Courtesy of RFE/RL

When U.S. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus briefed Congress on the status of the troop increase in Iraq, he commented on an often overlooked front in the struggle against Iraqi insurgents: the Internet. Petraeus told Congress that the United States needs to “contest the enemy’s growing use of that important medium to spread extremism.” The general’s admission that “this war is not only being fought on the ground in Iraq but also in cyberspace” drew a quick response from the Islamic State of Iraq, the latest incarnation of al Qaeda in Iraq. A September 13 statement posted to a jihadist Web site by the group boasted that the United States is trying to shut down insurgent Web sites because “media is an effective weapon that can crush thrones and destroy armies.”

Iraqi insurgents have been marshaling the media to “destroy armies” since they began their armed campaign in 2003. Their media campaign uses the Internet to target educated, influential segments of the Arab population, and they can reach an audience of millions when the mainstream media pick up their diatribes or news bulletins. Unencumbered by a centralized bureaucracy or a brick-and-mortar infrastructure, the Sunni insurgent media network is lean, mean, and fast-moving. In recent months, al Qaeda-affiliated organizations, each with its own “media brigade,” have appeared in Algeria, Morocco, and Lebanon. The insurgency’s initial message of uncompromising opposition to the U.S. presence in Iraq has mutated over the years, with anti-Shiite sectarian hate speech now abundant, and a very public rift...