Web Site Pitch

Elevator Pitch: Let's create a Web site for one-stop shopping for news and information on Muslim extremism, terrorism and national security.

Far from defeating al Qaeda and its ilk in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States faces, and will continue to face for years to come, militant Muslim groups as a core and perhaps most dangerous element of its foreign policy. Extremists are on the march in Pakistan -- already termed for years the most dangerous country on the planet by many experts -- and could gain control of nuclear weapons. At the same time, the United States could be facing its second war in Afghanistan, possibly bigger than the first one. In sum, U.S. exposure to Islamist threats will only grow for the foreseeable future.

This is a business opportunity to be seized by today's journalists.

The multimedia potential for the Web site is as broad as any. Look at the stuff we can already "bank" as an indication: video footage of, say, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto; still images of bombings in Baghdad; audio outtakes of Osama bin Laden's taped rants; maps of Pakistan's Swat Valley; blogs, Twitters and Facebook entries from on-the-ground citizens. We can also link to official documents from the U.S. State Department, Department of Homeland Security and other agencies confronting extremism here and abroad. Just one representative offering: perhaps a map of the Middle East with markers of some kind that, as users mouse over them, become popups with descriptions of the extremist groups there.

A major goal of the Web site will be to educate readers about links -- real or supposed -- among the many extremist groups around the world. The great but dubious achievement of the Bush administration was to conflate 9/11, al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein into the same threat for U.S. public consumption, thereby winning support for the invasion of Iraq. Our mission will not be to fight against such things from the left or any other ideological viewpoint, but to lay out the facts for readers to decide matters for themselves. For example, the public might have found useful writings from the early 1990s by Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and others that the United States should consider picking a fight in the Middle East. Such things are already publicly available, but we would house and highlight them on our authoritative site.

Another goal would be to provide some historical context for readers, looking at the sources of Muslim extremism and terrorism as far back as World War II. Going back much further would diffuse matters and just be "too much," but of course the present and future can't be understood without knowledge of the past. Circa 1945 sounds about right.

Readership -- and remuneration, be it through subscription and/or advertisements -- would run the gamut. Everyday citizens would be interested in us, as certainly would other news outlets, policymakers, the military, and more. When we become the leading source of Muslim extremist information, it isn't hard to imagine Northrop Grumman, say, paying big money to get its name and pitch in front of the eyeballs of congressional defense appropriators -- our readers.

It's difficult to say at this point how we would need to resource our site. How much original reporting would we need on the scene? (If a lot, then, yes, this would present many logistical and financial challenges, not to mention safety issues for our employees.) How much good reporting could we crib through agreements with other outlets? At first at least, much staff time would have to be devoted to developing our bank of historical material, linking to other sites and information, and other work related to nonbreaking news.