Last week, a note on an online message board touched off a flurry of international speculation. It said that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, lay near death after suffering a serious injury.
Subsequent postings only deepened the confusion; one said Zarqawi had left Iraq, yet another said that a deputy had been appointed in his place. The speculation only ended when Zarqawi himself posted an audio clip to prove he was still alive.
These message boards do a lot more than send out press releases. They tell terrorists how to build bombs, and which targets to attack. U.S. authorities are faced with a choice: They can try to take these sites out of commission, or they can exploit them to collect valuable intelligence.
Guests:
Rita Katz, director of the SITE Institute, and author of “Terrorist Hunter”
W. David Stephenson, Principal of Stephenson Strategies, a consulting firm dealing in Homeland Security