Sunday, October 5, 2014
Saturday, October 4, 2014
JIHADI HUNTERS
THE INTERNATIONALIST
The jihadi hunters
A new generation of self-made experts is tracking extremists through their online activity — and rewriting the rules of intelligence in the process
THE RISE OF the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, took much of the world by surprise. When it swept into Mosul and swiftly turned most of northern Iraq into the cornerstone of a regressive new caliphate, the organization was an unknown quantity even to many professional analysts, reporters, and policy makers.
But very quickly, some new go-to sources emerged. Two of them were Twitter streams that unleashed a torrent of crucial links and information. They revealed the depth of the group’s beef with Al Qaeda, which ISIS seemed to consider a higher-priority enemy than even the unbelievers it had executed. They published extracts of the recruitment literature the group had used to lure Western fighters, and shared some of its previously unknown ideological treatises. They brought to light the extensive ISIS propaganda network, while countering some of its claims. Since the United States declared war on the group and started bombing sites in Iraq and Syria, the sources have continued their indispensable work, providing details on little known targets like the “Khorasan Group” and the reaction of ISIS to the American strikes.
These gushers of highly useful information were not coming from inside a formal intelligence operation, or even from the Middle East. Instead, they were being run by ordinary American civilians out of their own homes. One was J.M. Berger, 47, a former journalist turned freelance social network analyst and extremism expert, who published scoop after scoop from his home office in Cambridge. The other was Aaron Zelin, a 26-year-old graduate student in Washington, D.C., who made his name with a blog called Jihadology. The two researchers had been mining the jihadi Internet for years, tracking it with a combination of old-school scholarship and new purpose-built apps.
Zelin and Berger are something new in the intelligence world: part of an emerging breed of online jihadi-hunters who have done pathbreaking work, often independently of government and big media outlets, on a shoestring budget. Numbering less than a dozen, they have earned their reputations over the past four years by being the first to report key developments later confirmed by mainstream research and reporting—such as the split between the Islamic State and Al Qaeda, the burst of jihadi recruitment in the West, and the entry of Hezbollah into the Syrian battle. The meteoric rise of ISIS has been a catalyzing moment for these analysts, pushing them into the spotlight as one of the most important sources of information and context.
These freelance online analysts offer a counterweight to decentralized militant groups. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, America has struggled to grapple with nimble, stateless groups that can move faster than national governments. But the same tools that militant groups and jihadis have exploited so effectively cut both ways. Those who want to shut down violent networks have a new weapon in intelligence-gatherers who operate outside traditional channels and aren’t hindered by bureaucratic myopia.
THE BRITISH VERSION OF THE BBC`S INCIDENT IN ARGENTINA
The crew of BBC's Top Gear have left Argentina after facing protests over a number plate which appeared to refer to the 1982 Falklands War.
The team, including host Jeremy Clarkson, have been filming in South America for a Top Gear special.
The show apparently provoked anger among locals by using a Porsche with the registration number H982 FKL.
The BBC confirmed the show's decision to leave, but denied the offending car was chosen for its number plate.
The BBC said the number plate was an "unfortunate coincidence"
Andy Wilman, executive producer for Top Gear, said on Thursday: "Top Gear production purchased three cars for a forthcoming programme; to suggest that this car was either chosen for its number plate, or that an alternative number plate was substituted for the original is completely untrue."
The team departed three days early after being denied permission to film by local authorities.
Vehicles carrying Top Gear production crew were also targeted
It was reported the cars had been abandoned by the roadside and the crew were escorted to the airport after being pelted with stones.
Clarkson flew into the country earlier last month to film a special which saw him and co-stars Richard Hammond and James May drive the famous Patagonian highway - Route 40 - to the southernmost city of Ushuaia.
Protests were held outside the hotel being used by the show's stars.
A BBC spokesman said: "We're pleased the team is safe and would like to thank all of those who have helped. As the executive producer has made clear, the number plate issue is a very unfortunate coincidence."
Final warning
It is not the first time the show has met with controversy. In July Ofcom ruled that Top Gear had breached broadcasting rules after Jeremy Clarkson had used a racial slur during a Top Gear special in Burma.
A 2011 episode caused a diplomatic incident in Mexico.
James May, Richard Hammond and Jeremy Clarkson are no strangers to controversy
Co-host Richard Hammond said Mexican cars reflected national characteristics - saying they were like a "lazy, feckless, flatulent oaf with a moustache, leaning against a fence asleep, looking at a cactus with a blanket with a hole in the middle on as a coat".
In May this year, the BBC faced calls to fire Clarkson after leaked footage showed him mumbling an offensive version of the nursery rhyme Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe in a clip that was not broadcast.
Clarkson revealed he had been given a final warning and would be sacked if he made "one more offensive remark, anywhere, at any time".
BRITAIN SHOULD HAVE DONE MORE TO FREE ALAN HENNING
Alan Henning failed by British government, brother-in-law says
Colin Livesey says government could have done more to save Henning and David Haines, whom Isis beheaded last month
Chris Johnston, Saturday, October 4th
The British government should have done more to free Alan Henning, the aid worker murdered by Islamic State (Isis) fighters in Syria, his brother-in-law has said.
Colin Livesey’s anger came as Barbara Henning and her children Lucy and Adam said they were “numb with grief” after the extremist group released a video on Friday night purportedly showing the beheading of the Briton.
“On behalf of the entire family, I want to thank everyone who campaigned for Alan’s release, who held vigils to pray for his safe return, and who condemned those who took him,” a statement issued on Saturday afternoon read.
“Your efforts were a great support to us, and we take comfort in knowing how many people stood beside us in hoping for the best.
“Alan was a decent, caring human being. His interest was in the welfare of others. He will be remembered for this and we as a family are extremely proud of him and what he achieved and the people he helped. We now need time to come to terms with our loss.”
David Cameron vowed to use “all the assets we have’’ to hunt down the Isis militants responsible for Henning’s “senseless’’ murder.
After talks with the security services and Foreign Office officials on Saturday at his country residence, the prime minister said the beheading made it clear there was “no level of depravity” to which Isis would not sink.
“It is senseless. It is complete unforgivable. Anyone in any doubt about this organisation can now see how truly repulsive it is and barbaric it is.
“This is going to be our struggle now, that with others we must do everything we can to defeat this organisation. We must take action against it and we must find those responsible.”
Livesey, the brother of Barbara Henning, said he was angry that the government had failed to take more action. “They could have done more when they knew about it months and months ago,” he told the BBC.
He described Henning’s killers as “scum” and said the family had lost a great person.
“My heart’s just sunk to a level that I never thought it could do. I’m just devastated for my sister and two kids for what they’ve gone through, and it’s so hard,” he said. “We’re all just saddened knowing that we’ve lost a great person in our family.”
Of Henning’s killers, Livesey said: “I just hope and pray they get what’s coming to them. I’ve just so much hatred for them.”
He also said not enough was done to save fellow Briton David Haines, another aid worker whom Isis beheaded last month. “I just don’t think they did enough in my eyes,” he said.
Cameron called Henning a man of great peace, kindness and gentleness.
“He went with many Muslim friends out to do no more than simply help other people. His Muslim friends will be mourning him at this special time of Eid and the whole country is mourning with them.”
The prime minister’s comments were echoed by Nick Clegg, his deputy and the Liberal Democrat leader, who said Isis was “twisting … religion to its own end”.
“If you are doing this to intimidate us, you won’t. If you are doing this to break our resolve, you won’t. If you are doing this to drag us into a religious war on your terms, you won’t,” he said.
“What we in Britain will do instead in a calm and determined way is to play our role to hunt you down and to rid the world of this barbaric violence. What Isil is doing is sick and twisted and they will not win.”
The US ambassador to Britain, Matthew Barzun, said on Saturday: “Today, we stand with the UK in joint determination, resolve and commitment to achieve justice for Alan Henning.”
Barack Obama earlier condemned Henning’s murder and said that Washington, along with its allies, would continue to take action to destroy Isis. “Henning worked to help improve the lives of the Syrian people and his death is a great loss for them, for his family and the people of the United Kingdom,” the US president said on Friday night.
“Standing together with our UK friends and allies, we will work to bring the perpetrators of Alan’s murder, as well as the murders of Jim Foley, Steven Sotloff and David Haines, to justice. Standing together with a broad coalition of allies and partners, we will continue taking decisive action to degrade and ultimately destroy Isil.”
Henning is the fourth western hostage Isis has killed, following the filmed beheadings of the US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and the Scottish aid worker David Haines.
A further hostage, Hervé Gourdel, from Nice in France, was murdered by Jund al-Khalifa, a group with links to Isis, on 24 September.
Henning’s murder came after the UK launched air strikes against Isis, joining the US and its Arab allies – Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE – which had been targeting the group for several days.
Shortly before the Ministry of Defence announced that the RAF had attacked two Isis targets, the Foreign Office arranged for Barbara Henning to make a televised appeal for his release.
In the video, entitled Another Message to America and Its Allies, a masked man stands behind Henning, who is kneeling. Henning says: “I am Alan Henning. Because of our parliament’s decision to attack the Islamic State, I – as a member of the British public – will now pay the price for that decision.”
A voice then says: “The blood of David Haines was on your hands, Cameron. Alan Henning will also be slaughtered, but his blood is on the hands of the British parliament.”
It ends with a threat to a fifth hostage, an US citizen named by his captors as Peter Edward Kassig.
Henning, 47, a taxi driver from Eccles, Greater Manchester, had been held captive in Syria for nine months, and is thought to have been held by Isis with up to 20 other western hostages for much of that time.
Intelligence agencies on both sides of the Atlantic are studying the video of his killing, which was released on the eve of the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha.
A Downing Street spokesman said Cameron had also raised a second video, also released on Friday night, at a meeting with the intelligence agencies, the military and the Foreign Office at Chequers on Saturday. The clip shows an apparent British Isis fighter unmasked delivering a further message.
He added: “The police are urgently investigating the contents of the video, including possible terrorism offences relating to it.”
In the video the bespectacled man, dressed in camouflage fatigues, insults Cameron and challenges western governments to send ground forces, urging them to “send all your forces”, claiming Isis would “send them all back in coffins”.
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