Something that should have been done a long time ago:
Over the past fortnight Israeli intelligence agents have noticed something distinctly odd happening on the internet. One by one, Al-Qaeda?s affiliated websites have vanished until only a handful remain, write Uzi Mahnaimi and Alex Pell.
Someone has cut the line of communication between the spiritual leaders of international terrorism and their supporters. Since 9/11 the websites have been the main links to disseminate propaganda and information.
The Israelis detect the hand of British intelligence, determined to torpedo the websites after the London attacks of July 7.
Now there are those who argue we should leave them up in order to detect the movements and rhetoric of al-Qaeda and the militants. I disagree. al-Qaeda’s network demands a degree of sophisitication when it comes to information and communciations. The harder you make it for them, the more likely they will start using methods we can track – such as human intelligence. Sleeper cells are very, very difficult to root out.