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MAY 28, 2004

Jeremy Reynalds
P O Box 27693
Alb., NM 87125
Tel: (505) 400-7145
www.joyjunction.org

Al Qaida Related Web Site Back on Yahoo:
Yahoo Cancels Reporter's Access without Explanation after He Exposes Yahoo's Hosting of Site on CNN

    An Internet group apparently removed by Yahoo, where as long ago as December 2003 Islamic militants discussed the possibility of a terrorist attack designed to affect the Spanish general election has resurfaced yet again on Yahoo under a slightly different name.

The Global Islamic Media Logo

    Global Islamic Media (GIM) was widely regarded as being a mouthpiece for al Qaeda and until its closure a few weeks ago it had more than six thousand members.

    However, now located at http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/globalislamicmediacenter , it currently has only two members. But it is, nonetheless, back on line.

    With such a small change, the group's latest address appears to be an overt attempt to maintain its core name and stay on Yahoo. Its previous address was almost identical, with the exception of spelling "centre" like this – the English way – instead of the American "center."
While GIM's May 28 membership was very small, there were still 68 messages available to read going back to April 25.

    GIM's message 53 (http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/globalislamicmediacenter/message/53 ) posted on May 21 2004 is particularly interesting and serves to reemphasize the group's alleged ties to al Qaida.

    The message contains a number of links at the bottom of the page to other sites, including one to this location – www.oddworldz.com/neda2/index.htm–which appeared similar to the al qaida site formerly known as alneda.com. That name was eventually obtained by a Maryland pornographer and used for a pro-American bulletin board service. Visitors to that domain name are currently welcomed with a sign that says, "Hacked, tracked and now owned by the USA."

    There was no immediate response to Yahoo to questions e- mailed to the company asking about GIM's status and why the site is again being hosted by the Internet giant.

    Interestingly, a reporter whose writings on Yahoo and GIM were recently profiled on CNN had his accounts deleted by Yahoo. There was no immediate response either from Yahoo concerning the reason for this action.

    GIM's history is revealing. In a March 2004 Agence France Press (AFP) story, the news agency reported that Britain's Channel 4 News told of a Dec.10 posting on Yahoo's 6,500 member strong Global Islamic Media (GIM), which had previously carried statements purporting to be from al Qaeda affiliates, suggested that attacks could help bring about a Socialist election victory and the withdrawal of Spain's troops from Iraq.

    According to Channel 4 News, the GIM posting was issued under the name of the Centre for Services to the Mujahideen and read, "The approaching general elections in Spain in March next year must be exploited to the extreme. We think that the Spanish government will not stand more than two blows, or three at the most, before it will be forced to withdraw (from Iraq) because of the public pressure on it. If its forces remain after these blows, the victory of the Socialist party will be almost guaranteed, and the withdrawal of Spanish forces will be on its campaign manifesto."

    After the bombings, which killed 200 people and injured 1,500, Spain's conservative party was defeated. Spain's new Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who criticized President George W. Bush for the Iraq campaign, has withdrawn the country's troops.

MAY 29, 2004

Jeremy Reynalds
P O Box 27693
Alb., NM 87125-7693
Tel: (505) 400-7145
www.joyjunction.org

Yahoo's Global Islamic Media Provides Link to Probable New al Qaeda Site

     The latest postings on the Yahoo sponsored Global Islamic Media are liberally sprinkled with hyperlinks to a probable new al Qaeda site.

     For example, these messages (http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/globalislamicmediacenter/message/70
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/globalislamicmediacenter/message/69 ) provide a link for readers to www.koolpages.com/sout17

    While that address has apparently been removed by the administrators of Kool Pages much of the material on that site now appears on line at http://www.oddworldz.com/neda2/index.htm .

An Old al Neda Graphic Used on the Current Site

        The Oddworldz site contains graphics very similar to the al qaeda site formerly known as alneda.com. The site was originally believed by U.S. officials to have been used by al Qaeda to deliver messages possibly connected with further attacks on America,

    The www.alneda.com name was eventually obtained by a Maryland pornographer and used for a pro-American bulletin board service. Visitors to that domain name are currently welcomed with a sign that says, "Hacked, tracked and now owned by the USA."

    If the site counter at www.koolpages.com/sout17 was accurate, there is a lot of interest in what al Qaeda has to say. There were over 431,000 visits recorded to the location.

    Unlike many of the jihadi/radical Islamic sites which are prevalent on the Internet, the site formerly known as alneda has always been light on the graphics and heavy on the information. One of the documents available for download was more than 3400 pages.

    The placement by al Qaeda of information on a free domain name is in line with the group's Internet activities soon after the Alneda name was no longer available. While al Qaeda operatives obtained at least one other domain name and advertised the site on a variety of radical Islamic bulletin boards that site was quickly shut down.

    The group then turned to hacking small, little used sites and then inserting information in an obscure subdirectory which members presumably hoped would not be quickly noticed either by the site owner or the Internet service provider. Now al Qaeda is apparently using free web site services (supported by advertising) and promoting the group's presence in the same way when its operatives were hacking sites – on radical web sites bulletin boards and groups like Yahoo's Global Islamic Media.

    Oddworldz.com and Free Home Pages both appear to be subsidiaries of the Hollywood, Fl. based www.inet-traffic.com. A call and an e-mail to the company's customer service department requesting information was not immediately answered.

    Yahoo did not respond to a request for information about its continued hosting of Global Islamic Media.

    In a related story, the Northeast Intelligence Network (www.homelandsecurityus.com)reported that a translation of a post on Global Islamic Media revealed responsibility by al Qaeda for "the downing of American Airlines flight 587 over Queens in November 2001. The article, published ... Global Islamic Media's Yahoogroup, lists the successes that al Qaeda has achieved since the attack on America in September 2001. Al Qaeda has previously claimed credit for all of the other attacks on the list. The cause of the AA flight 587 crash is still listed by the FAA as accidental, with no indications of terrorism."