Internet Jihad

Islamic terrorists don't hail from just the Middle East. They're now originating from our own western democracies. Young men, inspired by a strict interpretation is Islam and fanciful promises of never ending virgins for martyrs, are entering a fantasy world, where the killing of innocents is the objective. As important as terrorist cells and training camps in Africa and the borders of Pakistan are, they pale in comparison to the importance of the internet for terrorists. The internet represents the ultimate borderless landscape. With near-anonymiity, freedom of expression and unparalleled access to a world audience, the new breed of cyber terrorist exhibit the same fearlessness and bravado as those who remove their social filters when anonymously commenting on the internet. For these individuals, far removed from a war zone or a scene of murder, cyber-terrorism probably feels a bit like a game. It's anything but a game however. Cyber terrorists serve the most important function in the arsenal of terrorism: propaganda and the dissemination of training information. It hardly matters whether Osama bin Laden is still alive. Terrorism doesn't need a central figure anymore. The internet has provided a network bin Laden could never have built on his own. A network he probably doesn't even understand -- if he's still alive -- but a network that certainly understand. It's disappointing then, that cyber-terrorism isn't being addressed in Bush's "global war on terrorism." Where's the US propaganda machine? In their response to terrorism, America continues to be reactionary -- not realizing that as much as the war needs to be fought with bombs, it must also be fought with ideas and information.