A central plank of the al-Qaida resurgence noted by U.S. analysts is its sophisticated messaging and propaganda strategy, spearheaded by a state-of-the-art in-house multimedia production facility producing high-quality videos every three days or so.
The as-Sahab Institute, as the terror network’s media arm calls itself, is often in the global spotlight — as it was last week after releasing Osama bin Laden’s message to Americans and two other videos to mark the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
If your prime source of news about Al-Qaida is US TV or, worse, the US government, you may not realize they average a video release every three days.
The videos are messages from and interviews with al-Qaida’s leaders, and propaganda films made by insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. And they are released more or less simultaneously in a bewildering variety of formats and quality standards.
The latest bin Laden video was made available in five different versions, ranging from high definition to a special format called 3GP that can be downloaded to mobile devices. The versions were downloadable at more than 20 different places on the Web, and most messages are also released on a CD-ROM format disc as well.
“They produce versions (subtitled) in different languages, and for each of those versions the graphics and the content might be different, too,”.
Interesting – and inconclusive – discussion in the article. This won’t satisfy folks for whom the War on Terror is the new catechism.
Isn’t The as-Sahab Institute the same organization that produces girl-on camel pron? Has the same grainy made-at-home production values.
“Interesting – and inconclusive – discussion in the article. This won’t satisfy folks for whom the War on Terror is the new catechism. ”
You say that like these guys haven’t declared war on the US.
Is it available as a podcast?
Do they match the stellar production quality of Cranky Geeks?
#2 – how many times do you genuflect when you say that?
I just want to know if it installs a rootkit when you play it…..
Well god , none at all. But like it or not we are at war with them and to make it sound like “the war on terror” is something made up by USAian conservatives makes one not a democrat or even liberal but a knee-jerk anti-conservative.
It doesn’t matter if you are pro-Iraq war or not. Anyone with half a brain has to concede that OBL and AQ are the enemies of the USA in a shooting war.
Has the as-Sahab Institute indicated whether it plans to support HD-DVD or Blu-Ray?
Off Topic or Not?
I am really, really, really sick of looking at that guy’s face.
Every time I see it, I can’t help but imagine him giving the finger to the most powerful nation on earth – with utter impunity.
If Bush can’t kill one, single guy he vowed to kill, what makes him think he’s ever going to succeed in Iraq or anywhere else, doing anything else?
Maybe if Osama took over an oil well, Georgie and Dickie would finally get serious and go and get him? Or maybe not…
As it stands, I get the feeling they promised their good friends the bin Ladens, they wouldn’t hurt the poor fellow.
“If your prime source of news about Al-Qaida is US TV or, worse, the US government, you may not realize they average a video release every three days.”
And hence they are not news. When OBL releases a message they are news because they are more rare.
And now live from beautiful downtown Tora Bora its….
#9 – If Bush can’t kill one, single guy he vowed to kill,
Oh Bin Ladan will die…
…of natural causes, in a retirement home, in Miami…
Way to go Bush, you inbred nepotist.
>>If Bush can’t kill one, single guy he vowed to kill, what makes him
>>think he’s ever going to succeed in Iraq or anywhere else, doing
>>anything else?
Uh…how about he’s a delusional, ignorant, spoiled brat, who has been saved by Daddy from every fuck-up he’s ever made in his life. Daddy’s not going to save him from this one though.
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS! BRING ‘EM HOME!
#12 – OFTLO
Please don’t say that! I’m so madly furious with no outlet for my frustration, my head may very well explode this morning – or at least soon.
All we can hope is that bin Laden is in Afghanistan in a non-American sector and one of the media-forgotten coalition troops kills him dead, immediately, on the spot with no permission asked or granted by any authority figure.
>>I am really, really sick of looking at that guy’s face
You’ve got to admit that his foray into the world of Grecian Formula for Beards was a big success, though.
http://tinyurl.com/3ck65g
It does matter what the United States does in Iraq because it puts into question their all around cause. Worse, a delusional administration that actually believes in a war on terror does not help the matter. The war on terror is beginning to look more like a war against select nations in the East that do not go along with mainstream, Western orthodoxy.
From my perspective, I am no more afraid of those who preach radical Islam from those who are radical, fundamentalist Christians. I have no time for their assault on what has been our culture because it makes them uncomfortable. One group uses a bomb and the other some new form of moral enterprising. They are both equally scary in my mind. It does not matter if the final warning comes in the form of a mushroom cloud or when you are pulled into federal circuit court with a 7am wake up call for being a political dissident. That being said, I wouldn’t worry given how remote either scenario is.
Finally, I am not a religious man and do not want my country pulled into a religious conflict. Please do not try to convince me that this country was founded on Christian principles. I have no interest in conflict between these groups or their various histories (crusades, whatnot). The future battle for the Middle East needs to be fought with economic and political capital and not at gun point. It would be much simpler to corrupt individuals within the network than to try and kill them (and create ten more for each one that falls).
In summary, both the Christian and Islamic threats are real to our nation’s security and future (but they are being severally overplayed by radical elements within both parties).
#15 MM
“You’ve got to admit that his foray into the world of Grecian Formula for Beards was a big success, though.”
“When humor goes, there goes civilization.”
– Erma Bombeck
9. Cinaedh Every time I see it, I can’t help but imagine him giving the finger to the most powerful nation on earth – with utter impunity.
I don’t think he’d be so unwise as to give China the finger, and he certainly wouldn’t do it with utter impunity…. China would have his ass faster than you can say “Falun Gong”….
there is a point here…
IF some of you didnt see it…
That he posts this information for everyone to see, FINALLY…
And they arent just Notes to Congress and the Gov.
We expect our gov to tell us everything, but they dont…We are fed information as IF we were watching the Brady Bunch, and expecting something different and interesting to happen.
Get off your Hemorrhoids and KNOW both sides of this story.
If we had gone in after 10 years of our backing the WAR with Russia and rebuilt, this probably wouldnt of happened. AS WE PROMISED.
This country was founded because the tea distributors in Boston were pissed with England for taxing their tea. They just naturally assumed, like most Christians, that God was on their side.
13. Mister Mustard Uh…how about he’s a delusional, ignorant, spoiled brat, who has been saved by Daddy from every fuck-up he’s ever made in his life. Daddy’s not going to save him from this one though.
But enough about Bin Laden and his daddy’s money.
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS! BRING THEM HOME WITH BIN LADEN! REMEMBER 9/11! REMEMBER THE ALAMO!
Assuming the louder you are, the closer to truth.
RBG
#18 Ben Waymark
“I don’t think he’d be so unwise as to give China the finger, and he certainly wouldn’t do it with utter impunity…. China would have his ass faster than you can say “Falun Gong”
That’s very likely true.
The point is, I don’t think the people who run China are bosom buddies with Osama’s entire family – like the Bush family.
Who knows what the Bushes promised the bin Ladens before they let them fly home – while everyone else was grounded after 9/11?
#19, ECA
Get off your Hemorrhoids and KNOW both sides of this story. …
I just love your writing style sometimes.
#22, Croaker,
Who knows what the Bushes promised the bin Ladens before they let them fly home – while everyone else was grounded after 9/11?
Idiot. After air travel resumed, the Saudi government suggested several people leave the US and offered travel to all Saudis that wanted to leave. Apparently 9/11 was too long ago for you to remember the hysteria and fear that pervaded America.
The bin Ladens had been interviewed by the FBI before they left. And not all of Osama’s relatives left the US either.
http://www.wanttoknow.info/010920globe
(reprint of a Boston Globe article)
#24 Mr. Fusion
“Idiot. After air travel resumed, the Saudi government suggested several people leave the US and offered travel to all Saudis that wanted to leave.”
Well done. An ad hominem attack and you totally avoided the issue of the close ties between the bin Ladens and the President’s family. You should be a politician. Maybe you are?
“Apparently 9/11 was too long ago for you to remember the hysteria and fear that pervaded America.”
Not really and to remind myself, all I have to do is to read your posts and many of the other posts on this blog each and every day, year in and year out – likely decade in and decade out in the time to come.
I suppose, eventually you might even get up to centuries in and centuries out. It’s your whole world. It’s more than the terrorists could possibly have imagined prior to 9/11. Way to go!
“The bin Ladens had been interviewed by the FBI before they left. And not all of Osama’s relatives left the US either.”
Just the accessories before and after the fact had a good reason to leave the country. Why would any of the other bin Ladens leave? They had the President and the entire military of the U.S.A. to protect them from harm.
p.s. Sorry about the “Croaker” signature earlier. It was a mouse click error.