Thursday, March 11, 2010

Profiling defeated via jihadi information war

A middle-aged and suburban would-be terrorist termed "Jihad Jane" in the media was both female and white, as well as born in the USA. Far from being lone wolf operatives, however, the jihadi strategy of recruiting online has an inherent weakness tempering its effectiveness: sites can also be monitored by security agencies.

Radical, English-language Islamist websites that promote a violent jihad, or holy war, against the West have become more effective at recruiting Americans and providing a place for armchair terrorists to meet and plan attacks in the U.S. or abroad, experts say.

The war on terrorism is also an information war.