Released September 9, 1999
The Wisdom Fund, P. O. Box 2723, Arlington, VA 22202
Website: http://www.twf.org -- Press Contact: Enver Masud

FBI May Eliminate Dagestani Websites

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The United States' Bureau of Federal Investigation, reported the BBC today, has offered to help Russia "in eliminating Websites set up by Islamic militants fighting in the southern republic of Dagestan."

The "Muslim peoples of the Caucasus - Chechen, Ingush, Circassians, Abkhaz, Dagestanis - have been in almost constant revolt against their Russian colonial rulers for three centuries," writes Eric Margolis of the Toronto Sun.

"Russsia crushed all revolts with ruthless ferocity and twice attempted genocide," says Mr. Margolis, and in "the 1940's, Stalin deported nearly all the 1.5-million Chechen to Siberian concentration camps, where 25% died. Two million other Soviet Muslims, including many Dagestanis, were also sent in cattle cars to Stalin's death camps. Hitler used gas; Stalin used the Russian winter."

Now it would appear that the FBI may deny Dagestani freedom fighters their right to free speech, and deny interested readers access to information from all relevant sources.

During NATO's recent war with Yugoslavia the information coming out of Belgrade, Yugoslavia's capital, was more accurate than that coming from NATO.

"Belgrade's claims of 76 losses represent only about a five-fold exaggeration," says Alan J. Kuperman, Research Fellow at the Brookings Institution, while "NATO's original claims represent up to a twenty-fold exaggeration."

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[The Justice Department has tried, with limited success, to use the authority of the Patriot Act, passed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, to shut down Internet sites that carry such postings, on grounds that they incite violence.

The government's aggressive pursuit of Web hosting services, as well as the people who post the material on them, has led civil liberties groups to protest that security initiatives are impinging on free speech.--Ariana Eunjung Cha, "From a Virtual Shadow, Messages of Terror," Washington Post, October 2, 2004]

"FBI Seizes Indymedia Servers," Indymedia.org, October 8, 2004

Gary Younge, "Bush administration to keep control of internet's central computers," Guardian, July 2, 2005

Steve Coll and Susan B. Glasser, "Terrorists Turn to the Web as Base of Operations," Washington Post, August 7, 2005

Craig Whitlock, "Briton Used Internet As His Bully Pulpit," Washington Post, August 8, 2005

Steve Coll and Susan B. Glasser, "Zarqawi Intertwines Acts on Ground in Iraq With Propaganda Campaign on the Internet," Washington Post, August 9, 2005

[A newly declassified document gives a fascinating glimpse into the US military's plans for "information operations" - from psychological operations, to attacks on hostile computer networks.--Adam Brookes, "US plans to 'fight the net' revealed," BBC News, January 27, 2006]

[Pentagon contract documents show the military asks companies to develop a "full spectrum . . . of computer network attack techniques."--Jim Michaels, "Military beefs up Internet arsenal," USA TODAY, March 28, 2007]

[The home secretary . . . will meet internet service providers and members of the Muslim community to discuss measures to block websites which promote terrorism.--"Smith targets internet extremism," BBC News, January 17, 2008]

[A controversial plan to study and profile domestic terrorism was scrapped after popular push back, however, the spirit of the legislation lives on in Senator Joe Lieberman's office.

HR 1955, "The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007" passed the House in October 2007 with almost unanimous support. . . .

The bill also singled out the Internet as a vehicle for terrorists to spread their ideology with the intention of recruiting and training new terrorists.--Matt Renner, "Internet Attacked as Tool of Terror," truthout.org, may 30, 2008]

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