WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2008

Al Qaeda Claims Its Space On The Web

New Report Says Terrorists Are Increasingly Using The Web For Recruitment And Training

  • Play CBS Video Video Al Qaeda Online

    The internet has long been an al Qaeda stronghold for raising money. But now the web has largely replaced conventional training camps for recruiting and training Islamic radicals. Bob Orr reports.

  • Video Al Qaeda Recruiting On The Web

    "Only On The Web": CBS News' Bob Orr speaks to Ali Al-Ahmed of the Institute For Gulf Affairs about Al Qaeda's use of the Internet for propaganda and recruitment purposes.

  •  (CBS)

(CBS)  The internet has long been an al Qaeda stronghold - a center for raising money and spreading propaganda. A record 97 messages were posted in 2007.

But now, the cyber world has also largely replaced conventional training camps and has become the primary location where Islamic radicals are recruited, trained and sent on their way to carry out attacks.

CBS News correspondent Bob Orr spoke to Erich Marquardt, senior editor at West Point's Combating Terrorism Center and asked him if he would characterize the internet as a meeting place for would-be terrorists.

"Correct," Marquardt agreed, "Hence the term "al Qaeda's 'My Space'."

The Combating Terrorism Center published a report on Thursday claiming radical websites "have evolved into a disturbing MySpace-like social-networking hub for...extremists...intent on becoming the next generation of terrorists, hijackers and even suicide bombers."

"They put vast amounts of literature on these websites," Marquardt said, "texts justifying attacks through Islam, military training tactics, bomb-making skills - all of this, or much of this, has gone online."

Ali Al-Ahmed tracks terrorist websites for CBS News. He says many are one-stop shops for aspiring suicide bombers.

"They talk to you and they befriend you and they recruit you into becoming a member of al Qaeda," Al-Ahmed explained.

"So I could go in and I could find somebody to tell me about the organization?" Orr asked.

"Absolutely," said Al-Ahmed.

"Train me on how to do certain attacks?"

Again, Al-Ahmed nodded, "Yes."

"And then maybe give me directions on where I should go?"

"Absolutely," Al-Ahmed agreed.

And there is no shortage of interest, Orr reports. Pro al Qaeda internet sites have recorded millions of hits from potential recruits, called to Jihad on the World Wide Web.

Listen to Larry Magid's Podcast about how Britain is tackling the online terror threat.


© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Share:
  • Share
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Mixx
Add a Comment See all 41 Comments
by downsteamjim January 19, 2008 9:38 PM EST
To Sieg Heil needs a McVet: Your hate level today is high even for you.

To CBS_Oliver: I bet you support efforts to limit free speech with the Fairness to Hopeless Liberals Doctrine.

To SKYK: Do the impossible, cite your source.
Reply to this comment
by pilgrimsway-2009 January 19, 2008 4:49 PM EST
Does anyone know if Obama is pro life? What I read is He supports abortion right up to the head of the baby coming out. That Rick Warren supports him as well? I am beginning to see a paradox in my conscious.
Reply to this comment
by ajaxtheleast January 19, 2008 4:24 PM EST
NPR

Maqtada El Sadar: Alerts militia, too many rotten
Sunnis in the police. Prepare for possible end-
of-cease-fire fun time.
Reply to this comment
by pilgrimsway-2009 January 19, 2008 3:25 PM EST
Obama quote
Some of this is already beginning to happen. Pastors, friends of mine like Rick Warren and T.D. Jakes are wielding their enormous influences to confront AIDS, Third World debt relief, and the genocide in Darfur. Religious thinkers and activists like our good friend
Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo are lifting up the Biblical injunction to help the poor as a means of mobilizing Christians against budget cuts to social programs and growing inequality.
And by the way, we need Christians on Capitol Hill, Jews on Capitol Hill and Muslims on Capitol Hill talking about the estate tax. When you''ve got an estate tax debate that proposes a trillion dollars being taken out of social programs to go to a handful of folks who don''t need and weren''t even asking for it, you know that we need an injection of morality in our political debate.

This is the truth that we should read.
Obama in 08!
Reply to this comment
by kaviz January 19, 2008 3:09 PM EST
Do you think visitors to these websites get harassed by pop-up adds like we do and what they might be. Such as ''Osamas 1000 recipes for sand cookbook'' or ''Tubins for Less''- located at a building near you thats still standing''
Reply to this comment
by mcvet January 19, 2008 3:08 PM EST
obama/muslim.asp


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by pilgrimsway at 09:45 AM : Jan 19, 2008
+ report abuse

Can you read?? So many of you Gapped Tooth Bigots can''t. Anyway IF you can read please get a copy of the Constitution and READ IT. This is an American Citizen, an elected Representative of the PEOPLE and YOU are doing nothing but attempting to tar him with YOUR bigotry... It''s disgusting and beyond belief taken where WE the PEOPLE came from. LOL It''s hard to believe people like you can actually get through a day without hurting yourself or someone else. Sieg Heil Bush!! I''ve seen DIRT smarter than this low life!!
Reply to this comment
by cbs_oliver January 19, 2008 2:18 PM EST
It is too bad that Bob Orr and several others of the CBS news team - especially those covering security matters - appear to be just spokespeople for the government organizations and military business interests they cover.

They don''t report other views.

Why doesn''t CBS just ask for a direct feed? I''m sure there really isn''t much rewriting anyway.
Reply to this comment
by cbs_oliver January 19, 2008 1:52 PM EST
This article is not an accident.

It futhers the effort to establish laws like Rep. Jane Harman''s bill H.R. 1955 which sets up a new commission and a new basis for controlling and criminalizing discussions like these based on politically and religiously based judgements of the intent of the posters.

Jane Harman''s prepared statement for H.R. 1955''s related House Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment hearing in November was entitled "Using the Web as a Weapon: the Internet as a Tool for Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism." The only home grown terrorists she mentioned were Muslims and one Muslim supporting Jew. No Nazis, no KKK, no Mafia, no gangs - Just Muslims and Jews.

The perception of H.R. 1955 is so bad that Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security Bennie Thompson actually had to post a fact sheet in December arguing, among other hilarious things, that the resolution "does not legislate thought or protected political expression and free speech. There are no provisions seeking to change the criminal code or set up a ''Big Brother'' regime to put Americans under surveillance."

H.R. 1955 passed the House - mention Muslims and Terrorists and you can pass a bill in the House authorizing almost anything - even torture.

It now goes to the Senate.

Reply to this comment
by pilgrimsway-2009 January 19, 2008 12:50 PM EST
Sorry for my comments.
Do not go to this address its full of lies

http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2006/12/barack_hussein.html
Reply to this comment
by pilgrimsway-2009 January 19, 2008 12:45 PM EST
Sorry for my comments. Its what I read at.
Do not go to this address its full of lies.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/
obama/muslim.asp
Reply to this comment
by skyk-2009 January 19, 2008 11:48 AM EST
Instead of "Welcome", you hear "Death to America!!!"
Instead of "You''''ve got mail", you hear "You''''ve got Bomb" with the sound of an explosion each time you open a letter.
Instead of "Goodbye", you hear "Death to America!!!"


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by rushman71 at 02:35 PM : Jan 18, 2008
+ report abuse

Would this be the same Al Queda that Bush told us wasn''t important when he went off to Iraq? Of all the failures in our history Bush may well be the biggest.
Reply to this comment
by skyk-2009 January 19, 2008 11:46 AM EST
I THOUGHT AL GORE DID


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by ilikecats1 at 06:57 PM : Jan 18, 2008
+ report abuse

I guess when you are bankrupt for arguments a LIE serves the purpose huh? Course that Nobel Prize sure didn''t hurt Mr. Gore and served to remind us all of the terrible mistake we made in 2000... allowing that court and those corrupt judges to pick our President instead of INSISTING that the one who got the most votes become that leader. Thanks for reminding me and all American''s of that TRUTH!
Reply to this comment
by beehive21-2009 January 19, 2008 4:29 AM EST
Yo , low lifes ,why you want kill anyone, for some fool,( robots )who lies to you to further there cause of madness.Get a girlfriend ,drink some wine, don''t let the devil kill you ?
Reply to this comment
by brianbwb-2009 January 19, 2008 3:36 AM EST
Posted by pilgrimsway

You''''re full of it. Just tell the truth and say you don''''t want a "Black" man as president, quit hiding behind lies and false excuses for your racial intolerance, that is the coward''''s way.

I am an American, non Muslim, and have lived in Indonesia for the better part of fifteen years, I have helped build, and given Jazz music seminars and demonstrations at several madrassahs throughout the country. They are just like the private catholic schools all over the US, none are training terrorists.

Even if Obama were a Muslim, that only means he respects the god of Abraham, nothing more, but the fact that he claims Christianity is something a true Muslim would never do, renounce his religion for the sake of "blending in". Some of you fake Christians might, but I challenge you to show and examples where a person claiming to be Christian was actually a Muslim.

So, admit your racist leanings, and stop wasting the time of rational people with your lies, they don''''t convince anyone of anything, except your as-yet-unclassified mental illness.

This "pilgrimsway" cowardly racist is very possibly a paid staff worker for one of the neonazicon candidates who wants to appeal to the inbreds that probably make up a portion of his or her constituency, but is too cowardly to wish to be directly associated with such idiocy.

Reply to this comment
by pilgrimsway-2009 January 19, 2008 1:38 AM EST
When Obama was two years old, his parents divorced. His father returned to Kenya . His
mother then married Lolo Soetoro, a RADICAL Muslim from Indonesia. When Obama was 6 years old, the family relocated to Indonesia . Obama attended a MUSLIM school in Jakarta . He also spent two years in a Catholic school.

Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim. He is quick to point out that, "He was once a Muslim, but that he also attended Catholic school." Obama''s political handlers are attempting to make it appear that he is not a radical.
Reply to this comment
by larryhammick January 19, 2008 1:08 AM EST
The CTC report referred to is in #2 of The Sentinel, which is available from ctc dawt usma dawt edu. The articles are rather general.
One should keep in mind that the internet hosts essentially meaningless grafitti on all subjects, of which Muslim terrorist aggression is only one. About monitoring that stuff, the important part and the hard part is to sift the real operators and real plots from the pointless bombast of the wannabes.
Reply to this comment
by sevenveils January 18, 2008 5:58 PM EST
Let''s give a technology award to the Arabs for continuing the practice of slavery into the 21''st century
Reply to this comment
by sevenveils January 18, 2008 5:56 PM EST
Let''s give a technology award to the Arabs for inventing the black burka. Any female that tries to escape her enslavement will quickly succumb to the desert heat wearing the portable black tent.
Reply to this comment
by rushman71 January 18, 2008 5:35 PM EST
Al Qaeda''s version of AOL:

Instead of "Welcome", you hear "Death to America!!!"
Instead of "You''ve got mail", you hear "You''ve got Bomb" with the sound of an explosion each time you open a letter.
Instead of "Goodbye", you hear "Death to America!!!"
Reply to this comment
by allsnotwell January 18, 2008 2:33 PM EST
I read it, alright - I just get tired of everyone going on about "How each culture invented something" the Mayans had the best calendars in 1,000,000 BC and the Egyptians one-up it and claim theirs was from 2,000,00 BC(exaggerating) . It comes down to, nothing is invented from scratch. Scientists are not bound by national/cultural boundaries(even now) - The east contributed heavily to science and culture at one point, until religious zealotry ruined it all. By the way, I left out Babylon(Iraq), Egypt and China) as contributors(all east). As Newton said, "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants." . All said - the arguing about the cultures and their contributions is moot and tiring (applies to Jerr1 also) Sorry, If you felt targeted.
Reply to this comment
See all 41 Comments

60 Minutes

How gold pays for Congo's deadly war; Bob Ballard, the great explorer; and more.
Read More

  • MOST POPULAR
Discussed
  1. Tiger: "I'm Human and I'm Not Perfect"

    (182 recent comments)

Latest News
News in Pictures
Scroll Left Scroll Right
Connect with CBS News

Stay connected with the CBS News using your favorite social networks and online news applications: