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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
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October 7th, 2006 - Jihad Videos
Posted on YouTube Website |
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Jihad Videos Posted on
YouTube Website - Extremists take message to a global audience - Fears US is losing ground in propaganda war By Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington The Guardian Saturday October 7, 2006 The video opens with a shot
of two jihadis in training. As one absorbs a kick in the stomach, the caption
beneath unfurls: "The clatter of war is music to his ears." Welcome to YouTube - once a
playground for teenagers, now an important front in the global war on terror.
In recent months footage once available only in Baghdad shops and on jihadi
message boards has appeared on video-sharing websites such as YouTube and
Google Video. Some of the videos appear to
have been made for propaganda purposes, with Arabic or English subtitles and
martial music on the soundtrack. Some show what appear to be the planning stages
of an attack: fighters assembling mortars in a room with net curtains, or
climbing up a verge with what seems to be an improvised bomb. Others show US
soldiers shot dead by insurgent snipers, or Humvees blown up by roadside
bombs. In one video entitled Sniper
Hit, a serviceman hit by a sniper gets up to seek cover. Others show soldiers
bleeding on the ground. The move marks another evolution for a movement that
has been agile in adopting new technology. Chechen mujahadin often do
simultaneous releases on their website and YouTube, although most of the
videos from Iraq are freelance productions made outside the supervision of
the insurgency's propaganda wing, said Josh Devon, a senior analyst at the
Site Institute, which monitors extremist websites. "Propaganda for them
is paramount," he said. "They realise the powerful effect these
videos have - especially on people who are sympathetic. It's a great way for
them to communicate with the masses. Without the internet it is very unlikely
jihadist groups could command the power that they do." The migration of such
battlefield scenes from obscure jihadi message boards to general interest
websites comes amid rising concern that the US is losing ground in the
propaganda war against al-Qaida. Last month the chair of the
house intelligence committee, Pete Hoekstra, warned that the West was slow to
recognise the importance of propaganda to extremist groups and to counter its
effects. "There needs to be an effective complete strategy if we are
going to win this war," he told a gathering in Washington. While television networks
generally will use only a quick grab of a jihadist video, websites offer
unrestricted access to a potentially global audience of sympathisers. YouTube
and Google Video are also a leveller between those who have broadband and
parts of the world where slow dial up connections prevail. "There is definitely an
audience in the West that wants to watch this. There are sympathisers all
over the place, especially if you are dealing with supporters that don't
speak Arabic, or are unable to access English language jihadist message
boards," Mr Devon said. The shelf life of the videos
is brief: jihadi films are usually stripped out by YouTube and Google
monitors. The New York Times reported
yesterday that more than four dozen combat videos from Iraq had been removed
from the sites in recent days. However, others, labelled in Arabic, survived
the cull, and new videos are posted every day. External link:
http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1889824,00.html |