Reading a short piece put out by a Western outsource intelligence analyst - part of the Analytical Retardation (Anatard) flank - gave me a little chuckle last week. The author, noted a sudden appearance of a mysterious black flag. The images above, are pulled from one of my dead files of images of the "mysterious" Islamist banner. The banner has been in existence for years.
Rule number one for critical research of jihad images bears mentioning:
Initial analytical observation by the individual analyst is not always equivilent to "discovery". It merely means the analyst has observed something for the first time with their own set of eyeballs.
We must be careful not to date our observations as an inception.
Looking at a couple other reputable counterterrorism sites as of late, I note a staleness and lack of critical thought; lack of forward movement, and merely a backward glance.
Always read with a filter. Research what others write. That includes what I put on the page. Be intelligent, thoughtful and contemplative.
Tammy Swofford
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