Earlier this month, the full version of Inspire, a new English language journal, surfaced on the Internet. It’s publisher? The Yemen-based terrorist organization, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
Although al Qaeda has long employed the Web, DVDs and video games to reach mass audiences, the sophistication and provocative nature of this publication suggests it is intended to “go viral”””or spread rapidly among many Internet users””in the English speaking world, especially in the United States.
Many in the West will ridicule Inspire’s boring sermons and awkwardly written stories, such as one that tries to portray joining “jihad” as a summer camp, or another with Osama bin Laden’s views on global warming. Commentators will undoubtedly condemn the journal’s reprehensible article “How to Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom.” They’ll also say that the publication’s naming of certain Americans as targets is a public relations gaffe.