From The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)

Special Dispatch-Jihad & Terrorism Studies Project
April 20, 2007
No. 1552

Has an Organized Campaign to Shut Down Islamist Websites Begun? Islamist Forums Claim It Has

To view this Special Dispatch in HTML, visit:
http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD155207 .

In the past weeks, several rumors have been spread over Islamist websites about Western intelligence agencies' intention to shut down Islamist forums. As one Islamist put it, "We are all aware of the Zionist-Crusader campaign that has been launched against the Islamist websites... The most recent [manifestation of this campaign] is... the effort of American intelligence to completely eliminate websites that distribute communiqués [by the mujahideen] and films [documenting] attacks of the Iraqi resistance, or which encourage so-called terrorism.... As part of this campaign, [the Americans are also] threatening TV networks that broadcast videos [documenting] attacks... or that report on [Coalition] casualties not reported by the U.S. military."(1) Islamist forums reacting to the recent disabling of one Islamist website and one Islamist forum claim that these are two manifestations of a single united U.S. campaign against Islamists.