The widespread appearance of insurgent video tapes of attacks in Iraq is a unique feature to this war and is part of an effort on the part of the insurgency to capture scenes that they hope will inspire their supporters and demoralize the enemy public. Online Arabic-language websites have quite a robust appetite for the videos, which gleeful supporters comment on with exclamations of ?Allahu Akbar,? or ?God is Greatest.?

Lacking the same kind of access to major international media outlets that the Coalition forces enjoy, insurgents began publishing videos as a crude alternative to conventional media coverage. Now, in spite of their amateurishness, they have garnered considerable audiences on both sides of the conflict. Civilians around the world may be drawn to them out of a curiosity to see what an attack looks like from the other side?s perspective. For the military, the tapes provide an opportunity to exploit information about an attack from another angle. Some tapes provide more footage than just the attack, such as planning details.