Internet I.

This is coolbert:

From the May 7, 2007 issue of Forbes magazine.

How the current jihadi is using the Internet to their advantage.

From the chapter entitled “Networks - - Technology - - Security.”

Article begins:

“The post-Sept. 11 crackdown on Al Qaeda, coupled with the destruction of many training camps around the world, has pushed jihadist terrorists deep into cyberspace [the Internet]. On the Internet fractured traditional groups have reconstituted themselves as robust on line networks, regaining THE ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE, RECRUIT, INDOCTRINATE, TRAIN AND PLAN ATTACKS.”

Using the Internet, jihadists the world over can now:

* See the same videos.

* Read the same religious justifications for terrorism. [fatwas]

* Prepare bombs from the same manuals.

Jihadists use the various Internet features, to include:

* Web sites.

* Message boards.

* E-mail.

* E-groups.

* Blogs.

* Online storage.

* BitTorrent.

* Maps. [Google Earth??]

* Instant messaging [IM].

* Voice Over IP [VOIP.]

* On line remittance services.

The jihadists are encouraged to see themselves as belonging to the umma, the worldwide community of Islamic believers. Communication over large distances is accomplished by:

Password-protected message boards and forums.

[it would seem that the jihadi utilizing the Internet is not only adept at using the web, but securing their communications too!!]

These message boards and forums can be used to pass along:

* General news.

* Military and explosives training.

* Technology.

* Stolen software. [Piracy]

[E-mail, IM, and VOIP can all be made secure to the outsider by the use of embedded crypto. Available for free and secure to a large degree!!]

The result of all this Internet usage by the jihadists is:

“A decentralized, transnational patchwork of terrorists that no longer relies on Al Qaeda to mobilize and carry out attacks. It is awfully difficult to track - - and trap - - the members of this network.”

De-centralization is critical here to the success of these wannabee jihadis. The lone-wolf jihadi or the lone-wolf jihadi CELL can organize, train, plan, and carry out “missions” without having a central “authority” to command or guide them in any manner.

“Cutting off the head” of Al Qaeda by killing Bin Laden or Zawahiri will not stop other jihadis who are inspired by, but are not directly connected to the villains.

“Al-Suri [a leading Al Qaeda strategist] exhorts the jihadists in the West to establish local cells to carry out attacks . . . rather than travel to fight with an established group”

[the Internet] “enables jihadists to mount attacks in the absence of any connection to an established group.”

The article in Forbes is written by “Rita Katz and Josh Devon, director and senior analyst at the SITE Institute”. Evidently this is a group that already is tracking jihadi web usage. Having successes in combating same??

coolbert.