CHERTOFF, LIEBERMAN SEE INTERNET AS TERRORIST THREAT

AUDREY HUDSON, WASHINGTON TIMES - Radical Islamists are using the
Internet to recruit homegrown terrorists in the U.S., Homeland Security
Secretary Michael Chertoff told a Senate panel yesterday. "I don't think
it's necessary to send radical recruiters into the United States, and I
think there's a risk to doing that," Mr. Chertoff told the Senate
Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. "But I have no
question about the fact that [Osama] bin Laden and [Ayman al-Zawahiri]
and others like them quite consciously use the media, including the
Internet, as a recruiting tool," Mr. Chertoff said. "In terms of
recruiting, I would say that the principal way to enter the U.S. is
through the Internet."

"The department's own Homeland Security Advisory Council in a recent
report called radical Islam the most significant terrorist threat to the
homeland today, said that it is spreading, and predicted that the number
and magnitude of attacks on the United States will increase," said Sen.
Joe Lieberman, Connecticut independent and committee chairman. "Assuming
for a moment that there is some validity to the notion that there is a
growing divide occurring here, one possible cause clearly is the use of
the Internet to promote the terrorists' dark age and hateful vision. It
gives their multimedia campaigns of alienation and violence a global
reach, including right into American homes and offices," Mr. Lieberman
said.

http://washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=
20070314-110450-2830r


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