Al-Qaida understands that their fight against the West is taking place on a media level. The Daily Telegraph describes part of an intercepted message from Al-Qaida “spokesman” Ayman al-Zawahiri (pictured) to terror leader Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi:
“Despite all of this, I say to you: we are in a battle, and more than half of this battle is taking place in the battlefield of the media.”
Zawahiri’s statement underscores the media’s impact and the need for accurate, honest reporting. It also brings to mind a comment made by PLO advisor Diane Buttu to the Christian Science Monitor, that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is “a battle over language sometimes more than over anything else.”
