The contours of Al Qaeda's media strategy

Studies in Conflict and Terrorism

Volumn 32, Issue 10, 2009, Pages 853-875

  Ciovacco, Carl J ^a  

^a HARVARD UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 70350076125     PISSN: 1057610X     EISSN: 15210731     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/10576100903182377     Document Type: Article

References (65)

1. Cracks in the Foundation-Leadership Schisms in Al-Qaeda from 1989-2006, Combating Terrorism Center, West Point (2007), p. 2.
2. Daniel Kimmage, "The Al-QaedaMedia Nexus," Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty (February 2008), p. 2.
3. Graham Allison, Interview conducted on 29 October 2007, at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Prof. Allison framed the struggle between Al Qaeda and the United States using this beer analogy.
4. Steve Coll, Lecture on 11 March 2008, Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
5. Rohan Gunaratna, "Strategic Counter-Terrorism: Getting Ahead of Terrorism, Part III, Mass Media Response to Terrorism," The Jebson Center for Counter-Terrorism Studies (January 2008), p. 1.
6. Peter Bergen, Lecture on 7 February 2008, Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
7. Peter Bergen, Holy War, Inc: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden (New York: Touchstone, 2002), pp. 96-99.
8. Bergen, Lecture on 7 February 2008.
9. Peter Bergen, Lecture on 14 February 2008, Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
10. Jason Burke, Al-Qaeda: Casting a Shadow of Terror (New York: I.B. Tauris, 2003), p. 158.
11. Steve Coll, Lecture on 11 March 2008, Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
12. Marc Lynch, "Al Qaeda's Media Strategies," The National Interest (Summer, 2006), p. 50.
13. Hassam M. Fatah, "Al Qaeda Increasingly Reliant on Media," New York Times, 30 September 2006, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/30/world/30jordan.html (accessed 15 February 2008).
14. Bergen, Holy War, Inc., p. 27.
15. Burke, Al-Qaeda, p. 158. Burke describes bin Laden's ability to use "every local sensitivity with some precision."
16. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Transmission from 5 January 2007.
17. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Transmission from 7 December 2005.
18. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Transmission from 21 February 2006.
19. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Transmission from 25 March 2004.
20. Osama bin Laden, Transmission from 10 September 2003.
21. Osama bin Laden, Transmission from 1 July 2006.
22. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Transmission from 5 May 2007.
23. It should be noted that the 42 references to "apostate" Muslim regimes is an aggregate of all Muslim governments addressed by bin Laden and Zawahiri. The recipients of the criticism, however, were Pervez Musharraf (22) and the House of al-Saud (20).
24. Lynch, "Al Qaeda's Media Strategies," p. 52.
25. "America's Image in the World: Findings from the Pew Global Attitudes Project," Remarks of Andrew Kohut to the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs; Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight, 14 March 2007.
26. CNN Anderson Cooper Show AC 360, Transcript, 11 September 2007, participants were Peter Bergen and Ken Ballen from Terror Free Tomorrow.
27. Terror Free Tomorrow and New America Foundation, "Results of a New Nationwide Public Opinion Survey of Pakistan before the June 2008 Pakistani By-Elections."
28. 2008 Annual Arab Public Opinion Poll, Survey of the Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland, Professor Shibley Tehlhami (Principal Investigator).
29. Peter Bergen, Lecture on 21 February 2008, Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Bergen stated that bin Laden can be caught three ways: tipped off, satellite phone use, or in the process of sending videos to publishers or uploading to the Internet. With extremely loyal followers and the fact that he has not used a phone in years, the publishing of videos is the only way that he could be triangulated. Thus, with each additional video release, the mathematical chance of capture increases.
30. Dr. Fadl, the nickname for Sayyid Imam al Sharif, is currently being held in an Egyptian prison. A discussion of Dr. Fadl's recantation of violence toward civilians and Zawahiri's audiotape response can be found in Peter Bergen's forthcoming "The Beginning of the End of al Qaeda?"
31. Richard Rosecrance, Lecture on 11 October 2007, Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
32. Laura Mansfield, "Zawahiri's Mentor Changes His Mind," The New Media Journal, 4 December 2007, available at http://www.therant.us/staff/l_mansfield/12042007.htm (accessed 20 April 2008).
33. Rohan Gunaratna, "Strategic Counter-Terrorism," p. 6.
34. Fatah, "Al Qaeda Increasingly Reliant on Media."
35. David J. Kilcullen, "Counting Global Insurgency," The Journal of Strategic Studies 28(4) (August 2005), p. 601.
36. Burke, Al-Qaeda, p. 207.
37. Osama bin Laden, Transmission from 18 October 2003.
38. Osama bin Laden, Transmission from 1 November 2004.
39. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Transmission from 29 September 2006.
40. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Transmission from 22 January 2007.
41. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Transmission from 13 February 2007.
42. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Transmission from 5 May 2007.
43. Peter, Bergen, The Osama bin Laden I Know: An Oral History of al Qaeda's Leader (New York: Free Press, 2006), p. 258-259.
44. Ibid., p. 259.
45. Transmission database supplied by the Combating Terrorism Center, West Point.
46. "Purported bin Laden Message to Europe: Quit Afghan War," CNN, 29 November 2007, available at http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/11/29/bin.laden.message/index.html (accessed 15 February 2008).
47. Peter Bergen discussed the founding of al-Sahab at this point in Al Qaeda's development.
48. "The New Al Qaeda Central," Washington Post, available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/08/AR200709 0801845_5.html (accessed 15 February 2008).
49. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Transmission from 24 June 2006.
50. Osama bin Laden, Transmission from 11 May 2003.
51. Lynch, "Al Qaeda's Media Strategies," p. 52.
52. Osama bin Laden, Transmission from 18 October 2003.
53. Osama bin Laden, Transmission from 16 November 2003, with Open Source.gov analysis.
54. Peter Bergen, discussion on 24 April 2008, regarding the independent nature of the Madrid bombings.
55. Osama bin Laden, Transmission from 18 May 2003, with Open Source.gov analysis.
56. "Major Attacks Blamed on Al-Qaeda" BBC, available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3234214.stm (accessed 15 February 2008).
57. Douglas Frantz et al., "The New Face of Al-Qaeda: Al Qaeda seen as a Wider Threat," LA Times, available at http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/WarOnTerror/NewFace.asp (accessed 15 February 2008).
58. "Major Attacks Blamed on Al-Qaeda" BBC, available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3234214.stm (accessed 15 February 2008); and
59. "Jordan Embassy Blast Inquiry," available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3134145.stm (accessed 15 February 2008).
60. C. Christine Fair, "Militant Recruitment in Pakistan: Implications for Al Qaeda and Other Organizations," Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 27(6) (November/December 2004), p. 490.
61. Scott Atran, "A Failure of Imagination (Intelligence, WMDs, and 'Virtual Hand')," Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 29(3) (April-May 2006), pp. 292-293.
62. Kimmage, "The Al-Qaeda Media Nexus," p. 17.
63. Ibid., p. 16.
64. Ibid., p. 1.
65. Coll, Lecture on 11 March 2008.