Nov 29, 2007 9:31 AM

Targeting the Jihadist Noise Machine

Counterinsurgencies aren’t just about bullets and bombs; they’re waged with images and words, too; the U.S. counterinsurgency manual calls the information war the "decisive" fight in the contest to secure a country. Which is what makes this Long War Journal piece, on American efforts to hunt down Iraq’s extremist propaganda cells, an interesting read. The […]

Counterinsurgencies aren't just about bullets and bombs; they're waged with images and words, too; the U.S. counterinsurgency manual calls the information war the "decisive" fight in the contest to secure a country. Which is what makes this Long War Journal piece, on American efforts to hunt down Iraq's extremist propaganda cells, an interesting read.

*The flurry of activity began on November 22, when the Special Forces teams killed one member of a propaganda cell and captured two. In follow-on raids the next day, the teams captured seven members of al Qaeda's media network. "One of the targeted buildings is believed to be used as a propaganda production facility and meeting location for senior leaders," Multinational Forces Iraq reported. *
Two days later, Coalition Special Forces teams captureda "wanted individual [who] is believed to be involved in al-Qaeda in Iraq media networks and was involved in attacks against Coalition forces." Fourteen other al Qaeda media and courier operatives were captured during coordinated operations.
Based on the number of raids in Samarra, the city is clearly a major hub of activity for al Furqan, if not the headquarters for the media organization. Grace notes that while the jihadis are excited about the return of al Furqan videos, some members of the forums are stating the organization is now on the move.

But the jihadists are still managing to pump out their videos, the *Journal *notes.

After a nearly two-month lull in videos released by al Furqan, al Qaeda in Iraq's primary propaganda arm, two new videos of attacks on US
forces have been released over the past three days.

ALSO:

* 18 Months Later, Charges for Jailed Journo in Iraq
* U.S. Enlists Arab Bloggers for Info War
* Some of Her Best Friends Are Terrorists
* Inside Al-Qaeda's "Intranet"
* Intel Director Launches Qaeda Leak Probe
* Ex-Spies Blast Qaeda Breach
* Al-Qaeda "Intranet" Goes Dark After Leak
* Bloggers vs. Terrorists?
* Army Gearing Up for Info War (Finally)
* DARPA's New Tools for Net Defenders, Cyber-Snoops
* Pentagon Launching Net Attacks
* Air Force Readying Cyber Strikes
* Osama: Back in Black
* Al-Qaeda Channels Pixar
*Inside the Insurgent Noise Machine
* Terrorists Keep Blogs, Too
* Al-Qaeda Ramps up Propaganda Push
* Army Bullies Blogger, Invades YouTube
* Al-Qaeda Propaganda at New High
* British Military Gags Blogs
* Army Audit: Official Sites, Not Blogs, are Security Threat
* Military Security Threat: Bogus Bomb-Zapper's Bogus Countermeasure