Al Qaeda message losing appeal as more come out

UPI/Washington Times:

Seemingly untroubled by the worldwide search for Osama bin Laden and his allies, al Qaeda maintains a state-of-the-art multimedia production facility that is pumping out increasingly sophisticated audiotapes and videotapes at a rate of two or three a week.

Ironically, however, there is evidence that Muslim audiences are tuning out the al Qaeda propaganda even as the quality and frequency of the offerings increase.

A rash of recent bin Laden tapes, most recently a message to the people of Pakistan last week, has been the work of the as-Sahab Institute, the terrorist network's media arm.

According to IntelCenter, a U.S. firm that tracks and analyzes al Qaeda's audiovisual messages for clients, including U.S. agencies, as-Sahab has released more than 75 videos this year — an average of one every three days.

That is double the rate the institute managed last year, when it produced 58 messages. It released just 16 videos in 2005, its first year of operation.

Ben Venzke, chief executive officer of IntelCenter, said the amount of computing power required for the fast turnaround is considerable, and that the group appears to be using the latest widely available off-the-shelf hardware and software.

"They are right on the cutting edge of the adoption of new technologies," he said. "They grab hold of the new stuff as soon as it becomes available and start using it."

He said the latest bin Laden video was made available in five different versions, ranging from high-definition to a special format called 3GP that can be downloaded to mobile devices. The versions were downloadable at more than 20 different places on the Web, and most messages are also released on a CD-ROM format disc as well.

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All this is happening as al Qaeda is losing the war of ideas. Its brutal mass murder of non combatants in Iraq has angered its base to the extent it is being rejected as never before in the Muslim world and specifically in Iraq. The Sunnis have turned against al Qaeda and now actively seek its destruction in Iraq. And, that is happening everyday in Iraq. Existing cells are being destroyed and they are not being replaced. The Syrian connection has slowed to a trickle and the rat lines through Anbar have been decimated. Right now the organization is having the most success in Pakistan and that is a result of weaknesses of that government more than effectiveness of al Qaeda's message.