Abu Aardvark has a thought-provoking post about jihadi’s use of the Internet for more than just recruitment and training. They use its ability to facilitate communications over wide ranges to define their larger ideas, values and strategies. As is often noted, they use the technology of the present to push for a return to the (fake-ideal) past. In this case, the jihadis are using the Internet to more fully flesh out, fill in and solidify their ideology and the actions it allows.

Abu is far better at explaining all this.

. . . [T]he online debates really do matter - not just for the propaganda and recruitment and training aspects which get most of the media attention over here, but for establishing their own ideas and attitudes. In this case, the argument in the forums forced supporters and opponents of the Islamic State of Iraq to articulate much more sharply their visions for the jihad - especially the tension between al-Qaeda’s vision of Iraq as mainly a launching pad for global jihad and the Islamic Army of Iraq’s vision of the jihad as mainly an insurgency for national liberation.

. . .

Following the forums has become something similar to what watching al-Jazeera used to be, at least for those of us interested in the ideas and strategies of this small subset of jihadists - it’s the place where real arguments about the identity, strategy, and goals of the movement are being hashed out. And while the interventions by Zawahiri do still matter, other voices matter a lot too. It’s a good thing that not all these forums have been shut down, because they have become indispensible for anyone trying to make sense of jihadist thinking.

. . .

The major communiques from the Islamic State of Iraq, the Islamic Army of Iraq, Ansar al-Sunna, Hamas Iraq, and others have been released to the internet sites as a primary, not secondary, outlet. What’s more, it’s clear that the violence is related to those online debates, with spectacular terror attacks caught on video serving as a kind of political currency: the ISI would do something big, post the video, and then implicitly or explicitly challenge the IAI to show what it could do.

. . .

As the competition between various Iraqi insurgency factions has intensified, it’s probably not even worth blowing up an American tank if they don’t get it on video.

As I said, it’s a very thought-provoking piece, and you should read the whole thing (it’s really not long). I look forward to reading abu and others’ developing thoughts on the topic.