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Inspire Magazine: A Critical Analysis of its Significance and Potential Impact Through the Lens of the Information, Motivation, and Behavioral Skills Model

2014; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 26; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09546553.2013.828604

1556-1836

Anthony F. Lemieux, Jarret Brachman, Jason Levitt, Jay Wood,

Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression

Abstract This article presents an analysis of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's English language publication Inspire that was conceptualized and conducted on the basis of the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills (IMB) framework. The IMB model has been widely tested, validated, and applied across a range of behavior change interventions, and provides both a conceptual and analytic framework to examine the range and quality of content featured across the 11 issues of Inspire that were published and distributed online starting in July of 2010. Inspire has been implicated in multiple instances of terrorism cases in the U.S. and its impact and potential can be analyzed on the extent to which it effectively targets core attitudes, perceptions of social normative support for violence, and its regular featuring of behavioral skills such as bomb making, weapons training, and emphasizing a creative and do-it-yourself ethos. Keywords: AwlakiBoston Marathoncommunication Inspire MagazineinfluencemotivationpropagandapsychologyterrorismTsarnaev Notes 1. Deborah Kotz, "Injury Toll from Marathon Bombings Rises,'' The Boston Globe, April 23, 2013, http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/massachusetts/2013/04/22/just-bombing-victims-still-critically-ill-but-count-injured-rises/7mUGAu5tJgKsxc634NCAJJ/story.html. 2. Brad Plumer, "The Entire City of Boston Has Shut Down. How Much Will This Cost?'' Wonkblog, The Washington Post, April 19, 2013, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/04/19/the-entire-city-of-boston-has-shut-down-how-much-will-this-cost/. 3. Lydia Warren and Snejana Farberov, "al Qaeda Magazine Found on Laptop of Bomber's Widow,'' The Daily Mail, May 4, 2013, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2319544/Katherine-Russell-Tsarnaev-FBI-focuses-Boston-bombers-widow-agents-discover-radical-Islamist-files-traces-explosive-residue-home.html. 4. Additional behavior formation and change models can be applied to inform this analysis including the Theory of Reasoned Action (M. Fishbein and I. Ajzen, Belief, Attitude, Interntion, and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1975)) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (I. Ajzen and T. J. Madden, "Prediction of Goal Directed Behavior: Attitudes, Intentions, and Perceived Behavioral Control,'' Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 22 (1986): 453–474). We have carefully considered each of these models and note that they are primarily focused on factors that were incorporated into the motivational component of the IMB model. The IMB model was selected because it explicitly references the fundamental importance of behavioral skills, which are one of Inspire magazines key contributions. 5. J. D. Fisher and W. A. Fisher, "Changing AIDS Risk Bbehavior,'' Psychological Bulletin 111 (1992): 455—474.; J. D. Fisher and W. A. Fisher, "Theoretical Approaches to Individual Level Change in HIV Risk Behavior,'' in J. L. Peterson and R. J. DiClemente (eds.), Handbook of HIV Prevention (New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2000), 3–55; J. D. Fisher, W. A. Fisher, A. D. Bryan, and S. J. Misovich, "Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model-Based HIV Risk Behavior Change Intervention for Inner-City High School Youth,'' Health Psychology 21 (2002): 177–186. 06. Scott Stewart, "Assessing Inspire Magazine's 10th Edition,'' Stratfor Global Intelligence, March 21, 2013, http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/assessing-inspire-magazines-10th-edition. 7. Ibid. See also Max Fisher, "5 Reasons to Doubt Al-Qaeda Magazine's Authenticity, The Atlantic, July 1, 2010, http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/07/5-reasons-to-doubt-al-qaeda-magazines-authenticity/59035/. 8. Abu Irsaad, April 7, 2009, comment on Ansar Al-Mujahideen English Forum, http://ansar1.info/showthread.php?t=2970&highlight=fursan&page=2. 9. AnsarSunnah01, April 5, 2009, comment on Ansar Al-Mujahideen English Forum, http://ansar1.info/showthread.php?t=2970. 10. guest32011, August 12, 2009, comment on Ansar Al-Mujahideen English Forum, http://ansar1.info/showthread.php?t=11107&highlight=fursan. 11. imranhk786, June 30, 2010, comment on Ansar Al-Mujahideen English Forum, http://ansar1.info/showthread.php?t=23781. 12. Anthony Lemieux, "Inspire Magazine and the Rise of the Do-It-Yourself Jihadist, Dangerous Minds, Psychology Today, June 12, 2012, http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/dangerous-minds/201206/inspire-magazine-and-the-rise-the-do-it-yourself-jihadist. 13. Ibid. 14. Fisher, "Five Reasons to Doubt Al-Qaeda Magazine's Authenticity, (see note 7 above). 15. Michael Moss and Souad Mekhennet, "An Internet Jihad Aims at U.S. Viewers, The New York Times, October 15, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/us/15net.html?pagewanted = all&_r = 0. 16. mujahid_moonsighter, October 24, 2010, comment on "INSPIRE Magazine: Issue #2 has been released,'' Islamic Awakening Forums, http://forums.islamicawakening.com/f18/inspire-magazine-issue-2-has-been-released-39002/. 17. Manuel R. Torres Soriano, "The Vulnerabilities of Online Terrorism, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism 35, no. 4 (2012): 263–277. 18. Brian M. Jenkins, Stray Dogs and Virtual Armies: Radicalization and Recruitment to Jihadist Terrorism Since 9/11 (Santa Monica, CA, RAND, 2011), 16, http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/occasional_papers/2011/RAND_OP343.pdf. 19. Inspire magazine, Issue 5, 51. 20. Stewart, "Assessing Inspire Magazine's 10th Edition (see note 7 above). 21. Ibid. 22. Ibid. 23. The People of the State of New York against Jose Pimentel AKA Muhammad Yusuf. 24. "AWOL GI Wanted 'Retaliation,' Talked of Attacks,'' CBS News, July 28, 2011. 25. Ibid. 26. Stewart, "Assessing Inspire Magazine's 10th Edition (see note 7 above). 27. Lizette Alvarez, "Details Are Revealed in Brothers Terror Case, The New York Times, December 18, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/19/us/details-are-revealed-in-brothers-terror-case.html. 28. Jason Ryan and Pierre Thomas, "Florida Terrorism Suspect Planned New York Attack, Feds say, ABC News, December 18, 2012, http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/florida-terrorism-suspect-planned-york-attack-feds/story?id=18008823. 29. United States v. Abel Daoud, 12. 30. Arthur Martin, "Home Grown Terrorists Who Plotted to Blow Up Territorial Army Base With Bomb Mounted on a Remote Control Car Jailed for 44 Years,'' Mail Online, April 18, 2013, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2311024/Luton-terrorists-plotted-blow-TA-base-toy-car-bomb-sentenced-44-years.html. 31. Sandra Laville, "Al-Qaeda-Inspired Plotters Planned Attacks on High-Profile London Targets, The Guardian, February 1, 2012, http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/feb/01/terror-plotters-mumbai-attacks-london. 32. Shannon Deery, "Melbourne Man Accused of Terrorism-Related Charges, Including How to Make a Bomb to Spark a Bushfire, Court Hears,'' Herald Sun, April 8, 2013, http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/south-east/melbourne-man-in-court-accused-of-terrorism-related-charges-including-how-to-make-a-bomb-to-spark-a-bushfire/story-fngnvmhm-1226614962839. 33. Ibid. 34. Jill Reilly, "Russia's Secret Service Says al Qaeda are Behind Spate of Forest Fires Across Europe,'' The Daily Mail, October 5, 2012, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2213234/Russias-secret-service-says-Al-Qaeda-spate-forest-fires-Europe.html. 35. Issue 9, 30. 36. Ibid. 37. Fisher and Fisher, "Changing AIDS Risk Behavior'' (see note 5 above); Fisher and Fisher, "Theoretical Approaches to Individual Level Change in HIV Risk Behavior'' (see note 5 above); Fisher, Fisher, Bryan, and Misovich, "Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills'' (see note 5 above). 38. Fisher and Fisher, "Changing AIDS Risk Behavior'' (see note 5 above). 39. Jeffrey D. Fisher, William A. Fisher, K. Rivet Amico, and Jennifer J. Harman, "The Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model of Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy,'' Health Psychology 25, no. 4 (2006): 462–473. 40. Jeffrey D. Fisher, William A. Fisher, and Paul A. Shuper, "The Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model of HIV Preventative Behavior,'' in R. J. DiClemente, R. A. Crosby, and M. C. Kegler, eds., Emerging Theories in Health Promotion Practice and Research (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2009), 21–63. 41. Greg Miller, "As al Qaeda Magazine Goes Quiet, Intelligence Analysts Lose a Valuable Resource,'' The Washington Post, February 9, 2012, http://www.washingtonpost.-com/blogs/checkpoint-washington/post/us-intelligence-analysts-miss-al-qaeda-magazine/2012/02/09/gIQAlwRp1Q_blog.html. 42. Ibid. 43. Issue 4, 8–9. 44. Issue 2, 5. 45. Issue 1, 8–10. 46. Issue 1, 9. 47. This article appears to be a copy of Al-Jazeera's transcription of an audio tape of a message from Osama bin Laden—not an article bin Laden prepared for the magazine. In fact, there is no evidence bin Laden directly collaborated with Inspire. To the contrary, among the documents found in bin Laden's compound after his death was a statement of disapproval over an Inspire article ("The Ultimate Mowing Machine) urging readers to mow down pedestrians with trucks on which butcher knives had been welded to the front bumpers. 48. Issue 1, 8. 49. Issue 4, 9. 50. Ibid. 51. Issue 8, 40–47. 52. Issue 8, 41. 53. Issue 7, 13. 54. Issue 6, 47. 55. The verse is Surah 8. Al-Anfal, Ayah 65, cited in Inspire Issue 1, 2. 56. Fisher et al., "The Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model of Adherence (see note 39 above), 464. 57. Ibid. 58. Ibid. 59. See, e.g., Issue 1: "I love Usamah bin Ladin, I … Walahi … I love him … pfft … like I can t begin to tell you (from the former Emir of Revolution Muslim, Yousef al-Khattab, as shown on CNN's "American al Qaeda documentary); in Issue 2: "We ll have no part in the democracy and elections. We ll carry on the fight and we ll never negotiate. I wear clothes of explosives. I m heading out to kill disbelievers. I m a martyr, I m an earthquake that shakes the palace built on pride (Mohammed Younis Jihad Mal, Taliban singer); and Issue 6: "It took the Americans 11 years to kill Usama, but for us it's easy: we will take our revenge in less than a few months (Umer Khalid, Pakistan Taliban Commander, from an Al-Jazeera exclusive). 60. Issue 4, 17. 61. Ibid. 62. Issue 2, 23. 63. Issue 6, 55. 64. Issue 6, 56. 65. Ibid. 66. Ibid. 67. Christopher J. Armitage and Mark Conner, "Efficacy of the Theory of Planned Behaviour: A Meta-Analytic Review, British Journal of Social Psychology 40 (2001): 471–499. 68. Issue 9, 28. 69. Comment on Ansar Al-Mujahideen English Forum, posted May 6, 2013, http://ansar1.info/showthread.php?t = 45924 on. 70. Paul Cruickshank,''New Issue of al Qaeda Magazine May Have Been Hacked, CNN.com, May 16, 2013, http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2013/05/16/new-issue-of-al-qaeda-magazine-may-have-been-hacked/. Additional informationNotes on contributorsAnthony F. Lemieux Anthony F. Lemieux is affiliated with the Department of Communication and the Transcultural Conflict and Violence Initiative at Georgia State University, as well as the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, University of Maryland. Jarret M. Brachman Jarret M. Brachman is affiliated with North Dakota State University. Jason Levitt Jason Levitt is affiliated with the Transcultural Conflict and Violence Initiative and the Department of Political Science, Georgia State University. Jay Wood Jay Wood is affiliated with the Department of Communication, Georgia State University.