US helped ISIL obtain hardware for propaganda: Analyst

The Pentagon’s pledge to wage a cyber war against the Daesh (ISIL) Takfiri group is a cover for other US ploys as America itself was the group’s main supplier of computer hardware, says an American counter-terrorism analyst.

The US Defense Department is weighing more aggressive cyber attacks against the Daesh (ISIL) Takfiri group, aiming to disrupt the terror organization’s web-based activities, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday, citing officials who were not allowed to publicly discuss the matter.

US Cyber Command military hackers and programmers have reportedly developed a collection of malware that can sabotage the terror organization’s online capabilities for recruitment and propaganda.

It is estimated that extremists post about 90,000 Twitter messages a day, according to the Counter Extremism Project, a New York-based nonprofit organization.

In an interview with Press TV on Monday, Scott Bennett, a former US army psychological warfare officer, said the claim was “outrageous,” as it is the US who helped the ISIL run its propaganda machine by providing it with sophisticated computers through its main supporters among Persian Gulf.

“We are enabling those countries and ISIS (Daesh) to engage in the recruitment and engage in their cyber propaganda,” Bennett told Press TV on Monday, using another acronym for the terror group. “So to say that the United States is now going to cut it off is laughable.”

Bennett explained that authorizing such operations is primarily aimed at attracting more defense contractors, and “this is one of the greatest scandals,” as it gives them access to troves of top secret documents and puts them in charge of highly sensitive cyber operations, besides raking in “lots of” money.

The counter-terrorism analyst cast doubt on the real US intentions behind the plan, saying similar cases of online recruitment for Daesh have indicated a deep route in some government agencies, raising suspicion that the activities are “state-sponsored.”

“That indicates a state-sponsored, state-managed, intelligence agency-managed cyber black operation which is a false flag operation,” he said.

“Why it is being done,” the analyst noted, is “to increase the military police state in America, putting everyone on a list of questionable people.”

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