Electronic Jihad
By Gordon Cucullu
Originally published by
TechCentralStation, March 8, 2006
We have been taught from pre-history the importance in wartime of knowing your enemies. The ancient philosopher-warrior Sun Tsu famously said "know yourself; know your enemies. One hundred battles; one hundred victories." The Sage went on to note that failure to know one's enemies or oneself would result in "one hundred defeats." In the current war against virulent jihadists we may be making a big mistake in underestimating how smart some of these terrorists can be. And in so doing we are opening up a large area of vulnerability.
In a recent presentation at the second annual Intelligence Summit in Washington, DC, a talented analyst named Rebecca Givner-Forbes presented what she has termed "Online Jihad," a way in which the Islamists are using the Internet for a variety of aggressive actions including propaganda, instruction in jihad, practical terrorism, and constructing weapons and explosive devices. While many of these practices are largely passive in that they are posted on the Web for all to see, there are also more active measures that include but are not limited to secret chat rooms, attacks against web sites the Islamists consider hostile to their ends, and linkages that enable terrorists to plan future strike operations.
It was explained that there are many sites that have al Qaeda links, and several others that are sponsored by groups loosely affiliated to them or sympathetic to their philosophy. They range from relatively harmless news blogs to extremely dangerous enablers. To gain more knowledge of these particular sites and to learn more about analysis of particular issues, Givner-Forbes maintains her own site at the Terrorism Research Center at a chillingly simple URL: www.terrorism.com. Check it out.
Meanwhile, there are issues that we need to examine in regard to these sites. Posted prominently are hours and hours of actual classes, some that were even filmed at the infamous al Qaeda terrorist training camps in pre-liberation Afghanistan such as al Farouq and Tarnak Farms. Internet "students" can watch these things and learn how to become the newest al Qaeda operative on their block. Classes range on everything from weapons familiarization to motivational instruction to bomb manufacturing. Some tapes feature al Qaeda bigs like Usama bin Laden, Aymen al Zawahiri and their deputies.
From a practical standpoint experts will tell you that there is only so much material one can learn from the Internet. For example you can learn to clean, field strip, and load weapons but without actually firing them your degree of expertise attained will always be limited. However, there is virtually no limit to the amount of Islamofascism that can be digested electronically. And the spread of that virulent ideology in many ways is far more deadly than someone running around shooting a pistol or AK-47. The latter may kill a few but the former aims at the destruction of millions.
This threat evaluation is not a hyperbolic exaggeration despite the protestations of those who wish for whatever reason to dismiss the threat of a "primitive" version of Islam. This enemy is anything but primitive. It is a little known fact that the ideal al Qaeda recruit has some college experience and is preferably a graduate. We confuse the somewhat crude Taliban fighters with the much more sophisticated al Qaeda operatives. It was not a crew of ignoramuses that simultaneously hijacked four aircraft and flew them into buildings, hitting at just the points they aimed for. Again, we must know our enemy as he is not as we wish he were.
For this reason the terrorist web sites are extraordinarily more dangerous than they would be if the field of potential terrorists was comprised largely of functional or at a minimal, computer illiterates. These sites are an ideological treasure trove for someone who may be in an environment where such ideological messages are construed as a threat by his resident country. Hence from Saudi Arabia, to Europe, to America an bright, ambitious but ideologically ignorant young jihadi can download videos, audio tapes, personal guidance messages, and much more from proselytizing Islamofascist sites.
Most of the more dangerous sites are security protected by very sophisticated means and have non-attributable log-in procedures so that the origin of the visitor is kept secret. Could an organization as sophisticated as the National Security Agency figure a way around these firewalls? One would hope so but as yet that is unconfirmed speculation.
When it comes to practical instruction the sites can be a bit mind-boggling. For example the terrorists have rather imaginatively trolled the Internet through anarchist, communist, and other revolutionary sites to extract detailed instructions in manufacturing bombs, chemical weapons, and poisons, many by using material you might find in your home pantry or tool room, or in a local hardware and garden store.
For the aspiring jihadist it does become problematic at some point as to whether the recipe he is so assiduously following is a legitimate means of creating a poison gas or if this is something that will react when he adds the final catalyst and blow up in his face. Certainly there is huge potential for mischievous counter-terrorist specialists to put a poison pill in some of these recipes and thereby discourage terrorists in rather dramatic fashion.
On the other hand, if someone wants to learn about weapons, bomb manufacture, use of poisons or other nefarious activities there are places to learn once he has reached a sufficiently proper level of jihadist indoctrination to be considered quite reliable and trustworthy. And it is this level of the terrorist web sites that poses the greatest damage to our interests.
The important points to take from all this is that our enemies are imaginative, inventive, and industrious. They apply a great deal of native and institutional intelligence and imagination to ways to kill us preferably in spectacular, horrible manners that produce huge casualties and inflict deep psychological terror upon us. We ignore this facet of al Qaeda's character at our deep peril.
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I'm a retired Green Beret lieutenant colonel, Vietnam War veteran and career officer, and now a writer. After serving more than thirteen years in East Asia I was sent on assignments in El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, and eventually worked Korea and East Asian affairs at both the Pentagon and Department of State.
My many adventures since then have included raising llamas and alpacas in upstate New York, serving as the Executive Director of the Korea Society in Manhattan, working as an international marketing VP for General Electric in Asia, and traveling within corners of the world that few have had the privilege of experiencing.
In April-May 2008 I spent a month embedded with Military Police units in Iraq. Stories from my trip are posted at supportamericansoldiers.com — a book about what I saw and learned is also in the making.
My first book Separated at Birth: How North Korea became the Evil Twin was published in September 2004. |
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