Free Republic

http://internet-haganah.com/harchives/007413.html "Whither the jihadi forums?" SNIPPET: "There are currently only three jihadi forums that are sufficiently active and well-connected to be of any interest whatsoever. Why we claim to be on the verge of defeating al-Qaida while simultaneously watching passively as they use these forums to regroup and regenerate is beyond me. These are the forums three: • al-Fidaa, a forum created by al-Qaida core. That it is directly linked to al-Qaida by definition moves it to the top of the list. Current membership: 2,462, all of whom can be considered "active" if only because they just joined the forum....

SNIPPET: "There are some good reasons for allowing at least a few jihadi forums to operate." SNIPPET: "However, there are limits to our ability to exploit all the intelligence opportunities a forum may present. To put it another way, jihadi forums contribute to future terrorism in ways that are unpredictable and/or beyond our ability to control. This would be the view held by those other government agencies who prefer to seek out and destroy forums and to take down forum activists. For my part, I can live with keeping online those forums we have sufficient access to monitor and resources...

SNIPPET: "Note: PWP stands for PassWord-Protected, meaning that a login is required to view - let alone participate in - discussions. Since some in the audience don't understand the significance of this, allow me to spell it out: if only members can read the forum, then anyone observed reading the forum is a member. They have zero deniability (they couldn't have accidentally "wandered into" the site), and they had to make the effort to join (an expression of intent). While the goal here is to present a range of sites, the fact is that the jihadis themselves have largely coalesced...