Jihadunspun.com

Infobox_Website
websitename = Jihad Unspun


commercial =
type = News
reg =
url = http://www.jihadunspun.com
owner = Khadija Abdul Qahaar
author = jihadunspun staff

JihadUnspun.com is a Canadian website, claimed by its critics to be a [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070810/terror_online_070810/20070811?hub=TopStories hate and supremacist] site. It was launched on April 21 2002 and has a stated aim to present uncensored reporting of the United States' "war on terrorism" on a global scale and reporting also news from several jihad groups. Its articles are often highly critical of American foreign policy and military interventions in especially muslim countries.

It is suspected by some to be a front of the CIA designed to monitor traffic from users supportive of al-Qaida.

Website ownership and content

The owner and publisher of Jihad Unspun is Bev Giesbrecht, a semi-retired Canadian publishing entrepreneur and convert to islam, now calling herself Khadija Abdul Qahaar (also known by the pen names Bev Kennedy and Paul Morris-Read). A former Christian, she began a period of intensive research on the history of the United States's relationship with the Middle East after 9/11, converting to Islam as well. The news portal was named after "Jihad vs. McWorld", political scientist Benjamin Barber's bestselling book on capitalism, factionalism, and world civilization. Qahaar's aim in publishing the site has been to report information from all sides, including in particular information originating in the Middle East and from the Muslim point of view not picked up by the mainstream press.

JihadUnspun.com is currently indexed by Google News as a source of reporting on the Middle East.

US Government view

The United States Department of State accuses Jihad Unspun of spreading "disinformation appear [ing] to originate with "Islam Memo", which is a pro-al Qaeda, pro-Iraqi insurgency, Arabic-language Web site based in Saudi Arabia." [http://usinfo.state.gov/media/Archive/2005/Apr/08-205989.html "A Trio of Disinformers: Islam Memo, Muhammad Abu Nasr, and Jihad Unspun" Usinfo.state.gov April 8, 2005] ]

Conspiracy theory

Rita Katz, director of the SITE institute, has publicly speculated that JihadUnspun is a US government website "designed to find out who visits or orders videos glorifying bin Laden." Azzam Publications also questioned the websites authenticity [http://www.islamistwatch.org/links.html] .

Libertyforum.org argue that JihadUnspun is unlikely to be a genuine pro-jihad website given the relative sophistication of the websites' content and design in comparison to other jihadi websites which only operate on a shoestring budget [http://www.twf.org/News/Y2003/0821-CIA.html] .

The Welcome Fund conducted a traceroute which failed to get packets through to the remote end system; they conclude that this is likely due to the fact the site is a front for something else [http://www.twf.org/News/Y2003/0822-Traceroute.html] .

JihadUnspun deny these allegations [http://www.twf.org/News/Y2003/0822-BevKennedy.html] .

Sources

* [http://www.jihadunspun.net/home.php Jihad Unspun home]
* [http://www.jihadunspun.com/articles/20030911-ashes.to.light/ "From Ashes to Light"] , Khadija Abdul Qahaar on herself and Jihad Unspun.
* [http://www.chicagotribune.com/bal-te.journal28mar28,0,2273954.column?page=2 "The Web as al-Qaida's safety net"] , "The Chicago Tribune", March 28, 2003

Further reading

* [http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2002/07/10/web-terror-cover.htm#more Jack Kelley, "Militants wire Web with links to jihad" July 10, 2002 USA Today]
* [http://www.twf.org/News/Y2003/0821-CIA.html A front for the CIA?]
* Information Clearing House [http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4513.htm] , "Disinformation:CIA Posing as Al-Qaeda?"

Notes