Friday, November 17, 2006
Message about Tuesday's abductions on jihadist forums
Security, Media
The Iraqi Islamic Media Centre (IIMC), a group which disseminates media reports to jihadist websites issued an atypical message on Wednesday, November 15, 2006, claiming important information about the location of the people who were kidnapped from the Higher Education Ministry in Iraq on Tuesday. The message was distributed to many jihadist forums. Signed by “the Muslim Emir,” the message alleges that the Shi’ite militias belonging to Muqtada al-Sadr are the culprits, and the kidnapped individuals were taken to Sadr City, placed in a school facing al-Suda. Seven people were released at the time, and the author muses that this was perhaps to kill them, as “every person of the Sunni people has a price that rises if he has education or a good position”.
COMMENT: The jihadist web forums usually publish messages describing operations, claiming responsibility, encouraging new recruits, weapons manuals, or occasionally messages from leaders. This is a very unusual message. Usually there is no message covering this kind of incident. It is likely that the insurgents are merely stoking the fire, and using the media to their advantage to incite violence and retribution. They have long waged a superior and successful media campaign which may not have been given enough attention and credibility. To quote the old addage: the word is mightier than the sword. COMMENT ENDS.
