Enemy Hams it up

Online jihadis celebrate John Howard's election defeat.

'We shot down crusader Howard', says al-Qaeda
By Mark Schliebs
January 31, 2008 12:00am
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Extremists target Australia in covert web propaganda

'Attacked Howard in Iraq', celebrated election defeat

Special investigation: the hidden jihad on Australia

AL-QAEDA-linked insurgency groups are cheering Australian troop casualties and mocking the Federal Government for “fleeing like a cornered mouse” from Iraq.

The claims are made in Arabic on secretive web networks bonded by a hatred of the West and filled with images and video clips from warzones that terror experts say are becoming more effective than Kalashnikovs in the modern jihad.

A special investigation by NEWS.com.au infiltrating these global networks has identified jihadi references to the “embarrassing collapse” of the Howard government and cites Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s Iraq withdrawal as a “victory”.

The investigation also uncovered:

STATEMENTS from the Taliban in Afghanistan detailing the deaths of Australian troops just hours after they were killed (Full story)

CLAIMS by al-Qaeda in Iraq that it attacked and damaged a helicopter carrying then prime minister John Howard

HOW Baghdad Sniper, “Juba”, is driving recruitment through a graphic new video that shows him shooting Coalition troops dead (Full story)

VIGILANTES who infiltrate the websites and shut them down (Full story)

“Cornered mouse” Some of the fiercest propaganda comes from a coalition of Sunni insurgents in Iraq known as the Jihad and Reform Front.

In a recent post from

“The political office of The Conquerors’ Army” titled “Australia – a new ally fleeing like a cornered mouse”, the group said the insurgents were on track for victory in Iraq.

“Today we see the withdrawal of another Christian ally leaving the Americans drowning alone in this swamp,” the statement says in Arabic.

“This ally is Australia, and despite the few numbers of soldiers that this country has in the Christian Alliance its withdrawal will be considered an achievement and victory to be added to the numerous victories of the Muslim fighters, praise Allah.”

Read full translation here

The statement posted on December 5 last year – 11 days after the federal election – is filled with quotations from the Koran. It frames the conflict in religious terms rather than geo-political with emphasis placed on the crumbling Christian armies: “Hence when the cross and its allied corroborators exercise their muscles while a series of collapses of its allies and their withdrawals around the Americans continue these will be the result of painful blows to the Christians at the hands (of) Muslim fighters.”

The Jihad and Reform Front is made up of the Islamic Army in Iraq (IAI), the Mujahideen Army and the Group of the Protectors of Sunnah.

“We shot down PM” The IAI – whose foot soldiers include the notorious Baghdad sniper Juba – is one of the two major groups to have constructed a sophisticated propaganda machine that is targeting Australia in its war and driving jihadi recruitment online. (Full story)

The IAI’s main rival, the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), otherwise known as al-Qaeda in Iraq, has released a statement to Islamic websites claiming to have attacked a helicopter carrying John Howard.

“The Islamic State of Iraq adopts responsibility for the attack against the helicopter which was carrying the crusader John Howard – Australia (sic) Prime Minister – forcing the helicopter to make (an) emergency landing,” the statement says.

“The attack was carried out by the air defense (sic) weapon… all praise and gratitude be to Allah.” The statement came a week after news broke in Australia that Mr Howard’s flight did make an emergency landing in Iraq blowing smoke from a hydraulic fuel leak. But the incident happened a day earlier – on March 17, 2007 - than in the ISI claim and Mr Howard was aboard a Hercules transport, not a helicopter.

Dr Matthew Gray from the Australian National University’s Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies said many of these types of claims were opportunistic. “That’s just a classic thing – a bomb goes off and six groups claim responsibility for it,” Dr Gray said. “It’s just propaganda… they haven’t even got their facts right.”

The Department of Defence is looking into the matter. Laughing at us But the effectiveness of such propaganda can be seen in public discussions igniting on forums popular with Islamic extremists. A search through one forum registered in Cairo shows a file picture of a visibly dejected John Howard over a derisive post on the result of the Australian election just hours after the outcome was declared.

“After a rule that lasted 10 years, Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s government suffered an embarrassing collapse in the Australian elections,” the post says. “John Howard the biggest supporter of America, siding with Britain during its war against what is called terrorism.

“What must be said is that the winner of the elections, Kevin Rudd, has promised to withdraw Australian troops from Iraq … that is what we wished would happen.”

The forum goes on to deride a list of Western leaders who have made their political exits. Kevin Rudd’s office declined to comment and Mr Howard has yet to return calls. But director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s strategy and international relations program, Dr Rod Lyon, said Iraqi insurgents would be wrong to think Australian troops had abandoned the US.

“It’s hard to paint a withdrawal as a defeat or a retreat,” Dr Lyon said. “(The Government) is still on board for the alliance.” Australia, which was part of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, will withdraw 550 troops of the 1575 Defence personnel by July as part of the Rudd Government’s strategic foreign policy.

Australian troops have also been fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan since 2001 in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre with about 1000 personnel on active duty.

So far, just five Australian soldiers have died in Iraq and Afghanistan: Trooper Andrew Russell, Private Jake Kovco, Trooper David Pearce, Sergeant Matthew Locke and Private Luke Worsley.

Taliban: Australian deaths posted online

More than 4000 US troops have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, while British troop deaths numbered more than 500.

Link:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23132533-5015728,00.html