"Blessed be your hands," Umm Issa tells Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, nicknamed "prince of cutthroats" on Islamist Web sites for his beheading of foreign hostages in Iraq. Jordanian-born Zarqawi, who heads the Tawhid and Jihad (Unity and Holy War) group, must be getting used to such messages of support from Muslim e-mailers. He is on track to overtake al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in the popularity stakes as militants make full use of the Internet in their war against "Crusaders.""O Sheikh Zarqawi, I implore you to quickly slaughter, with your right [hand], the British elj [infidel]," says a participant named Nimr, in a typical display of hatred for the West shown by participants in Islamist discussion groups. Yet another contributor to the "debate" suggests cutting hostages' throats with a saw in order to terrorize the uluj (plural for infidel). But "Abu Taymiya" disagrees. "Prisoners must be treated well ... and a saw might cause them suffering," he argues.
Contributors use a variety of noms de guerre -- from "Servant of the Mujahedeen" to "Enamored of Terrorism" -- but their rallying cry is the same: "to terrorize the enemy," chiefly the US. Islamist militants began venting their hatred of "the Crusaders and Jews" on the Internet after the Taliban regime was ousted from power in Afghanistan in late 2001 by a US-led military campaign launched in retaliation for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. Islamist messages, electronic publications and videos have since proliferated as militants "prepare for jihad."