AL QAEDA’S FAVORITE NETWORKS

[Geee]

Powerline:

Yesterday the federal government made available some of the correspondence that was captured in the raid that killed bin Laden. I am still working my way through it; one of the more entertaining dispatches is from al-Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn and was written in late January 2011. Gadahn, you may remember, is the American convert who is prized by the organization for his knowledge of American media and culture. The most interesting part of Gadahn’s letter is where he discusses the news outlets al Qaeda can use to disseminate its message:

The Issue of preparing for the Tenth Anniversary, and how it will be marketed in the Media, and How to Exploit the Media in General:

As far as the American channel that could be used to deliver our messages, whether on the tenth anniversary or before or after,

in my personal opinion there are no distinct differences between the channels from the standpoint of professionalism and neutrality. It is all as the Shaykh has stated (close to professionalism and neutrality) it has not and will not reach

the perfect professionalism and neutrality, only if God wants that.

From the professional point of view, they are all on one level– except (Fox News) channel which falls into the abyss as you

know, and lacks neutrality too. As for the neutrality of CNN in English, it seems to be in cooperation with the government more than the others (except Fox News of course). Its Arabic version brings good and detailed reports about al-Sahab releases, with a lot of quotations from the original text. That means they copy directly from the releases or its gist. It is not like what other channels and sites do, copying from news agencies like Reuters, AP and others.

I used to think that MSNBC channel may be good and neutral a bit, but is has lately fired two of the most famous journalists

–Keith Olberman and Octavia Nasser the Lebanese – because they released some statements that were open for argument (The Lebanese had praised a Shia Imam Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah after his death and called him “One of the marvels of Hizballah” it

seems she is a Shia.) [Actually, it was CNN that fired Nasser.]

CBS channel was mentioned by the Shaykh, I see that it is like the other channels, but it has a famous program (60 Minutes)

that has some popularity and a good reputation for its long broadcasting time. Only God knows the reality, as I am not really in a position to do so. ABC channel is all right; actually it could be one of the best channels, as far as we are concerned. It is interested in al-Qa’ida issues, particularly the journalist Brian Ross, who is specialized in terrorism. The channel is still proud for its interview with the Shaykh. It also broadcasted excerpts from a speech of mine on the fourth anniversary, it also published most of that text on its site on the internet.

In conclusion, we can say that there is no single channel that we could rely on for our messages. I may ignore them, and even

the channel that broadcast them, probably it would distort them somehow. This is accomplished by bringing analysts and experts that would interpret its meaning in the way they want it to be. Or they may ignore the message and conduct a smearing of the

individuals, to the end of the list of what you know about their cunning methods.

In general, and no matter what material we send, I suggest that we should distribute it to more than one channel, so that there

will be healthy competition between the channels in broadcasting the material, so that no other channel takes the lead. It should be sent for example to ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN and maybe PBS and VOA. As for Fox News, let her die in her anger.

[Valin]

@Geee

 

I wonder who is their favorite? Chris tingles Matthews, Rev. Al Resist We Much Sharpton, Crazy Eddy Schultz, Rachel smirk Maddow?