The jihad hobbyists who've moved on from watching al-Qaida videos
From rap to ‘radicalisation scores', today's e-jihadists are more than just consumers – but they tend to keep it all online
Jarret Brachman
Guardian, 3 February 2012
EXTRACT:
In 2012, al-Qaida's senior leadership is several heartbeats away from extinction. Their affiliate groups in Yemen, Algeria and elsewhere remain embattled. What remains is a global support movement that is rabid, technologically empowered, but less concerned with the al-Qaida brand name or all that came along with it. Al-Qaida's global movement today is sloppy and self-centred. It is only the most zealous few who seek to live up to their legendary status in the virtual world these days. The problem for intelligence and law-enforcement professionals is identifying that needle in the online jihadi haystack.
