LAT: A World Wide Web of terrorist plotting

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http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-net16apr16,1,2008942.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage&ctrack=1&cset=true

A World Wide Web of terrorist plotting
The Internet has become a virtual operations center replacing the Al Qaeda bases in Afghanistan and Bosnia.
By Sebastian Rotella, Times Staff Writer
April 16, 2007

SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA — They never met face to face, but the two young zealots became brother warriors in the new land of jihad: the Internet.

Investigators say their bond made them central figures in a terrorism network that spanned eight countries, involved more than 30 suspects and hatched plots in Washington, Toronto, London and Sarajevo.

Maximus was the online moniker of Mirsad Bektasevic, a lanky Bosnian refugee with a dark stare and a hunger for action. At 18, he returned from Sweden to this war-scarred city, where he assembled an arsenal for a suicide attack and filmed a "martyrdom" video.

Irhabi007 was Younis Tsouli, a Moroccan living in London with his diplomat father, investigators say. Hunched day and night over his computer, the diminutive 22-year-old allegedly served as a pioneering cyber-operative for Al Qaeda, oversaw Bektasevic's mission and was at the hub of other plots.

Their case shows that the Internet has become a virtual training camp and operations center replacing the Al Qaeda bases in Afghanistan and Bosnia that produced a legion of fighters, formed them into cells and launched them at targets.

The soldiers of this looser network were more technologically and culturally agile than the grim fanatics who executed attacks in the past, according to trial evidence, court documents and interviews with investigators, defense lawyers, family and friends. They spoke more English than Arabic and listened to the rap of Kanye West along with the harangues of Abu Musab Zarqawi. Their Western ways enabled them to communicate and cross borders with ease. And investigators say they had a youthful disregard for life.

At the same time, many were amateurish and reckless. That made them easier to track, but presented investigators with a dilemma: A fighter may lack experience, but he remains a menace if he is willing to die for his cause. As militants radicalize more quickly and operate more independently, the threat they pose often is harder to assess.

One thing hasn't changed. Fledgling holy warriors still need real-world arms and expertise.

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