Experts: Iraq War Being Fought in Cyberspace

Sept. 11, 2007 — -- In his testimony to Congress, Monday, on the progress of the Iraq war, Gen. David Petraeus covered all the typical bases: the battle on the ground, the success of the troop surge, and an announcement of when some troops might return home.

But, to the public, one of Petreaus' comments may have seemed unexpected — that the war is also being fought on the Internet.

"Finally, in recognition of the fact that this war is not only being fought on the ground in Iraq, but also in cyberspace, [the report of recommendations] also notes the need to contest the enemy's growing use of that important medium to spread extremism," Petraeus testified.

While it may have surprised some, according to experts, the connection between the war in Iraq and the Internet is an obvious one.

"I suppose that he's talking about these various insurgent groups that have propaganda on Web pages," said former cyber terror czar and ABC News consultant Richard Clarke. "Whenever they attack a U.S vehicle, they make a tape. ... This encourages other insurgents ... It's not just the war in Iraq, but the war on al Qaeda."

For years, the Internet has proved to be a fertile ground for terrorist groups' member development, and recently, several videos of insurgent attacks have shown up online.

"That's where they do all of their effective recruiting," Clarke said. "They're very, very good at it."

According to the Middle East Media Research Institute, a D.C.-based nonprofit organization that analyzes the region's media, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of jihadist Web sites, many of which focus specifically on the war in Iraq.

In July, the organization presented 40 jihadist Web sites to Congress, 18 of which were based on American Internet service providers (ISPs), said Yigal Carmon, MEMRI's president and founder.

Carmon told ABCNews.com that the sites are hugely influential.

"The Internet is what encourages the jihad warriors on the ground and in the field through giving inspiration [and] direct encouragement, giving information, knowledge, training," Carmon said. "[The sites] also give the feeling — even the wrong feeling — that they are overcoming the American forces.

"When you show so many bombings of American tanks, helicopters ... [it] gives the false impression that the jihadists are prevailing."

Last year, MEMRI began the Islamist Web Sites Monitor Project. Through the project, the team monitors the 90 most important Middle East Web sites, 60 of which are jihadist sites.

"We present not only what the jihadists are saying, but who are their ISPs," Carmon said. "The ISPs are almost always in the west, particularly in America."

Petraeus also testified on Monday that Internet initiatives were critical to the war's success.

According to Clarke, one way to fight that Web battle is to target the sites' servers.

The government should "systematically look to where the servers [are] that host these insurgent Web pages," Clarke said.

Servers in this country could be legally shut down, added Clarke, while the United States could merely urge other governments to remove foreign sites.

Another option would be to hack the offending Web pages and servers, Clarke said.

"That's kind of a 'whack-a-mole' game. If you take down one server [they] could put up another," he said. "That is a lot harder than it sounds, but it's certainly not impossible. But, we're not doing it."

Disabling the sites might reduce terrorist groups' ability to recruit members, and force them back to distributing recruitment videos the old-fashioned way: by hand.

"That's harder to do, and it's less effective," Clarke said. "[It's] less instantaneous than the Internet."

According to Carmon, simply reporting the existence of these sites to the Internet service providers that unknowingly host them, usually does the trick.

"Not in one case have we encountered an ISP that said, 'No, we want to have it.' ... The moment they hear and they know, then they would remove them," Carmon said. "It's very saddening that the government is not doing it."