News & Opinion on Terrorism & Strategic Communication — October 8, 2007

Bill Clinton, Public Diplomacy Czar? “Former U.S. President Bill Clinton told interviewers in London that if his wife becomes president he could make public diplomacy his job.” (UPI via ArcaMax, 10/5).

Connecting Dots to Iran. “Even as Senators Jon Kyl (R-Arizona) and Joe Lieberman (?-Connecticut) attempted to sneak a declaration of war against Iran into the defense spending bill, the military’s propaganda machine in Iraq was spoon feeding the press more ‘evidence’ that Iran is helping Iraqi militants attack U.S. troops. We’ve seen this sort of thing before.” (Pen and Sword, 10/7).

Hamas Kids Mag Promotes Terrorism “The magazine, which features stories, poems, riddles, puzzles, etc., includes incitement to jihad and martyrdom and glorification of terrorist operations and of their planners and perpetrators, as well as characterizations of Jews as ‘murderers of the prophets’ and laudatory descriptions of parents who encourage their sons to kill Jews.” (MEMRI, 10/5).

Saudi Arabia Launches Fatwa Site. “The move is apparently an attempt to ensure that fatwas issued by authorised scholars are given prominence.” (BBC, 10/6)

IO against IEDs. “Basically, the United States was going to try and spread the idea that setting them was an ‘illegitimate’ means of warfare.” (Strategy & National Security Policy, 10/6).

Information as WMD. “Call it Black PR, industrial espionage, information warfare…all make use of the latest information-gathering techniques to stay ahead in the black information market. Information management and manipulation, social engineering, and traffic shaping are the black crafts of the digital age.” (InformIT, 10/5).

Diplomacy in the Age Of Terror. “‘Islamofascism’ is a word invented in America, redolent with politically evocative overtones of the European holocaust, and totally disconnected from both Islam and Arab history, says US Ambassador Chas Freeman.” (Middle East Online, 10/6).

Nonverbal Indicators of Terrorists “Computer and behavioral scientists at the University at Buffalo are developing automated systems that track faces, voices, bodies and other biometrics against scientifically tested behavioral indicators to provide a numerical score of the likelihood that an individual may be about to commit a terrorist act.” (ScienceDaily, 10/5).