Propaganda and Beheadings

Propaganda and Beheadings

By Sharif Sakr http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4962350.stm BBC News Ken Bigley, held captive in Iraq It has been eight months since the last video of a hostage being beheaded emerged from Iraq. Has this gruesome practice come to an end in a wider propaganda battle for support around the world? In October 2005, al-Qaeda in Iraq posted a video on the internet parading two Iraqi hostages. As if in a court of law, a masked Sunni insurgent read a "verdict of death" against the blindfolded men, declaring that their alleged "crime" was to have been members of an enemy Shia militia. What happened next was carefully staged and designed to be shocking as possible. Shouting "God is great", the insurgents decapitated their captives one after another with a knife. Finally, they rested the severed heads on top of the bodies. This horrific video was no different to approximately 20 beheading videos that had come before it. Those videos included the deaths of foreign contractors such as American Nick Berg, Kenneth Bigley from England and South Korean interpreter Kim Sun-il. But what appears to have made the October video different is that, so far, it has been last in the line. Some eight months later no more such films have been released by any insurgent group in Iraq. That's not to say that the groups behind these killings have changed their ways. Kidnaps and gruesome killings, including beheadings, continue in Iraq on an increasingly sectarian basis. And the body of Tom Fox, a US Christian peace activist, was found in Baghdad after he had been shot. But no video of his death has emerged. Change of strategy The absence of videos depicting killings represents a deliberate shift within the insurgency, according to a report by the International Crisis Group, an international organisation that monitors conflicts. Tracking propaganda: How the face of Iraqi insurgents has changed. In pictures Earlier this year analysts at the Brussels-based think tank conducted a survey of insurgents' communications strategies, including their online presence, since the 2003 toppling of Saddam Hussein. "You had this hostage-taking craze in early 2005 and many groups would use it as a propaganda asset. But that's disappeared now", says Peter Harling, a key contributor to the ICG report. "The insurgents are increasingly mindful of their public image, at least with respect to their target audience." Beheading videos were a product of competition between insurgent groups vying for attention among potential recruits and attention on the world stage, the ICG report explains. During 2004 and early 2005, the most fanatical groups released an average of one beheading video every month in order to shock the world and boost their profile. New tactic: Insurgents promote videos of attacks on soldiers A key part of this strategy was not so much the shock value it presented to governments involved in Iraq, but the potential it had to help insurgents target potential supporters via the internet. By mid-2005, the biggest insurgent groups had established themselves. They abandoned hostage beheadings, the ICG claims, in favour of more sophisticated propaganda tactics that would be more appealing to their supporters - radicalised Muslims who are vital for supplies of money, recruits and intellectual support on the net. Since then, the majority of recent videos show more hot-blooded militant actions, such as sniper or bomb attacks on Coalition forces. Very often, these are accompanied by rousing music soundtracks which aim to stir a sense of brotherhood among Muslim viewers. But it's not just about videos. Insurgents or their supporters are also producing regular magazines, distributed online. These respond to allegations of brutality and glorify Jihadi fighters, particularly suicide bombers. Online feedback Paul Eedle a British journalist and head of independent production company Out There News, has monitored insurgent propaganda tactics, both on the ground in Iraq and on the net. TRACKING PROPAGANDA I think the complete dominance of those who justified the killing of almost anybody is rather dented Journalist Paul Eedle Full interview with Paul Eedle He supports the idea that the insurgents have deliberately abandoned beheading videos as a propaganda tool as potential Muslim sympathisers around the world have turned against the gruesome nature of the material. "They are getting feedback all the time from people [around the world] they are in daily contact with," he says. "I'm sure they are also drawing to some extent on feedback through chat rooms. "I don't think there is any doubt that they are concerned about what Muslims outside of Iraq think." Insurgents are increasingly sensitive to calls for moderation, says Mr Eedle, particularly following attacks on civilians like Margaret Hassan, Kenneth Bigley and the hundreds of Iraqis who have been killed in mosque and market bombings. "You see a whole range of arguments supposedly based in Islamic law, which are deployed to justify killing people. But I have to say that in the last year or so, I think you've seen more arguments deployed against this," he says. "On the international Jihadi front, I think the complete dominance of those who justified the killing of almost anybody is rather dented." Deceptive appearances Even if image-conscious insurgents have stopped beheading foreign hostages, there is no sign that less brutal propaganda means less brutal behaviour. So would insurgents end these attacks if radical Muslims rejected them as strongly as mainstream Muslims? There is no sign of this either, according to Abdul-Rehman Malik of the British Muslim newspaper Q-News. Mr Malik has gauged radical opinion since the Iraq war. During the February 2006 Mohammad cartoon protests in London, he was shocked by the readiness of some young Muslims to consider the killing of the Danish cartoonists who had depicted their prophet. "It was incredible, the edge to the opinion of these generally well-adjusted guys," says Mr Malik. "All of them were talking about a clash between us and them - the believer and the non-believer. "I'm just not sure whether the brutality of what's going on in Iraq has had any effect on these people."