.Iraq's militants put new touches to propaganda war
"BAGHDAD, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Shrouded in woollen ski masks in a makeshift television studio, members of one of Iraq's most ruthless militant groups debate tactics in a propaganda video aimed at gaining new recruits for the insurgency.
A relative lull in violence over the past few days has been accompanied by the stepped-up distribution of such discs, part of the militant strategy of gaining followers and intimidating enemies with images of devastating bombings.
Lieutenant-General John Vines, the deputy U.S. commander in Iraq, said on Friday that al Qaeda in Iraq was "increasingly in disarray" and that violence over recent days had been at its lowest level for three months, coinciding with the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival.
But militant groups appear as determined as ever and have been handing out more videos in Baghdad mosques in a bid to attract more fighters for the Sunni insurgency.
Videos have been one of the few sources of intelligence on Islamic militant groups loosely tied to Saddam Hussein loyalists leading the insurgency.
Previous discs typically showed roadside bomb attacks on U.S. Humvees or Iraqi police patrols.
Insurgent group Ansar al-Sunna, which has kidnapped and killed foreigners and Iraqis, seems to have embarked on a more dynamic appeal to sell holy war -- the television studio interview.
A masked man smartly dressed in a sport coat and identified as the head of the group's information section asks his guest about military strategy. The interview is interspersed with video images of young fighters firing mortars.
"Rockets are preferable in attacks on U.S. bases because they are outside cities and attacking police stations puts civilians at risk," says the interviewee, identified as a military expert from the same organisation."
Reuters
posted by madtom at 6:27 PM
3 Comments:
No! I had not read anything about it, I have been a bit under the weather this weekend and Have been a bit disconnected. I do remember her writing those words, maybe someone should mail a copy of the cached page to the NYT so they know who they have on their payroll, not that it will make a bit of difference to them.
Stryker.
I looked and could not find anything on the subject, could you post a link, or something to where you read about it, is it on the NYT site? I looked at SFM, and COM and did not see anything.
"Hope you are feeling better and keep up the good work!"
You sure you want that on the record? have you read today's updates and additions to the side bar, I was expecting more of an attack!
That's all right Strykerdad, don't hurt yourself just for me.
The fact that you did not attack just on the content will tell me allot about anyone that does, and that's all I needed.
You are of course welcome to comment to your hearts content.
Let me tell you it's not easy thing to get 'guest commentaries", so if the NYT times has to scrape the bottom of the barrel to get someone, I would not hold it against them. Interesting times indeed...
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