Military officers, a member of Congress, top executives of defense firms — they’re marked for death on an assassinations list that online jihadi forums are compiling. And the best thing you could do for these online braggarts would be to freak out.

Fox News reports that participants on Shumukh, an elite, password-protected jihadi forum, have begun threads throwing out suggestions for prominent Americans to murder. It’s spread to the more open Ansar al-Mujahideen site. We’re not going to list the names of anyone marked for death by Internet would-be terrorists. But it includes politicians, Defense Department officials, military officers, execs at security companies that have done business in Iraq and even a Mideast pundit.

This is basically a wishful casting call for a jihadi snuff film. The FBI reportedly believes that it’s a reaction to a recent video from Adam Gadahn, the hesher turned English-language spokesman for al-Qaida. “It is important that we weaken our cowardly enemy’s will to fight by targeting influential public figures in the Crusader and Zionist government, industry and media,” Gadahn says in “You Are Held Responsible Only for Thyself,” according to a Flashpoint Partners transcript.

That’s in keeping with the recent jihadist trend of eschewing big terror plots for ones that untrained, Internet-saturated wannabes might pull off solo with minimal training. You can find similar thinking in the pages of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula’s (AQAP) English language magazine, Inspire. The pdf magazine frequently waves off wanna-be jihadis hoping to join up with AQAP in Yemen, urging them instead to pull DIY attacks at home. An early version of this hit list urged shooting up cafes where government bureaucrats eat lunch, in the hope of gaining media attention and provoking panic.

But this is an ambitious targeting list for self-starter jihadis. A kid who’s only experience with terrorism is browsing a forum and mouthing off online is going to be sorely disappointed if he thinks he can touch a top general or a prominent politician.

The FBI is taking it seriously, as it should. As for the rest of us, it’s important to remember that this list is aspirational, and deny these wannabees the media attention they crave.

The self-starter strategy is one borne out of weakness. If al-Qaida could pull off another Madrid, London or 9/11 attack, rest assured it would. But right now, it needs a media freakout to compensate for its diminished capabilities and lowered ambitions.

That goes double for an online assassinations list. Panic from the general public only lowers the bar for mass intimidation from an actual attack to web forum chatter.

So do yourself a favor. Don’t give online jihadis an incentive to throw around loose talk about assassination targets. Keep calm and carry on.

Photo: Ansar al-Mujahideen Forum

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