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September 11, 2004

P O Box 27693
Alb., NM 87125-7693
www.joyjunction.org
Tel: (505) 400-7145

Yahoo Sponsored al Qaeda Bulletin Board
(and others) Still Spewing Out Terrorist Hatred on Third Anniversary of 9/11

     Three years after 9/11, a video available for download through a link on an Internet bulletin board service regarded by many terror experts as being a prime means of communication for al Qaeda operatives makes an apparent attempt to justify the attacks.

    The video pans across the sky and shifts to weapon-toting apparent Islamic militants standing against a backdrop of mountains. After that the video shows apparently dead, injured and traumatized victims of presumed brutality by America and its allies.

    A video simulation then shows planes crashing into the World Trade Center. Voices can be clearly heard chanting "Allah Akbah" – the Arabic for "God is great!"

    Following that, the video then shifts to pictures and apparent profiles of the 19 hijackers. Once all the pictures of the terrorists appear on the screen, al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's picture is also shown.

    The video concludes with an e mail address.

    The link to this video ( http://members.lycos.co.uk/alsayyaf552/11sep.swf ) appears on the latest message from the al Qaeda connected Yahoo sponsored bulletin board service Global Islamic Media (GIM).

The 19 Terrorists

    In addition to this video, the latest GIM al Qaeda message ( http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/ilamislaminews/message/30 ) features pictures of the 19 hijackers interspersed with the decimated World Trade Center (their collective pictures are labeled "heroes") and a pictures of bin Laden and his colleagues. (That picture is named "lions.")

Osama bin Laden and Colleagues

    There are also non- working (at the time of writing) links on the same GIM message to files or sites titled "America" and "Gazwa Manhattan" respectively. Ghazwa is an old word used during Mohammed's lifetime to describe raids against enemies akin to contemporary commando operations.

    Those inaccessible files appeared to be stored on servers operated by the apparently Los Angeles-based www.videotapesource.com. A request for comment to the apparent operators of that site was not immediately returned.

    The same GIM message also contained a link ( www.ansarnet.ws/vb/showthread.php?t=13900&page=1&pp=20 ) to an unavailable file on the www.ansarnet site called 911. Ansarnet.ws has been called one of the main Islamist forums of supporters of Global Jihad on the Internet.

    A few months ago, Yahoo's GIM group was known on line as Global Islamic Media. It changed to Global Islamic Media Centre, and then slightly altered its on line name to Global Islamic Media Center. After disappearing for a few weeks it reemerged as "Ilamislami."

    The group posts all of its messages over a distinctive brown parchment background (apparently stored on the servers of www.jihadunspun, a controversial pro Islamic web site).

    GIM initially achieved notoriety in part because in Dec. 2003, Islamic militants discussed the possibility of a terrorist attack designed to affect the Spanish general election.

    In a March 2004 Agence France Press (AFP) story, the news agency reported that Britain's Channel 4 News revealed that a Dec. 10 posting on GIM, which had previously carried statements purporting to be from Al-Qaeda affiliates, suggested that attacks could help bring about a Socialist election victory and the withdrawal of Spain's troops from Iraq.

    According to Channel 4 News, the GIM posting was issued under the name of the Centre for Services to the Mujahideen and read, "The approaching general elections in Spain in March next year must be exploited to the extreme. We think that the Spanish government will not stand more than two blows, or three at the most, before it will be forced to withdraw (from Iraq) because of the public pressure on it. If its forces remain after these blows, the victory of the Socialist party will be almost guaranteed, and the withdrawal of Spanish forces will be on its campaign manifesto."

    After the bombings, which killed 200 people and injured 1,500, Spain's conservative party was defeated. Spain's new Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero who criticized President George W. Bush for the Iraq campaign, withdrew Spanish troops.

    GIM's al Qaeda connection is routinely accepted by many analysts. Paul Eedle, a British investigative reporter who specializes in radical Islam, was interviewed by CNN in March. He commented, "The Global Islamic Media list .... puts out a stream of statements, 30 to 50 a month, explaining the group's strategy and claiming responsibility for its actions, including the Madrid (train) bombings ... "

    According to Eedle, the Internet has been a wonderful creation for al Qaeda. "The Net creates a virtual meeting place, a glue that holds together al Qaeda, even though its leadership has been holed up in the mountains and is now surrounded."

    Yahoo was not contacted for this story, but a few months ago after many requests for comment issued a statement which appears to be the company's standard response.

    It came from Mary Osako, Mary Osako, Yahoo's Director of Communication. She said that those wishing to use Yahoo Groups "agree to not use the Service to upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available any content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable. When notified of content that may be in violation of our Terms of Service, we are committed to reviewing each report and taking appropriate action, generally within 24 hours."

    However, Yahoo continues to allow Global Islamic Media to operate and that seems to show no signs of changing.