INSPIRE…THE NEW INTERNET AL QAEDA RECUITMENT MAGAZINE: REP.PETER HOEKSTRA
OPINION
Al Qaeda Goes Viral
“The best response to Inspire is to ratchet up our law enforcement and intelligence counterterrorism programs. This will increase our ability to detect terrorist acts that publications like Inspire might foment. Certain Bush-era counterterrorism programs and tools suspended by this administration must be reinstated immediately. ”
The terrorists’ latest recruiting device: an English language Internet magazine.
By PETER HOEKSTRA
Earlier this month, the full version of Inspire, a new English language journal, surfaced on the Internet. It’s publisher? The Yemen-based terrorist organization, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
Although al Qaeda has long employed the Web, DVDs and video games to reach mass audiences, the sophistication and provocative nature of this publication suggests it is intended to “go viral”—or spread rapidly among many Internet users—in the English speaking world, especially in the United States.
Many in the West will ridicule Inspire’s boring sermons and awkwardly written stories, such as one that tries to portray joining “jihad” as a summer camp, or another with Osama bin Laden’s views on global warming. Commentators will undoubtedly condemn the journal’s reprehensible article “How to Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom.” They’ll also say that the publication’s naming of certain Americans as targets is a public relations gaffe.
But we underestimate this kind of radical jihadist propaganda at our peril. Inspire is not designed for mainstream Muslim audiences who will reject its radical content. The target audience is marginal Muslims not integrated in mainstream society, as well as the disaffected young men in English-speaking countries such as the U.S. and the U.K.
Inspire was obviously written by those who know American culture—probably Americans who have joined or have been assisting al Qaeda, such as Adam Gadahn, a California native now serving as an al Qaeda spokesman, Samir Khan, who runs a pro-al Qaeda website in North Carolina, and the terrorist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.
Awlaki, who has been called the “bin Laden of the Internet” because of his adept use of Facebook, YouTube and email, is a well-known English speaking propagandist for al Qaeda. His sermons attacking American society and calling for violent attacks on the West already reach a large audience. Inspire, which includes an article attributed to Awlaki, likely hopes the new journal will create Internet buzz for his sermons that will be widely proliferated over the next few weeks on Internet websites, chat rooms and social media.
Awlaki has been linked to the Fort Hood shootings, the Christmas Day bomber, and the Times Square bomber. He appears to have turned to planning smaller and simpler terrorist attacks with newly recruited, hard-to-detect individuals against Western targets. Probably this is because large-scale 9/11-like attacks have become more difficult to pull off thanks to increased Western security measures.
Although these smaller attacks may have lower probabilities of success, the more attackers Awlaki and groups like AQAP recruit, the better the chances that a few of them will succeed. Inspire provides a new way to find these recruits.
So far, President Obama has tried to deal with the threat from radical Islam by dropping references to Islamic radicalism and instead trying to reach out to foreign Muslim audiences with grand speeches and apologies for past U.S. policies. The publication of Inspire demands a new approach.
It is crucial that the president acknowledge and act on the threat from Inspire and similar Internet appeals by radical jihadists. His administration must realize that Inspire is the latest indication not just that radical Islam is still at war with the U.S., but that it’s opening up a new front to recruit fringe individuals in our country and radicalize them.
The best response to Inspire is to ratchet up our law enforcement and intelligence counterterrorism programs. This will increase our ability to detect terrorist acts that publications like Inspire might foment. Certain Bush-era counterterrorism programs and tools suspended by this administration must be reinstated immediately. The Obama administration must make breaking up al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and apprehending Awlaki high priorities.
Inspire won’t make sense to Western audiences or even the vast majority of the world’s Muslims. It doesn’t have to. This propaganda only needs to find a handful of individuals to launch terrorist attacks against the United States. If the magazine succeeds, our security will be put at further risk.
Mr. Hoekstra, a Republican from Michigan, is the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
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