The Combating
Terrorism Center at West
Point released a memorandum to the public last Thursday which summarizes and
analyzes seventeen of the seized, translated documents. Among them were letters
in which bin Laden expressed concern about al Qaeda’s deteriorating public
image, particularly among other Muslims, which he desperately sought to rectify
by enlisting the aid of the media.
Having a focused, coherent media strategy was critical for bin
Laden. Like all of America’s
enemies who can’t compete with us on the battlefield, he understood that
winning the media campaign is just as critical to victory than military
campaigns – possibly more so. “The issue of Jihadi media,” wrote
bin Laden in a letter dated October 20, 2010 among the Abbottabad papers, “is a
main piece of the war.”
We need to benefit from this event and get our messages to the Muslims and
celebrate the victory that they achieved. We need to restore their confidence
in their nation and motivate them. We should also present our just cause to the
world, especially to the European people.
Bin Laden
suggested contacting Al-Jazeera for their
cooperation, and also pondered the
merits of U.S. television news networks:
We should also look for an American
channel that can be close to being unbiased, such as CBS, or other channel that
has political motives that make it interested in broadcasting the point of view
of al-Mujahidin. Then, we can send to the channel the material that we want the
Americans to see.
In addition to feeling out Al-Jazeera, bin Laden wanted to contact internationally
known British journalist Robert Fisk of the Independent
(an American foreign policy critic who had actually interviewed bin Laden three
times in the mid-90s) and other reporters to emphasize the message to the Western
powers that perhaps the energy spent pursuing al Qaeda would be better directed
by addressing climate change. Yes, climate change.
In a letter that
dates from January 2011 or later, its recipient unknown, California-born al Qaeda
spokesman Adam Gadahn shared his thoughts on bin Laden’s request for a
media strategy to mark the 9/11 anniversary. He too mentions sending “special
media material” on the date to a number of print journalists around the world,
including Fisk. The intent was to win infidel hearts and minds by showing “the
fairness of our case to the whole world and the European peoples in
particular.”
Regarding exploiting
American news stations, Gadahn recommended that
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.
Gadahn had his
doubts about CNN, although its Arabic version “brings good and detailed reports”:
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). 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 Olbermann and Octavia
Nasser the Lebanese.
Nasser was canned
from CNN after she revealed her pro-terrorism bias in a tweet mourning the
death of a Hezbollah leader. The rabidly partisan Olbermann, who
relentlessly attacked Bush’s “war on terror” and helped whitewash Islamists by
hosting representatives from Muslim Brotherhood front groups on his show,
parted ways with MSNBC after his controversial financial donations to
Democratic party politicians. It is telling that Gadahn views these two and
MSNBC as “good and neutral.”
As for CBS, Gadahn muses, “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.” ABC “is all
right; actually it could be one of the best channels, as far as we are
concerned.” And his judgment of Fox News?
“Let her die in her anger.”
After considering
the pros and cons of the major U.S. broadcasters, Gadahn couldn't make up his
mind, and:
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… they
are all on one level except (Fox News) channel which falls into the abyss as
you know, and lacks neutrality too.
Ultimately Gadahn was skeptical of the American TV news
media and “their cunning methods,” and he worried that no matter which outlet al Qaeda chose,
the group's message would probably
end up being distorted somehow. “Or
they may ignore the message and conduct a smearing of the individuals.”
In conclusion, al
Qaeda seems to view MSNBC and Keith Olbermann as fair and balanced, while Fox
News is hopelessly biased and Islamophobic – a perspective that is
unsurprisingly identical to that of the American left.
