[Mb-civic] The Web as Weapon - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

<>The Web as Weapon
Zarqawi Intertwines Acts on Ground in Iraq With Propaganda Campaign on 
the Internet

By Susan B. Glasser and Steve Coll
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, August 9, 2005; Page A01

Last of three parts

The jihadist bulletin boards were buzzing. Soon, promised the spokesman 
for al Qaeda in the Land of the Two Rivers, a new video would be posted 
with the latest in mayhem from Iraq's best-known insurgent group.

On June 29, the new release hit the Internet. "All Religion Will Be for 
Allah" is 46 minutes of live-action war in Iraq, a slickly produced 
video with professional-quality graphics and the feel of a 
blood-and-guts annual report. In one chilling scene, the video cuts to a 
brigade of smiling young men. They are the only fighters shown unmasked, 
and the video explains why: They are a corps of suicide bombers-in-training.

As notable as the video was the way Abu Musab Zarqawi's "information 
wing" distributed it to the world: a specially designed Web page, with 
dozens of links to the video, so users could choose which version to 
download. There were large-file editions that consumed 150 megabytes for 
viewers with high-speed Internet and a scaled-down four-megabyte version 
for those limited to dial-up access. Viewers could choose Windows Media 
or RealPlayer. They could even download "All Religion Will Be for Allah" 
to play on a cell phone.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/08/AR2005080801018.html?referrer=email

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