All Things Counter Terrorism

Just a late night observation about as Sahaab. I was just wandering through the forums as one does during 2am procrastination study breaks  on a sunday morning…

Anyway, it struck me that a few years ago Sahaab always got top billing  and their videos featured the most prominently on the forums and for long periods of time. Not anymore. They no longer get top billing and even some in-house forum productions are right up there in the video advertisements (witness for example the al-faloja forums).

It’s been going on for a while but only just belatedly struck me now as something potentially significant in looking at the value of brand al Qaeda (core al Qaeda that is)  viz some of the other groups, both established and those we might characterise as being on the rise. Here I think of the IJU, IMU and even some of the more independent media houses. While it might simply be a reflection of the increasing sophistication of the media capacities of other groups, it is striking that no longer do OBL’s ,  Zawahiri’s or even Yayha’s speeches stay at the top of the pile.

I wish I had the time to look at the metrics of this a little more carefully in terms of the numbers of viewers for each type of video or release because I think this is important and I suspect that Sahaab’s  value is slipping, much like the quality of its productions and the reliability of its distribution networks. I’d be interested in the view of jihadi media watchers out there.

Update: Was just wondering if al Qaeda has realised this and what it’s senior leadership will do to rectify it. Well I know what bin Laden would like to do to rectify it, which is what he always does when he thinks he has competition. Blow stuff up, western stuff in particular. Mind you capacity issues and priorities at the moment of course are the million dollar question. But al Qaeda takes its preeminence and maintaining it VERY seriously.