Posted on 05/28/2005 9:37:36 PM PDT by blam
West infiltrates al-Qa'eda message boards in the war on terror
By Aqeel Hussein in Ramadi, Saleh Al Jibouri and Colin Freeman
(Filed: 29/05/2005)
Before Abu Dajeneh drove out of the world to martyrdom in an Iraqi car bomb, he prayed, read the Koran and even sent a final email.
On an internet message board for al-Qa'eda affiliates, he said farewell to his comrades and that he looked forward to their next meeting, not in cyberspace, but Paradise.
The al-Qa'eda message board "We will ask each other: 'Are you such-and-such who used to write Allah the Almighty! in such-and-such a message board?" he wrote. "It will be a great day when we reach it."
Western terror officials have been monitoring al-Qa'eda message boards for two years, sifting postings about beheadings, suicide bombs and kidnappings.
Last week, their attention focused on the claim that Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, who is accused of beheading the British hostage Kenneth Bigley and masterminding the bloody insurgency, had been badly injured in a shoot out with American troops.
According to one posting, purporting to be from his official spokesman, Zarqawi was spirited out of Iraq after being treated in a hospital in Ramadi, an insurgent stronghold.
Rita Katz, a US terrorism expert who monitors jihadi websites, said that the claim had the ring of truth. "There is only one source of proper information on al-Qa'eda operations in Iraq. If it does not come from him, it is not authentic," she said.
"We are fairly sure that Zarqawi was injured as this was on a board used by his official spokesman, Abu Maysarah al-Iraqi."
Ms Katz is the director of the Washington-based SITE Institute, which tracks international terror activity. Its Arabic speakers analyse terrorist sites and pass intelligence to law enforcement agencies.
Genuine postings, Ms Katz says, appear only on hidden message boards that are password-protected, and whose members know each other so well that they can spot a hacker. Many, nonetheless, have been infiltrated by SITE.
Each board is controlled by a webmaster who will accept postings in the name of Zarqawi only from a known email address. "Abu Maysarah emails the message to the webmaster, who recognises his email address and is the only one with authority to post the message," Ms Katz said.
"al-Qa'eda in Iraq also watches closely for false messages, and will correct them straightaway." Last week, Abu Maysarah's rapid rebuttal unit was in action within minutes to deny a report on another internet site that a deputy had been nominated for Zarqawi.
One way to establish which message boards are genuine is to cross-check claims about terrorist acts. In March, Hasan Abdul Rahman, an Egyptian student, apparently carried out a suicide bombing in Baquba, north-west of Baghdad. Telephone numbers for his family were posted on a board for users to call and congratulate them.
Speaking from Egypt, Rahman's brother confirmed that he had gone to Iraq on jihad. "He brought honour to my family. We are hoping he will go to paradise because he fought the Americans who should be forced out of Muslim countries."
US records show that a car bomb killed five soldiers at a checkpoint near Baquba on March 17. Ms Katz believes that reports of Zarqawi's injuries are equally likely to be real. "I think his followers feel it is time to prepare for his possible death and begin the hunt for a successor."
In Ramadi, locals backed up the message board claims. At the Al Rahma Mosque, frequented by resistance fighters, Friday prayers were devoted to appeals for Zarqawi's speedy recovery.
A man who identified himself as Abu Huzayfa, Ramadi's al-Qa'eda spokesman, said: "Abu Musab has been injured and is leading us from his bed. But there are thousands of Zarqawis here among us. We will never give up."
>>>"We are fairly sure that Zarqawi was injured as this was on a board used by his official spokesman, Abu Maysarah al-Iraqi."
"Jim, is he dead?"
Source is a blog, not official:
http://www.hammorabi.blogspot.com/
Alert: Zarqawi died
The Jordanian thug Fadhel Nazal Al-Khalayla (Zarqawi) 38 years has died.
He received treatment from Arab doctors who were not very experts and lacking intensive care equipments which he needed for his puncture in the right lung. His wounds infection gets resistance to the antibiotics. He had what is called septicemia which is according to doctors an infection of the blood resulted from infected wound. Zarqawi's systems started to fail including his kidney and liver.
He died and now in the hands of the Keepers of the Hell in its worst level.
His family in Jordan preparing and expected to do Fataha (funeral for him soon).
Jordan again put itself in the opposite front of the civilized world and with the terrorist.
The Iraqis and all other civilised people should protest strongly against any funeral events for Zarqawi in Jordan
ping
Is there anything else the media would like to tell the world? Did they ever stop to think that if the West can read their messages, they can read ours?
Who needs reminders of "loose lips sink ships" when the media blabs every plan they hear about instantly?
They want us to lose.
I think what we have here is credible evidence that psywar is a 2 way street......just as disinformation is, etc.
Ms Katz, "All your message boards are belong to us."
It may be a serious attempt on our part to deceive most of the Arab world that Zarqawi is wounded and perhaps out of action. His Lt's will demand to know if he is dead, and he will have to send out some kind of notice or message...which increases the chance of us finding him.
As we know, the media would gleefully print anything they found out - especially if it would harm us, America, soldiers or President Bush.
A great day in America when the media is considered the enemy of America. Hope they are proud to be a part of the "media".
And, then they go berserk if they are not given confidential documents to print at will. They must think the people are absolute idiots. Or, they are absolute idiots to be involved in sabotage. Wonder if they could be tried for treason. We are in a war.
I saw one of those crawlers on the bottom of the Foxnews channel while watching the Wallace Special on Iran...that said Zarqawi had been taken to Iran for specialized treatment.
nothing on their Web Site last time I looked....
I have no problem with psy-war, it's been a very effective tool for a long time. However, what galls me is that everytime we turn around, the media is announcing HOW we are gathering information.
To me, it's tantamount to announcing to the world that we had broken the Japanese code as early as we did.
Bump
Also, reports that he's already dead. Which I believe. (Probably a Predator missile strike)
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Zarqawi Fate
The fate of the mass murderer terrorist Abomusab Zarqawi after his injury in Al-Qaim is not yet known.
Iran quickly denied news report by the Sun which is a UK newspaper that Zarqawi has been transferred for treatment to Iran. Most likely he was transferred to Syria which again denied it but Syria denied before the existence of Saddam half brother and after pressure it gave up and handed him to the US forces in Iraq.
On the other hand the US and Iraqi forces surrounded Al-Tarmiyah area because of reports about Zarqawi seen in the village of El-Boshalal. No more information available yet.
Big operation by the Iraqi forces started today and some strong fighting going on now in Al-Amiriyah region between the Iraqi forces and the insurgents who attacked the court of Justice and a US convey just now.
The Wahabi insurgents (many of them are Saudis) have killed about 13 Shiite visitors to Zianab shrine after they returned from Syria to Iraq.
Every day there are families in Saudi Arabia receiving news of their sons killed in Iraq. Thousands of them returned recently from Syria to Saudi Arabia (according Syria) and at least 300 Saudis are still arrested in Syria however this not meaning that Syria stopped its support but the reverse. Syria only stops its support for the insurgents after the Baath regime in Syria toppled.
see above.
fyi
Bump
bump
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