[R-G] Revealed: Britain's secret propaganda war against al-Qaida

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/26/alqaida.uksecurity
Revealed: Britain's secret propaganda war against al-Qaida
BBC and website forums targeted by Home Office unit

     * Alan Travis, home affairs editor
     * The Guardian,
     * Tuesday August 26 2008
     * Article history

A Whitehall counter-terrorism unit is targeting the BBC and other  
media organisations as part of a new global propaganda push designed  
to "taint the al-Qaida brand", according to a secret Home Office paper  
seen by the Guardian.

The document also shows that Whitehall counter-terrorism experts  
intend to exploit new media websites and outlets with a proposal to  
"channel messages through volunteers in internet forums" as part of  
their campaign.

The strategy is being conducted by the research, information and  
communication unit, [RICU] which was set up last year by the then home  
secretary, John Reid, to counter al-Qaida propaganda at home and  
overseas. It is staffed by officials from several government  
departments.

The report, headed, Challenging violent extremist ideology through  
communications, says: "We are pushing this material to UK media  
channels, eg, a BBC radio programme exposing tensions between AQ  
leadership and supporters. And a restricted working group will  
communicate niche messages through media and non-media."
Link to this audio

The disclosure that a Whitehall counter-terrorism propaganda operation  
is promoting material to the BBC and other media will raise fresh  
concerns about official news management in a highly sensitive area.

The government campaign is based upon the premise that al-Qaida is  
waning worldwide and can appear vulnerable on issues such as declining  
popularity; its rejection by credible figures, especially religious  
ones, and details of atrocities.

The Whitehall propaganda unit is collecting material to target these  
vulnerabilities under three themes. They are that al-Qaida is losing  
support; "they are not heroes and don't have answers; and that they  
harm you, your country and your livelihood".

The RICU guidance, dated July 21 2008, says that the material is  
primarily aimed at "overseas communicators" in embassies and  
consulates around the world, confirming the global scale of the  
Whitehall counter-terrorist propaganda effort now underway.

But it also says that other partners should be encouraged to integrate  
this work into their communications at home as well: "It is aimed  
primarily (but not exclusively) at those working with overseas  
influencers and opinion formers."

The first dossier of material being despatched to diplomatic posts  
worldwide cites condemnation of al-Qaida from Sayyid Imam al-Sharif  
aka Dr Fadi, a former leader of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and Salman Abu- 
Awdah, a leading Saudi scholar who has published an open letter to  
Osama bin Laden calling al-Qaida's aims illegitimate and immoral. It  
notes that groups like Hamas and Hezbollah are now keen to distance  
themselves from al-Qaida.

In a section headed "AQ has suffered military defeat in ..." it adds  
"use advisedly - avoid suggesting that AQ is no longer a threat. We  
are not claiming victory over AQ. We are stressing their declining  
support".

The dossier says that al-Qaida has been definitively expelled from  
large areas of Iraq and has lost ground in Afghanistan. It quotes CIA  
director Michael Hayden's claim in May that al-Qaida had been  
essentially defeated in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and was now "on the  
defensive throughout much of the rest of the world," but describes  
this as a "strikingly upbeat assessment of the organisation".

It highlights the fact that Mohammed Hamid, who was convicted in  
February for recruiting and radicalising young men to fight against  
the west, was a former crack addict.

The document also notes that al-Qaida has to "feed its new franchises  
with propaganda to keep the 'brand' alive at all costs". It says that  
it is focused on Palestine - to the discomfort of the Palestinians -  
because it has failed in Iraq and is now pronouncing on issues as  
diverse as Egyptian trade unions and climate change in a desperate  
attempt to remain relevant.

The "material" is a mixture of recent news reports and articles from  
Arabic, Middle Eastern and North African news sources illustrating the  
theme of "AQ is in decline" as well as articles from the New York  
Times, the Observer, Newsweek and British and American websites.

The RICU guidance note says the dossier has been drafted with support  
from Whitehall press officers "on how best to tailor such material for  
media engagements, presenting information to ministers, or to other  
stakeholders. It is in a separate, unclassified format to make it the  
sort of product that a minister or a press officer could use before an  
interview; or that could be given as a crib sheet for trusted  
contacts," says the classified document.