repeatedly.  Moreover, this is not an attempt to replicate the social networks that exist on the forums; the members of the campaign want to exploit existing networks of people who are hostile to them and presumably they will adopt new identities once they have posted their material.  Additionally, `Umar believes this is a solution to the recent closure of prominent Jihadi forums and channels of media distribution.  Finally, the structure of the Nusra2 campaign organization is interesting: compartmentalized and hierarchical. (more…)

Influence of Jihadi Forums

Will McCants October 20, 2008

Rob at Arabic Media Shack has, as always, an informed take on the forum closures.  I have a slightly different take that I’ll share after a summary of his argument.

Rob concedes that the closures are a big deal (doesn’t say why), but he’s skeptical that they are influential in the Middle East for the following reasons:

  1. Access:   There is not much internet access in the ME compared to the West.  Also, local censors can easily block the forums.
  2. Interest:  Most Middle Easterners don’t think that much about Bin Laden or al-Qaeda.
  3. Coverage:  If the forums were important, mainstream Arabic newspapers would have written more about them.

Rob ends his post by suggesting that influence should be measured by how many people in the region actually watch or read al-Qaeda material.

On the issue of access, Rob is right: connectivity in the Middle East is much less than in Europe and the U.S.  But this varies across the region; Saudi, for example, has a high level of connectivity.  And are censors that tough to beat?  Iranian bloggers would say no.

Of course, internet access does not equal interest in Jihadi materials.  In fact, Clint Watts has argued the opposite in his foreign fighter report.  Still, there are a lot of reports in the Arabic press (particularly the Saudi press) of Jihadi forum members being arrested or carrying out attacks, so some portion of the population is interested.  Moreover, Arab journalists regularly monitor the forums for material (new videos, etc.), so they do receive coverage.  That the forums themselves have not been the sole object of coverage is not dispositive in a debate about influence; they weren’t covered in the English press either until a few weeks ago.

Rob is pushing back on the idea that the forums are influencing public opinion in the Middle East in the sense that hundreds of thousands of Arabs are signing on to the forums and being radicalized.  I agree that is not the case and one hears similar hyperbolic statements about access to these forums in the West.  Nevertheless, the forums are the primary conduits of propaganda that is reposted to mainstream forums and broadcast on satellite television, so in that sense they do have influence.  Closing them cripples the propaganda flow.  To be sure, Jihadis will find other ways to distribute their materials, but they won’t be nearly as effective.  Posting a video on YouTube or Archive.org gets the material out there, but how will anyone know to link to it?

Finally, something is being overlooked in the recent discussion of the forum closures.  These forums are not dangerous for the usual reasons cited (weapons manuals, travel info, coordination, etc–see my earlier posts).  They are dangerous because they provide a community to reinforce ideas and an audience to applaud action.  A young man in Tunisia who is motivated by propaganda but whose local community disapproves of suicide bombings might be dissuaded from action.  But if he is part of a forum that will celebrate his deeds in song, video, and biography, he is more likely to act.  This is forums true power and future discussion of their influence and the utility of closing them down should take this as its starting point.  (As a parallel, ask yourself what the open-source software movement would be without discussion forums.  The payoff for participating isn’t pecuniary; it’s the recognition of one’s deeds.)

More on Online Recruitment

Will McCants October 14, 2008

Tim has a nice summary of a recent conversation between him, me, and Aaron about online recruitment.  Tim and I agree and I think Aaron does too, but he wants more rigorous metrics.  Fair enough.

Aaron observes that there are three things involved with radicalization:

  • Motivation (I’m willing to fight)
  • Association (I want people to fight alongside, both to steel my resolve and to help me carry out attacks)
  • Opportunity (I need places and means for carrying out an attack)

(Tim glosses these as Psychological, Social, and Organizational factors, which is helpful.)

Aaron goes on to say:

When we see so-called Internet jihadis who become active in real-world plots, they frequently come from the ranks of the forum activists, the guys who are more than just part of the Allahu Akbar chorus. It is through their online associations and the opportunities that the Internet provides that they are able to begin actually participating in the jihad.

Three thoughts:

  1. I agree that the Internet is a good tool for motivating people to fight.  But they are being motivated elsewhere (e.g. video links posted to mainstream forums).  By the time they join the Jihadi forums, they are already members of the Allah Akbar choir.
  2. The Jihadi forums are a terrible place to associate and find opportunities because no one trusts anyone else.  Take, for example, Abu al-Haytham’s meeting with another forum member.  A lot of distrust had to be overcome to make it happen.  And face-to-face contact was a necessity.
  3. Many (most?) of those who get involved in real-world plots were already supporting or engaging in operations before they joined the forums.

I wonder: Are there examples of people who were motivated solely through the Internet and found associates and opportunities solely through the Internet?  I know I’ve seen a few, but I couldn’t dig up any when asked recently.  I even re-read Petter Nesser’s compendious survey of all Jihadi arrests and attacks in Europe since the 1994 (due out soon in SCT) and still no luck.

Secondly, if there are examples, are they representative or exceptional?  None of these are rhetorical questions and I’m open to opining and anecdotal evidence.

The Noose Tightens: Second-Tier Forums Down, Call for Information Ops on U.S. Forums

Will McCants October 7, 2008

It has been almost a month since the top-tier Jihadi forums were taken down (with the exception of Hesbah–suspicious).  Now the second-tier forums have been taken down: Faloja, al-Ma`arik al-Salafiyya, and Shura.  Shumukh is hanging on and that’s where most of the hand wringing is happening at the moment.  Some are accusing the Shia of shutting down the forums in retaliation for their websites being hacked; others believe the U.S. is behind it.

One member of the latter group, al-Hizbar al-Ansari (The Ansari Lion), proposes that American forums be “raided” in retaliation.   He suggests that Jihadis sign up on highly-trafficked forums and post disturbing images of U.S. dead in Iraq and Afghanistan.  This, he believes, will demoralize the enemy.  To get the ball rolling, Hizbar says he signed up for one of them under the name “osama bin laden” and posted a picture of an American woman with a burned face looking for her husband.

Yesterday, a Shumukh administrator called on all members of the forum to get involved.  He even issued an invitation to members of four other forums: Hesbah, Faloja, al-Ma`arik al-Salafiyya, and Shura.  (This was before three of the four sites disappeared today.)

Hizbar responded to the call today by announcing the formation of the al-Ayyubi Brigade to coordinate the attacks. (al-Ayyubi is Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi, or Saladin.)  He also listed the five American forums that should be targeted first:

  1. http://www.city-data.com/forum/  (“This is an extremely large forum with millions of people that posts information about American states.”)

  2. http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=32  (“This forum has a section devoted to the war against Muslims.”)

  3. http://forum.abit-usa.com/  (“A forum for American university students.  It is very important.”)

  4. http://forums.mtbr.com/  (“This is one of the large American forums.  It has a video section.”)

  5. http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/index.php  (“A military forum frequented by Europeans and Americans.  It launches attacks on the mujahids and disparages them.  I hope films will be posted on it.  Be wary of its many Jewish members.”)

Document (Arabic): 10-3-08-shamikh-original-call-for-raids-on-us-forums

Document (Arabic): 10-6-08-shamikh-call-for-raids-against-us-forums

Document (Arabic): 10-7-08-shamikh-announcement-of-brigade-to-raid-us-forums

Document (Arabic): 10-7-08-shamikh-several-more-forums-down-and-members-suspect-shia-hackers

Latest Jihadica
Subscribe to receive latest posts
Follow us
Facebook Twitter Google-plus Pinterest

Copyright © 2025 Jihadica