Media Collections - Off-air Television Broadcasts (Part 1) - Library ...

SMITH.
Off-air recording of the SBS programme broadcast 13/12/05, 14/12/05, 15/12/05.
Copied under Part 5A of the Copyright Act 1968.
Colour recording system: PAL ; Regional all.
Copyright notice: Commonwealth of Australia. Copyright Regulations. 1969.
Warning.
[disc 1] pt. 1. jihad.com ; pt. 2. The Drug dealer, the estate agent & the
telephone man / produced & directed by Roger Corke-- [disc 2] pt. 3. Frontline
Pakistan / producer, Graham Cooper.
Reporter, Peter Taylor.
This three-part series features Peter Taylor's investigation into the new Al-
Qaeda and the threat it poses the world. It is a challenge to the previous
series, The power of nightmares, which presents the view that the threat from Al
-Qaeda is a nightmare, dreamt up by politicians to hold the electorates in their
thrall. Peter Taylor's present reports for the programme suggest a contrary
view. One year in the making, the series was filmed in America, Europe, Africa
and Asia. Includes interviews with, amongst others, Michael Scheuer, former
head, CIA Bin Laden Unit, for comments and his expertise on the subject.
Includes also reconstructions, as well as, selected newsreel and archival
footage of events relating to the stories in the series.
Part one examines how the threat from Al-Qaeda is facilitated by the internet.
Al-Qaeda, once an organisation with a fixed structure, has become a loose
network of groups, linked by the internet and dedicated to holy war. Through the
internet, Al-Qaeda has become a global brand, using websites and email as its
most powerful resource, enabling it to recruit, train, fundraise and mobilise.
Includes interviews with Mohammed Al-Massari who runs a website from his home in
London. Amongst the material from Iraq on his website, is video footage of three
British soldiers being killed by a suicide bomber, the beheading of an American
hostage and a manual with information on weaponry. Looks at the war being waged
against cyberterrorism by British and American security agencies, including also
an interview with an American magistrate, Shannen Rossmiller. By passing
herself off as an Islamic radical on the internet, Rossmiller is responsible for
the life sentencing of an American soldier prepared to pass information on to Al
-Qaeda.
Part two investigates the March 2004 Madrid train bombings, which killed 191
people. One of the most devastating terrorist attacks ever carried out in Europe,
it was the work of the new Al-Qaeda, locally recruited and acting independently
of Osama bin Laden. Looks, also, at how the new Al-Qaeda recruits criminals,
such as drug dealers, into its cells. These men are chosen because they know how
to organise criminal activity and avoid the police. Many of them are 'takfiris',
whose interpretation of Islam is so extreme that they consider any non-believer
as infidels. They are Muslims who embrace a Western lifestyle, blending in
easily, thus escaping detection by intelligence agencies. Two of the three key
members of the Madrid cell - a drug dealer, an estate agent and a 'telephone
man' - were takfiris. Features interviews with, for the first time, all the key
figures hunting both the Madrid bombers, and those behind the Casablanca
bombings. These two events were directly linked.
Part three examines how Pakistani authorities, caught between American pressure
and Islamic opposition, are involved in the struggle against the new Al-Qaeda.
Pakistan has been at the centre of both the activities of Al-Qaeda and the
struggle against it. Thousands of soldiers have been deployed in the remote
mountain borders with Afghanistan, while the country's security services are
trawling for intelligence in the cities. Pakistan has captured more Al-Qaeda
suspects, including some of its most senior leaders, than any other country. The
head of the country's Counter-Terrorism Centre, set up immediately after
September 11, speaks for the first time about the interrogations of more than
500 suspects, including the man he describes as the third most important Al-
Qaeda figure. The Centre holds the world's largest Al-Qaeda database. Includes
interviews with President Musharraf, who defends his country's record against
allegations that the intelligence agencies helped establish the Taliban and have