Report: US lacks plan to counter terrorist messsages on the Internet

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The United States must develop a communications plan to counter radical Islamic messages on the Internet, according to a US congressional report released Thursday. Because the Internet's easy access makes it possible for al-Qaida and other terrorist sympathizers to spread their beliefs and recruit new followers, the government needs a coordinated and thorough response that it currently lacks, said the senior senators on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, an independent, said al-Qaida is better at communicating its message to Americans than the U.S. government is at communicating its message. That means people can become radicalized at home, without leaving the country or going to a terrorist training camp, he said. This fuels the potential for "homegrown" terrorists, such as the men caught last year plotting to attack Fort Dix and John F. Kennedy International Airport.