The Globe and Mail (Canada)
May 22, 2008

A media-distribution enterprise for global terror
By Colin Freeze

In Internet Jihad circles, GIMF - or the Global Islamic Media Front - is known as one of the oldest and most far-reaching networks.

"GIMF is not so much a group as a media-distribution enterprise," says Frank Cilluffo, a former adviser to U.S. President George W. Bush on homeland security issues. "They will release information and get it as widespread as possible."

Whether the material is video clips of roadside bombs blowing up coalition soldiers, or tracts describing the world's most influential Islamist insurgencies, or a shoot-'em-up video game known as the Night of Capturing Bush, the propaganda is regarded as crucial to cultivating the next generation of jihadist wannabes.

"I look at al-Qaeda as a brand. ... What makes brands grow and what makes brands atrophy?" said Mr. Cilluffo, now at George Washington University.

"The real centre of gravity is the narrative: They are fighting a media campaign."

Over the years, GIMF has served as a mouthpiece for a highly influential Syrian Islamist, Abu Musab al-Surri, who was captured in Pakistan after a $5-million (U.S.) bounty was put on his head.

The Internet helped ensure the thinker's catchphrases, such as "Terrorism is a gift" and "System, not organization," became slogans for the new global jihad.

Lately, the GIMF imprimatur has been affixed to several accused terrorist suspects who allegedly wanted to do more than post messages.

Last September, police in Vienna arrested three alleged GIMF members, accusing them of plotting to set off a car bomb.

The same week, police in Maskinonge, Que., arrested a 34-year-old suspect whom they accused of being the Canadian end of the conspiracy.

Said Namouh was a Moroccan-Canadian who is reported to have gone by the name "Ashraf" on the Internet and sending messages to Austria such as, "My dear brother, my big dream is to be a martyr by your side," according to bail-hearing evidence.

But long before authorities were onto the current GIMF membership, they were on the trail of an elusive figure known only as "Abu Banan."

In 2002, Reuters reported that someone by that name posted messages announcing the formation of an "Islamic al-Qaeda Organization in Palestine" that supposedly wanted to carry out suicide attacks against Israel.

In April of 2003, after Baghdad fell to U.S. forces, the San Jose Mercury News reported on a Montreal-based Yahoo outfit known as the "Abu Banan Global Islamic Media group."

The eponymous founder was said to have circulated an article calling the U.S. occupation of Iraq "a great catastrophe that the [Muslim] nation should be prepared to face."