Jihad International’s Media Weapon

The Washington Times reports on an Arizona State U. study detailing how Al-Qaida uses the press and p.r. as weapons in their fight against the West:

“People are surprised the jihadis think of the media as a weapon,” said Steven Corman, director of the school’s Consortium for Strategic Communication and a Defense Department consultant on communications networks and counterterrorism….

The report found that jihadist operations use consistent patterns of outreach that establish them socially and religiously, generate public sympathy and intimidate opponents. Threats, in fact, are part of terrorist “talking points.”

See here for background info on the study. The full report is also available in pdf format.