December 14, 2006

The cyber jihadis from the Jihad Media Battalion have produced an animated power point presentation in support of The Islamic Courts Union of Somalia declaring jihad against Ethiopia. The Jihad Media Battalion is one of the public relations arm of the al Qaeda in Iraq umbrella organization, The Islamic State of Iraq -- although there is some question as to whether they are "official" spokesmen or not.

The 48 slide presentation is mostly a recounting of the history of Somalia. One which presents Islam as the only unifying factor in the country and the Taliban-like regime of the Islamic Courts Union as "elected" to represent the nation. In contrast, all opposition to the extremists of the Islamic Courts Union is presented as Western imperialism.

Many of the slides simply lay out facts about Somalia. Apparently, the Arab speaking world knows little of this country. Ironically, much of the information seems to come from the CIA World Factbook's entry on Somalia. Other graphics are lifted from straight this Wikipedia entry on Somalia.

The Jihad Media Battalion recently produced a video in which they claim to have shot down an F-16, killed a Mossad agent, and taken out two 'robot soldiers' in Iraq. They've also recently launched a Google guide for would be cyber jihadis.

The jihad declared by the Islamic Courts Union against its neighbors in Ethiopia is fast becoming a focal point for Salafi jihadists in the world. Both the main al Qaeda group and the al Qaeda in Iraq umbrella organization (The Islamic State of Iraq) have recently issued supportive statements of the ICU.

The ICU is known to be protecting al Qaeda operatives involved in the bombing of the US embassy in Kenya and Tanzania. While the ICU denies it, both al Qaeda and the Iranian backed Hezbollah are suspected of directly aiding them. Several recent jihadi propaganda videos from Somalia have shown foreign Arab fighters.

The 'Foreign Minister' for the ICU is an American citizen and ex-administrator at The American University in Washington, D.C., Professo Ibrahim Hassan Addow. Addow is said to be a 'moderate' in the ICU, and constantly denies that human rights abuses are systematically taking place in ICU controlled territory.

This is the last slide of the presentation before the ending credits. African Taliban child abuse.

HT: John Ryan

By Dr. Rusty Shackleford at December 14, 2006 02:20 PM