NEFA: Iraqi Insurgents Blame Online Antics by Al-Qaida Supporters for Harming "Obelisk" Network

By Evan Kohlmann

Over the past year, prominent Internet chat forums which underpin the terrorist communications network known as "Obelisk" have increasingly become the stage for bitter infighting between Al-Qaida and other competing Islamic extremist groups, including the Palestinian Hamas movement, the Islamic Army in Iraq (IAI), the Mujahideen Army, the 1920 Revolution Brigades, "Iraqi Hamas" and--most recently--Asaeb al-Iraq al-Jihadiya.  The back-and-forth bickering has grown so intense that, several months ago, it actually sparked a bizarre split among opposing administrators on the top-ranking Al-Boraq chat forum--most closely associated with the Islamic Army in Iraq (IAI) but nonetheless an integral part of the so-called "Obelisk" network.  As a result of that split, there are now two, separate Al-Boraq chat forums--one run by the official media wing of the IAI and the other run by dissident Al-Qaida supporters who were miffed by the IAI's harsh public attacks on Al-Qaida in Iraq.

Now, several Iraqi insurgent factions have issued statements warning that continued arrogant quarreling provoked by Al-Qaida supporters over Internet chat forums is threatening the integrity of their own communications system.  A recent communique from the "Iraqi Hamas" movement pointedly criticized "several of those chat forums [which] have become fronts for a specific faction, but not the others—as if resistance was their exclusive domain."  According to "Iraqi Hamas", some online Al-Qaida supporters who are users on these forums have grown "so desperate to prove their positions and criticize others that they have sunk to the lowest level by searching for private messages of certain individuals sent to [forum] administrators."  Another communique from Asaeb al-Iraq al-Jihadiya (a.k.a. "the Iraqi Jihad Union") directly called upon the leadership of Al-Qaida's "Islamic State of Iraq" (ISI) "to put a stop to all the gossiping and hypocrisy [on the chat forums].  We ask them to do this not out of our own weakness but rather due to our larger concerns.  The ISI should take ongoing events very seriously because much blood has been shed and many innocent lives have been lost... We warn everyone to stop provoking these internal battles."

On a related note, in its own response to ISI leader Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the 1920 Revolution Brigades has openly disavowed the actions of "one of the brothers [who] hacked into one of the Internet forums and posted a message claiming to be from the 1920 Revolution Brigades and addressing others in an unacceptable style of writing.  We inform you that we are against the way he expressed himself and we wash our hands of his actions.”

English translations of the communiques from "Iraqi Hamas", Asaeb al-Iraq al-Jihadiya, and the 1920 Revolution Brigades can now be downloaded c/o the NEFA Foundation website.

See also: [CTBLOG] - "Khawaarij and Jihad in Iraq"

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