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A Trio of Disinformers: Islam
Memo, Muhammad Abu Nasr, and Jihad
UnspunObscure Web sites play major role in disinformation
A trio of obscure Web sites and individuals has combined to spread
deliberate disinformation, particularly about U.S. actions in Iraq. The
entities involved are Islam Memo (Islammemo.cc), Muhammad Abu Nasr, and
Jihad Unspun (jihadunspun.net).
Most of the disinformation appears to originate with Islam Memo, which
is a pro-al Qaeda, pro-Iraqi insurgency, Arabic-language Web site based in
Saudi Arabia.
Muhammad Abu Nasr, co-editor of the Free Arab Voice Web site
(freearabvoice.org), translates material from Islam Memo into English and
posts
it as "Iraqi Resistance Reports" on his Web site.
Jihad Unspun publishes selected articles by Muhammad Abu Nasr, giving
them a broader audience.
This trio of Web sites and individuals has attempted to launch many
disinformation stories. Most have fizzled out without any great impact, but
some have spread more widely.
Islam Memo
Islam Memo, or Mafkarat al-Islam, is perhaps the most unreliable source of
"news" about Iraq on the Internet. For example, on March 27, 2005,
Islam Memo "news items" translated into English by Muhammad Abu Nasr
claimed that more than 88 U.S. soldiers had been killed that day. In
reality, none had been killed. Such disinformation fabrications are typical
of Islam Memo. In the ten-day period from March 20 to March 29, 2005, they
claimed that more than 334 U.S. troops had been killed. The real number was
eight.
Muhammad Abu Nasr
As mentioned earlier, Muhammad Abu Nasr, co-editor of the Free Arab
Voice Web site, translates Islam Memo reports into English. The contents of
his Web site make it clear that Muhammad Abu Nasr is a communist. For
example, he includes on the Web site an obscure 1935 speech by Khaled
Bakdash, the former head of the Syrian Communist Party, because he believes
it has important "contemporary implications."
The speech deals with "popular front" tactics -- ways in which
communists in the 1930s tried to use popular national causes to advance the
victory of communism. For example, Muhammad Abu Nasr approvingly quotes
Bakdash's advocacy of working with "revolutionary nationalists ... even when
they claimed to be Nazi or fascist."
Applying this logic to today's world, Muhammad Abu Nasr champions Arab
nationalist, anti-American and anti-Israeli sentiments apparently
because he believes that a broad-based "popular front" based on such causes
will hasten the victory of communism in the Arab world.
Muhammad Abu Nasr faithfully translates the Islam Memo's many phony
"news items" into English every day and posts them as "Iraqi Resistance
Reports" on his Web site. They are also posted on other Web sites, including
Jihad Unspun.
Jihad Unspun
Jihad Unspun is owned and published by a Canadian woman who converted
to Islam in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
Jihad Unspun has a track record of spreading very unreliable
allegations. For example, on November 22, 2004, it reported that a November
21 attack on a U.S. base in Balad, Iraq had killed 270 U.S. troops. In
reality, no U.S. troops were killed that day.
Jihad Unspun has often cited Islam Memo reports, praising their
"accuracy." On December 19, 2004, Jihad Unspun [JUS] wrote, "[f]rom shortly
after the time of our inception almost three years ago, JUS has carried many
reports from the news agency Mafkarat al-Islam (Islam Memo). We have done
this as we have come to have a great deal of respect for the accuracy of
their reporting."
Two months later, Jihad Unspun revealed some reservations about the
accuracy of Islam Memo reports. On February 23, 2005, Jihad Unspun posted
the contents of a letter it had written to Islam Memo, which stated, "we are
well aware that there is now a ‘family feud' brewing and that Mafkarat
al-Islam is currently under attack by many Arab news and Mujahideen sites.
... the voices of your critics are becoming louder, as is the strength of
the case they are making against your reporting."
Jihad Unspun went on to publicly ask Islam Memo several pointed
questions, including, "[w]hy are the number of American casualties reported
by Mujahideen groups to other news sites far more modest than the numbers
reported by Mafkarat al-Islam?"
It is not clear whether Islam Memo responded to Jihad Unspun, but Jihad
Unspun apparently overcame its reservations about the accuracy of Islam
Memo's reports. On March 28, 2005, it published an Iraqi Resistance Report
based on Islam Memo reporting, which falsely claimed that more than 88 U.S.
soldiers had been killed on March 27. As noted above, the real number was
zero.
Disinformation Successes
While most disinformation fabrications by Islam Memo do not receive
much media attention, some have.
As explained in another article in this Web collection, Islam Memo,
Muhammad Abu Nasr, and Jihad Unspun combined to spread the false story
that U.S. forces had used mustard gas in Fallujah, Iraq. This
disinformation was subsequently repeated by Cuba's official news agency
Prensa Latina and Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
In another example of successful disinformation, on December 18, 2004,
Muhammad Abu Nasr posted an Islam Memo report that claimed an attack
against Abu Ghraib prison had been sparked by a letter from a female
inmate named Fatima. In the letter, which seems undoubtedly to be a
fabrication, Fatima claims to have been raped repeatedly, along with 13
other
girls.
The charges in the letter are totally groundless and Fatima herself
appears to have never existed. Only six females were held temporarily at Abu
Ghraib prison at various times from July to mid-December 2004, two of them
for treatment in the medical facility. None of them were held for more than
10 days and none were sexually assaulted.
Despite the fact that the claims in "Fatima's letter" are baseless, the
sensationalistic, outrageous nature of the charges ensured that the letter
was widely reposted on Internet sites and circulated by e-mail.
Jihad Unspun posted it on December 24, 2004.
On January 7, 2005, Islam Memo claimed that Fatima had been killed in
an attack that day on Abu Ghraib prison. Conveniently, this meant that
she could not be questioned about the letter she had supposedly written.
But, there was no attack on Abu Ghraib prison on January 7, just as Fatima
herself did not exist.
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