Jackson Jambalaya

http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD161507

Report by MEMRI on the use of the Internet to disseminate useful information to jihadists worldwide.

"Islamists have long used their Internet forums as major conduits for disseminating useful information to the jihad fighters. [1] A comprehensive examination of postings on Islamist forums reveals that they are used not only to spread jihadist propaganda, but also to disseminate information from the Western media that can help the mujahideen in the field or can raise the morale of Islamists around the world. .................

An analysis of the postings on Islamist forums reveals that Islamists monitor the Western media for information that has immediate operational implications for the jihad fighters on the battlefield, namely, information that can increase their effectiveness or can help them to identify potential targets and threats..........."

This paragraph chillingly shows how the jihadists watch our media, trying to learn information that will help them on the battlefield. It shows how clueless people like Bryan Essex, who wrote the Jackson Free Press whining about how soldiers are not allowed to email at will from the battlefield, are(http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/print.php?id=13704_0_7_0) .

On April 4, 2007 a member of the Islamist forum www.al-hesbah.org described an Internet TV broadcast in which U.S. soldiers recounted their experiences in Iraq. One of the soldiers, said the message, "told of an [incident] in which a tank convoy discovered an ambush [laid by mujahideen]... American tanks carry a set of rockets which can be controlled from inside the tank using miniature cameras [mounted on] the rockets themselves. These cameras provide the soldiers inside the tank with a view of the outside... The soldier [on the program] said that, [during a patrol in Iraq], he had spied two people hiding behind low barrier and attempting to fire a rocket, but that he had managed to fire... first. His report was accompanied by... sketches indicating the [exact] angle from which he saw the two mujahideen who were lying in wait for him." The message went on to provide analysis and advice: "The barrier behind which the two [mujahideen] hid seemed to be slightly less than one meter tall, which would have been sufficient to hide a person from [an observer] at eye level. However, since the cameras... [mounted] on the tank are higher than that, they enabled [the soldiers] to see the two people... [Hence, mujahideen] should make sure that their cover... is sufficiently tall to conceal them from those cameras... [When they select a location for an ambush], one of them [should] stand on a truck or on the roof of a car in order to verify that the cover is tall enough..." [4]


However, this use of the Internet unfortunately works in both directions. In addition to obtaining information for use on the battlefield against us from the Internet, the Jihadists are also learning from it how to manipulate public opinion and media polls, something the journalists here never consider.

"Islamists also keep an eye on Western media with the aim of finding ways to directly affect and shape Western public opinion. A case in point is a February 4, 2006 posting which alerted forum members to an online poll, conducted by MSNBC, on the question "Are Muslims justified in staging worldwide protests over cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad?" [16] The posting called on Islamists to take the poll and vote yes, in order "to assist our brothers in Europe... by increasing their influence." [17] A message posted November 23, 2003 urged forum members to participate in another online poll by MSNBC, and to vote no on the question: “Would you support a legal ban on burqas and other face-covering clothing?” [18] "

Our media, national and local, has a lot of growing up to do.