Al-Qaida's 9/11 Anniversary Video Release Delayed Due to Technical Problems, Human Errors

By Evan Kohlmann

For those who follow the workings of Al-Qaida's As-Sahab Media Foundation, it is no secret that As-Sahab has recently been suffering a series of embarrassing technical problems relating to the delayed publication of Al-Qaida's 9/11 seventh anniversary video, titled "Results of 7 Years of the Crusades." The video--which features speeches by (among others) Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, and Abu Yahya al-Liby--appeared set for release on September 11, exactly in the same manner as last year and 2006. Excerpts were handed over to Al-Jazeera for airing over Arabic-language satellite news networks.

Yet, a crippling network outage for Al-Qaida appears to have played a role in thwarting As-Sahab's efforts at completing the distribution process. One of the primary Internet discussion forums used by Al-Qaida and its global network of affiliates to distribute their propaganda and recruit supporters--known as "Al-Ekhlaas"--was suddenly knocked offline on approximately September 10. Next on the chopping block were a series of domains used by another competing extremist forum "Al-Hesbah." The ultimate reason for the outage is unknown, however there have been some reports attributing the action to independent efforts aimed at combating Al-Qaida's online activities. For nearly a week, with the "Ekhlaas" website still offline, there has been no word from As-Sahab--resulting in avid speculation among Al-Qaida supporters on the remaining discussion forums.

Today, As-Sahab finally seems to have recovered from its paralysis, and announced the belated distribution of packaged copies of the video "Results of 7 Years of the Crusades." Ironically, this time, the problem would not be technical, but rather the result of human error. Much to the chagrin of Al-Qaida's media gurus, the announcement from As-Sahab (care of the Al-Fajr Media Center) included the wrong password for the packaged video--meaning that users can download but not actually view the film. The solution is as simple as re-publishing the correct password--but nearly 12 hours after the announcement was first issued, As-Sahab still has yet to correct its error. Dozens of users, writing in Arabic, English, and other languages, have flooded extremist chat forums to discuss their frustrations over the password issue. After several hours passed and no response came from As-Sahab or the Al-Fajr Media Center, one user complained impatiently, "We are still waiting..."

Given an organization like As-Sahab which prides itself in its consistency and professionalism, these technical glitches are a reminder of how crude and tenuous the links that bind together Al-Qaida's global media machine actually can be.

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