Anti-jihadi forces going digital

U.S. officials harness power of social media

WASHINGTON • The U.S. is taking a leaf out of the jihadists’ book, stepping up its use of social media, including posting pictures of dead fighters online.

The move comes as the Federal Bureau of Investigation director says his agents have identified “Jihadi John” and the Iraqi prime minister warns of terrorist attacks on subways in New York and Paris.

Haider Al-Abadi said in New York Thursday his government had gathered intelligence from captured fighters indicating the Islamic State of Iraq & Al-Sham (ISIS) was planning to attack targets in Europe and the United States, including subways.

U.S. intelligence officials expressed some skepticism about the assertion, pointing out it was inconsistent with other information they had gathered about ISIS. But they were looking into it nonetheless.

In Washington, James Comey, the FBI chief, said agents have identified the British-accented masked man in ISIS videos depicting the beheadings of two American journalists and a British aid worker.

He said he would not reveal the man’s name or nationality. Nor did he address whether the U.S. believes the man actually carried out the killings himself. The beheadings are not shown in the videos.

In the three videos, the man speaks British-accented English. He holds a long knife and appears to begin cutting the three men, American reporters James Foley and Steven Sotloff and British aid worker David Haines.

In late August, Peter Westmacott, the British ambassador to the U.S., said his country was close to identifying him.

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department is running sev- eral social media accounts to convince young Muslims not to enlist in the jihad.

The accounts in English, Arabic, Urdu and Somali post streams of images of the aftermath of U.S. air strikes against the jihadists.

Following the first wave of coalition bombing runs against ISIS in Syria, one State Department account posted pictures of the corpses of four jihadists with the message: “Strikes against [ISIS] in Syria mark major step toward getting job done.”

The picture of the corpses was later deleted, but other posts have included graphic images of dead terrorists or civilians killed by the jihadists.

The Twitter feed has picked up on news the United Arab Emirates has sent a woman fighter pilot into battle, taunting the jihadists that death at her hands means they will forfeit the 72 virgins in paradise promised to those who die fighting for Islam.

The account also has images from the battlefield of explosions and mushroom clouds from bombs accompanied by a weather forecast the predicted temperature is 1,000C and cloudy.

The accounts are run by the Centre for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications (CSCC), an experimental unit of the State Department and the U.S.’s answer to the propaganda put out by ISIS and Al-Qaeda.

“The whole ethos of CSCC is to contest the space,” Alberto Fernandez, the centre’s head, said in May.

“There was space the extremists were in and no one was pushing back on them.”

Its caustic messages and the graphic images accompanying them have led to accusations the U.S. is engaging in tasteless propaganda.

Mr Fernandez acknowledged there was “a fine line” between hard-hitting messages and overstepping the bounds.

“It’s always a judgment call and you just have to say this is too much,” he said.

The goal was to discredit Islamist arguments and restrain young Muslims considering joining the jihad.

The CSCC’s English-language account has about 10,000 followers though it is difficult to measure if it is succeeding in its mission.

The State Department is considering setting up accounts on ask.fm, a platform favoured by British jihadists.