FBI, Secret Service shut down 500 Muslim websites around Sept 5, 2001

[HamdenRice]

This story was reported in the Guardian of London on Sept. 10, 2001.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,549590,00.html

The websites were all hosted just outside Dallas, Texas. The 500 sites included not just jihadists, but al-Jazeera and a Palestinian university on the West Bank.

Odd timing, isn't it?

Interestingly, after the London bombing, the alleged al queda website that took responsibility was also traced to a Texas host.

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Some other oddities

It would indicate to me that whoever is behind these sites knew they didn't need them to generate 'noise' any more.

This is similar to what happened after the 2004 election. A lot of the terrorist noise generated by so called US 'terrorist experts' and the pro-Bush sites that hosted them went out of business as soon as the election was over.

I bet lot's of these site can be traced back to TX hosts and funding too.

[HamdenRice]

2. Most of the sites though were legit ...

eg al Jazeera and the Palestinian university. I thought they were shut down so that people in the Muslim world would not be able to communicate with each other and raise doubt about what had happened -- like, "gee we never heard of this plot..."

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. The neocons always do like to

kill at least two birds with every stone. They are clever that way.

But did they really shut down the Palestinian U? I've never heard of them actually shutting down very many sites, especially legitimate ones. al Jazeera seems to be alive and well since 9-11?

[Rich Hunt]

4. give me a break

I don't see how shutting down 500 websites at once is possible, manpower-wise.

I have seen mass voluntary deletions of websites when someone is involved in shady business, or when sites are discovered to be fraudulent. I think that's more likely.

[HamdenRice]

5. It's extremely easy

All the sites were hosted at the same company's servers. They pulled the plug on the company -- FBI, secret service, internal revenue -- and took all the hard drives. Read the article.

The only strange part to me is that so many Arab and Islamic web sites -- from jihadists, to Muslim charities to a Palestinian university -- would all be hosted by one company in Texas.

[Ouabache]

6. the only strange part

yeah, who woulda thunk it? Must be a coincidence.

[Rich Hunt]

7. it's not strange at all

That's what I was trying to say.

It's not as if every Arab and/or Muslim site in the country was using this company.

....maybe they were trying to "cover their asses". I'd like to see a list of all 500 or so sites before making a judgment.