Understanding Online Radicalization: The Jihadi Blogs
RM’s success can also be measured in the number of terrorists it produced. Zachary Chesser, a Muslim convert and former leader of the group, was convicted of trying to join Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab and for making threats to the South Park cartoonists. The currently leader of IP, Jesse Morton (aka Younus Abdullah Muhammad), was arrested last month in Morocco and will be extradited to the U.S. to face charges for his role in those threats.
Several other terrorists participated in RM’s activities. Neil Bryant Vinas, who plotted to blow up trains on the Long Island Rail Road, was a friend of RM’s former leader Yusuf al-Khattab. Tarek Mehanna, convicted on material support charges, and Daniel Maldonado, who is serving 10 years for training with al-Shabaab, were also acquaintances of the group.
Ultimately, the fame that brought new members to RM would bring it down. In April 2010, Zachary Chesser was drawn into RM’s sphere and issued threats against South Park’s creators for their Muhammad cartoon. The threat, coupled with Chesser’s later indictment for trying to join al-Shabaab, was the first time someone was convicted for information posted on RM’s blog. It would not be the last.
On November 4, 2010, a British member of RM posted a detailed threat against British parliamentarians, as well as a salute to Roshanara Choudhry’s involvement with the blog. The post prayed for Choudhry release, encouraged others to follow her path, reposted the documents that most inspired her, and outlined how and where to strike the politicians. Shortly thereafter, RM’s website was shut down and British police arrested Bilal Zaheer Ahmad for making the post.
RM leader Younus Abdullah Muhammad, the senior leader of RM following the arrest of Chesser and the departure of senior member Yusuf al-Khattab, refused to let the group die. Muhammad founded a successor group called Islam Policy, and linked various Revolution Muslim websites to it. He added other elements, such as an emphasis on Islamic economics and TV commentary for anti-American English news site Russia Today. By mainstreaming the group, he could continue promoting al-Qaeda’s ideology while becoming an international media star.
However, the South Park incident soon caught up with Muhammad. An indictment showed that he was a key player in formulating the “credible” threats for which Chesser took the fall.
Although RM/IP’s history is more developed than many blogs, it shows the power that the jihadist narrative has. Without RM, those indicted for terrorism would not have had the reinforcement and community that motivated their attacks.
(This is Part Two of a series. Part One is here.)
Seems like any blog or web site that promotes violence, let alone explains how to attack and kill people, should be hacked and forced off the Internet. I’m sure the State Department or the Department of Justice or the NSA can find a few people in their vast organizations to hack into these sites and pull them down. As far as radical “talk” or discussions are concerned, well, that can get tricky. People have a right to say what’s on their mind. As long as you don’t actively call for people to be killed or form an insurrection or a revolt over the Internet, I guess people have a right to say what they want to say. However, that does NOT mean you can’t get other people to go on those blogs or web sites to try and challenge them. Even if they delete your comments, there are probably ways to get right back on to the blog. There is a free speech issue here, but people do NOT have a right to try and get other people killed using the Internet.
Nope.
You do see the slippery slope, right? If they can force such blogs off the Internet, how long before they come for PJ Media, PJTV, Breitbart’s “Big” sites, and Free Republic?
I’d contend that there are already well-entrenched elements in our government that see sites like PJM and individuals like Breitbart as bigger and more elemental threats than blogs encouraging the jihadist mindset.
Why else would a disgruntled Barack Obama tell graduating college seniors last year that they needed to get balance in their news reporting, like…the Huffington Post ? Next thing you know, Barack will be telling you that “cute” little Debbie Wasserman Schultz is smarter than Rush Limbaugh.
Freedom of speech and freedom of expression are the enemies of this régime.
(of course, the panty bomber, the ft. hood bomber & the times square bomber all reportedly had email exchanges with that US born solicitor of prostitutes, Anwar al-Awlaki)
Given that a basic component of the jihadist mindset is a revolt against “modernity”, it is hugely ironic that the movement itself, for recruiting, organizing & dissemination, is utterly reliant on the internet, cell phones et al. and etc.
These guys get a little paranoid, Osama would only use a given cellphone one time and then throw it away, but, nevertheless, all the things cellphones do (including enable remote detonation) have been exploited by these insanely ignorant random slaughterers of human beings ( excuse me, “the jihadists”)
There’s Osama hiding out in the compound allegedly without internet connection, relying on his runner to get his latest egomaniacal statement over to the internet café for dissemination as he clicked away at that rather primitive tee vee, wrapped in a dirty blanket, watching himself in endless loops.
Any ideology that cannot stand criticism or disagreement is totalitarian in nature. Islam is one of those belief systems. Anyone who uses the phrase “religion of peace” without bursting into unqualified laughter needs a psych eval, IMHO.