Katrina boosts terrorists' morale, hurricane called 'soldier of God'

(RNS) The devastation from Hurricane Katrina caused a "morale lift" at extremist Web sites across the Middle East, according to an organization that monitors terrorism.

The Terrorism Research Center, an Arlington, Va., group, said one site posted more than 50 photographs of the destruction. Another compiled news clips into a propaganda video, while an unnamed writer claimed "Katrina is the newest soldier of God."

Terrorists are monitoring the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, as are lawmakers and homeland security experts.

Experts say Katrina should be carefully and critically examined for its broader implications to terrorism.

"We need to move past the finger-pointing and really try to take Katrina as a case study to distill some lessons learned from it," said terrorism expert Brian Jenkins, senior adviser to the president of RAND Corp., a national security think tank.