Belgian Internet Warrior Rallies Women to Support Al Qaeda (Enemy Propaganda Alert)

New York Times ^ | 5/28/2008 | Elaine Sciolino and Souad Mekhennet

[mojito]

BRUSSELS — On the street, Malika El Aroud is anonymous in an Islamic black veil covering all but her eyes.

In her living room, Ms. El Aroud, a 48-year-old Belgian, wears the ordinary look of middle age: a plain black T-shirt and pants and curly brown hair. The only adornment is a pair of powder-blue slippers monogrammed in gold with the letters SEXY.

But it is on the Internet where Ms. El Aroud has distinguished herself. Writing in French under the name “Oum Obeyda,” she has transformed herself into one of the most prominent Internet jihadists in Europe.

She calls herself a female holy warrior for Al Qaeda. She insists that she does not disseminate instructions on bomb-making and has no intention of taking up arms herself. Rather, she browbeats Muslim men to go and fight and rallies women to join the cause.

“It’s not my role to set off bombs — that’s ridiculous,” she said in a rare interview. “I have a weapon. It’s to write. It’s to speak out. That’s my jihad. You can do many things with words. Writing is also a bomb.”

Ms. El Aroud has not only made a name for herself among devotees of radical forums where she broadcasts her message of hatred toward the West. She also is well known to intelligence officials throughout Europe as simply “Malika” — an Islamist who is at the forefront of the movement by women to take a larger role in the male-dominated global jihad.

[mojito]

This might be the single most disgraceful piece I've seen in the Times. And the competition is pretty stiff. Enemy propaganda as a sympathetic "profile" story. And to think that NYT staff most have known people who died on 9/11.

[Berlin_Freeper]

WTF? If she calls herself “a female holy warrior for Al Qaeda” then we owe her a missile through the window.

[mojito]

“Now, even as Ms. El Aroud remains under constant surveillance, she is back home rallying militants on her main Internet forum, Minbar-SOS — and collecting more than $1,100 a month in government unemployment benefits.”

This is the story of contemporary Europe, in a nutshell.

[DieHard the Hunter]

PING

[DieHard the Hunter]

It occurs to me that both Elaine Sciolino and Souad Mekhennet know where this Ms. El Aroud / Oum Obeyda lives, and that as a matter of patriotic duty they might be persuaded to dob her in to the local FBI.

Ms. El Aroud / Oum Obeyda needs to be extraordinary-renditioned and given a ride on the waterboard, then an orange jumpsuit and a one-way ticket to Gitmo. Her presence is urgently required there.

The right to Free Speech and Freedom of the Press should not extend to writing and publishing Enemy Propaganda during a time of war.

[libsmacker75]

Mix one clear shot with one skilled sniper. Problem solved.

Post video to the Web so that every would-be Jihadist propagandist learns the meaning of the term “pink mist.”

[StarCMC]

Thanks for the ping.