Octavia Nasr
CNN Arab Affairs Editor
In the Arab world, media headlines, editorials and commentaries continue to be very supportive of the U.S. for electing Barack Obama as president. Even the most conservative media, those with known anti-western slant, are sounding positive and offering congratulations.
At the London-based pro-Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi, an editorial reads, “It is too soon to judge Barack Obama’s ability to handle the economic crisis and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he has already defeated America’s two most powerful institutions, the Clintons and the conservative right wing… He therefore might be able to handle these explosive dossiers if granted the opportunity…” The editorial continued, “Barack Obama will enter history with his competence, abilities, patience and wisdom… We therefore congratulate him for this great success and congratulate the American people for having chosen change.”
In Saudi Arabia’s pro-government Okaz newspaper, Khalaf al-Harbi wrote, “We cannot hide our admiration for the invigorating American spirit that is not blinded by might or corrupted by supremacy. The United States proves one more time that it is always capable of reinventing itself and staying ahead of other countries that cannot show the same degree of dedication and loyalty to their professed principles.”
Peter Bergen
CNN National Security Analyst
One person who was supposed to weigh in on the American presidential election is someone we have yet to hear from: Osama bin Laden.
Four years ago the al Qaeda leader appeared in a well-lit videotape addressing himself directly to the American people five days before they voted in the contest between Sen. John Kerry and George Bush. Bin Laden said then that whoever won the election was immaterial as far as al Qaeda was concerned and that instead Americans needed to change their country’s foreign policies in the Muslim world, or face the consequences.
US intelligence officials tracking al Qaeda have been expecting a similar message from the al Qaeda leader in the run-up to this presidential election. Yet, so far, bin Laden has not appeared.
There could be several reasons for this. First, the bin Laden tape might still be in the pipeline and will surface in coming weeks having wended its long way via a chain of couriers from his hideout on the Afghan-Pakistan border to be uploaded to a jihadist website or delivered to an Arab TV station.
Nic Robertson | BIO
Senior International Correspondent
There is a new fight against Bin Laden, al Qaeda and their fellow radicals. It’s coming from within Islam and may yet prove the most powerful agent for transforming the Saudi terror leader from radical Islamist Icon to a has-been hero.
Taking down one of his best loved web sites is only the beginning. Much, much more is happening behind the scenes. Muslims angry Bin Laden is giving Islam a bad name are fighting back.
I’m hearing it from guys as diverse as those that fought along side the Al Qaeda leader in the anti Soviet Jihad in Afghanistan to British Pakistani’s frustrated their children are being singled out for ridicule for being un-Islamic by their peers. These Muslims want to do something and they are.
Waseem Mahmood, a British Pakistani helped get a bunch of popular Pakistani pop stars to record a song decrying Bin Laden type terror. It was an instant hit staying at the top of the Pakistani charts for several weeks. He followed up with a SMS, phone text message petition for Pakistanis to sign up if they were against terrorism. More than 60 million did, that’s more than a third of the population, massive when you consider most of us think of Pakistan as a very Conservative Muslim nation. Mahmood is getting ready to grow that number.
UPDATE FROM OCTAVIA: Thanks for the comments about the hacking vs. domain registration expiration. This is definitely a valid point. Our focus here is not to write a technical essay about hacking. It’s merely an attempt at showing how some people – we don’t know who – are fighting al Qaeda by attacking their websites. Al-Ekhlaas website has been down for months following years of operation. While today it redirects you to joker.com, tomorrow it might redirect you to another site. While we do not know who is hacking into the jihadi websites, there is no doubt they’re being hacked.
How do we know that?
On the jihadi sites that work, it is common practice to announce that “Site X has been downed by evil forces but we’re working on bringing it back up.” Or “Site Y was hacked but you can join us temporarily on this address.” To the dismay of the jihadist community and its supporters, the Al-Ekhlaas website has been downed/hacked/disabled – you choose the terminology that works for you. From the chatter about it, this doesn’t seem like this is a domain registration problem. Al-Ekhlaas has been on line uninterrupted for a long time. This is the first time it disappears abruptly and can’t get back on.
__________
Octavia Nasr | BIO
CNN senior editor for Arab affairs
A hacking war is raging on Jihadi websites. Radical Islamist sites have been attacking and getting attacked for quite some time. The website hacking practice was common in 2001 and 2002… Following the 9/11 attacks when al Qaeda used only one website to communicate its messages to supporters and foes alike. That website was called alneda.com. It was getting constantly hacked… sometimes several hackings a day. After every hacking the site managed to resurface on the net until it disappeared from the scene in 2004 to be replaced by other websites — What started as one al Qaeda-linked site mushroomed into dozens which branched out into hundreds of supporting sites that serve as dissemination centers over the internet.
Two well-known al Qaeda-linked sites are Al-Hesbah and Al-Ekhlaas. Al-Hesbah is the oldest and requires a username and password to access it. Its membership was open to the public in 2004 but became restricted over the years. This site became known as the first venue for uploaded al Qaeda messages — from Osama bin Laden video messages to statements and claims of responsibilities for attacks carried out in Afghanistan, Iraq or even Europe. Al-Ekhlaas followed with a sleeker image, and more technical bells and whistles.
The hacking war works both ways.
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Jonathan Alter
Newsweek senior editor and columnist
The decision by Barack Obama to return to Hawaii to visit his ailing grandmother might not be the last surprise of the last fortnight of this campaign. Two weeks is an eternity in presidential politics, which means we’re likely to have one more twist before this ends—though with early voting, more than a quarter of the electorate now votes before Election Day.
What will the twist be? Reviving Jeremiah Wright, which the McCain campaign is hinting at, won’t mean much. Unless the Reverend Wright himself resurfaces (he’s abroad and on radio silence), that thrust would be easily parried by the Obama campaign. That’s because John McCain is on tape saying a man’s pastor should not be relevant in judging his character. Even if an independent 527 committee were to make an attack ad involving Wright, Obama’s got an obvious jujitsu response ad making McCain out to be a hypocrite.
Peter Bergen
CNN National Security Analyst
Less than a day after Republican presidential candidate John McCain promised that if he won the presidency Osama bin Laden would be captured or killed by 2013, a message from al Qaeda’s leader appeared on jihadist websites reminding the world that he is alive and well.
Bin Laden’s audiotape message commented on the recent 60th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel; promised that he would fight for the liberation of Palestine, and told his Muslim listeners that they have a duty to help in that effort.
Was the audiotape an attempt by bin Laden to remain relevant by pushing on the issue that remains a hot button for most Muslims? After 9/11 some commentators said that the Palestinian issue was something that bin Laden had recently adopted in order to appeal to a wide range of Muslims. This is false.
When al Qaeda’s leader declared war on the United States publicly for the first time in August 1996
part of his rationale concerned the Palestinian issue:
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