Al-Qaida Media Blitz Has Some On Alert : NPR - 0 views
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While certainly any message from bin Laden is parsed for information and intelligence, it was a third video — that was released from one of al-Qaida's media arms — that made counterterrorism analysts sit up and take notice. The video came out of Somalia last week, and it was a slick recruitment tape complete with its own original rap music score that played under the opening sequence of the half-hour-long film. The production was made by a Somali militia group called al-Shabab, which has ties to al-Qaida.
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During the battle, Abu Mansour orders the small group of fighters who are with him to retreat. But here's what's important: He says it in English. "Let's go, let's go," he yells as a shaking video camera appears to record their retreat.
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"It'll be interesting to see the extent to which al-Qaida spins this phenomenon," said Bill Braniff, who works at West Point's Combating Terrorism Center. He says al-Qaida would love people to believe there is a connection between the missing boys and the video. "What we are seeing is al-Qaida trying to control the propaganda output," he says. "They are not trying to control the activity on the ground to the same extent as they are trying to control the propaganda about the activity on the ground."