Webloggin » Are Cyber Jihadis Armed Combatants?

Are cyber jihadis ‘armed illegal combatants‘ or are they just criminals? There is a big difference. My friend at Toasted Bread raised the question here.

So, are the Governments taking Online Jihad seriously? It’s possible that they haven’t because as MyPetJawa writes they have not been much more worried about this:

They are willing to view the cyber jihadis (occasionally, at least) as criminals. What they have not been willing to concede, to this point, is that they are armed illegal combatants.

While it may seem minor, it is an important distinction. Why? Because if the internet is 1) a field of battle and 2) propaganda on the internet is a weapon of war, then the strategy for confronting it must be military. The first rules of war are to 1) possess better weapons than the enemy and 2) control the battlespace.

As to point 1: is there really any doubt as to whether our geeks possess better internet skillz than the Islamists?

As to point 2: there has been no serious attempt to control the battlespace.

Toasted Bread mentions a Moroccan suicide Jihadi who killed himself and what the Counterterrorism Blog had to say:

According to news services, the attack was not aimed at the cybercafe. But two terrorists carrying explosive belts entered the cybercafe to surf the web. They were connected to a terrorism-linked site and the manager wanted to prevent them to do so.

When he approached one of the two terrorists, the suicide bomber decided to activate his bomb. Its accomplice fled but was stopped by Moroccan police. The most credible explanation for what happened last night is that the two terrorists wanted to consult Internet to receive their orders for an attack against another target.

From CBS:

“Without a doubt, the Internet is the single most important venue for the radicalization of Islamic youth,” says Army Brigadier General John Custer, who is the is head of intelligence at central command, responsible for Iraq and Afghanistan.

Custer says he knows where the enemy finds an inexhaustible supply of suicide warriors. “I see 16, 17-year-olds who have been indoctrinated on the Internet turn up on the battlefield. We capture ‘em, we kill ‘em every day in Iraq, in Afghanistan,” he says. …..

CBS 60 Minutes video here at LGF, via The Jawa Report, who says:

Among those featured in the 60 Minutes segment are Rita Katz of the SITE Institute and Aaron Weisburd of Internet Haganah.

It would be wise, though, if people were not only aware of the clear and present danger presented by the online jihadis, but that they would also listen to Aaron’s advice on how to confront them. [snip]

It’s pre-9/11 think, really. Treating terrorism as a crime to be prosecuted after the fact. Treating the cyber-jihadis as criminals who must break a law before they are stopped.

It’s really not that hard. Give a few of my friends legal indemnity and a few bucks and they’ll systematically fight the online jihadis. And they’ll win.

Pre-September 11, 2001 thinking indeed.

[Discuss this post over at the Right Truth...]