State Department...Still 'Hacking' ?

As we noted previously, the US State Department has been taking part in some interesting activities on Yemeni websites. Originally described as “hacking Al-Qaeda websites,” their activities were actually much less mysterious than originally thought.  We (and others) later determined that the State Dept. operatives simply posted doctored banners and images on Yemeni forums, specifically المجلس اليمني Al-Majles Al-Yemeni or Ye1.org.

Anyway, they’re not finished, and we are following what they’re doing. They’re making some cool graphics, but overall their work remains pretty ineffective at persuading people to dislike Al-Qaeda. When these guys come onto threads with their State Dept logo and signature, the conversation almost always turns from Al-Qaeda to the ills and dark sides of American foreign policy (which here inevitably includes drone strikes that kill civilians).

Here’s the latest example of their work, found Sunday on ye1.org:

The text reads "Ansar Al-Sharia is thirsty for the blood of Yemenis, and relishes in shedding their blood. To Al-Qaeda- the proud tribes of Yemen are on the lookout for you." [In Arabic, Ansar Al-Shar means 'Followers of Evil']

We believe that this parody image is supposed to be a play on an original Ansar Al-Sharia (AAS) propaganda image that was published as part of an AAS public relations campaign last winter:

The text reads "Ansar Al-Sharia: Relief for Yemen after its thirst, Hope for Yemen after its desperation. Proud tribes of Yemen, how then are you sacrificing yourselves for them?" [the Americans, presumably]

 In the original AAS banner above, the group refers to Yemeni tribal elements who oppose them as "Sahwat" صحوات or "Awakenings," harking back to the Awakening Councils of Anbar, Iraq. The groups consisted of tribes opposed to Al-Qaeda and who fought to end Al-Qaeda's influence in their territories. Just as they did in Iraq, Al-Qaeda/AAS tries to label the tribal Yemenis who fight against them as traitors or apostates in order to de-legitimize them and Islamically permit their killing.

So far, reverse image searching shows that the AAS image shows up over 2,000 times on the internet. The State Dept.'s image shows up only once. We'll be keeping our eyes open for more.