The Wonders of the Web

From an article on Nuclear Threat Initiative:

"The [Website} 'al-Firdaws', or 'Paradise', contains 80 pages of instructions and photographs of making bombs. . . lessons such as 'The Nuclear Bomb of Jihad' and the 'Way to Enrich Uranium.' . . . 'Normally you just get generic principles, but this appears to be more like a proper instruction manual,' said John Hassard, a physics professor at Imperial College in London."

It's hard to believe people interpret X-rated Websites as a sign of the end times when Islamist terrorists are conspiring to end all our times by communicating strategies and tactics with each other over the Web. Not only that, they brazenly celebrate Western military misfortune. For a list of videos of helicopter crashes and other casualties, see the Site Institute's, uh, site.

The Site Institute is yet more evidence of the emerging theme of the right taking the lead on terror and nuclear issues (see my piece in the Beast). Though by virtue of founder Rita Katz's personal experience (Terrorist Hunter [Ecco, 2001]), it scores higher on credibility than wild-right news and commentary outlets like WorldNetDaily, FrontPageMag, and NewsMax.

Equally as important is the innovative work being done to counter cyberwarfare by another right-leaning site (down at time of posting), Haganah (named after the Israeli pre-state army). It tracks down the hosting companies for terrorist Websites, flushes them out, posts all pertinent information, and often succeeds in forcing the host to shut down the site. What could be more crucial, as well as laudatory, in times like these?

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