Job opportunities at al Qaeda

Yes, I had to blink a few times when I saw this one:

Reuters is reporting that "Al Qaeda has put job advertisements on the Internet asking for supporters to help put together its Web statements and video montages":

The London-based Asharq al-Awsat [newspaper] said on its Web site this week that al Qaeda had "vacant positions" for video production and editing statements, footage and international media coverage about militants in Iraq, the Palestinian territories, Chechnya and other conflict zones where militants are active.

The paper said the Global Islamic Media Front, an al Qaeda-linked Web-based organization, would "follow up with members interested in joining and contact them via email."

The paper did not say how applicants should contact the Global Islamic Media Front...

Asharq al-Awsat said the advert did not specify salary amounts, but added: "Every Muslim knows his life is not his, since it belongs to this violated Islamic nation whose blood is being spilled. Nothing should take precedence over this."

I wonder what, if any, benefits are used to lure prospective applicants to al Qaeda other than an eternity of bliss (virgins included) in return for blowing themselves up and slaughtering the infidel. Like, say, a dental plan and three weeks of vacation? And maybe casual Fridays and an in-house masseuse?

What I continue to find so absurd about this and related stories is that al Qaeda is very much a working organization like any other even as the U.S. and others are actively hunting down its leaders (and pretty much everyone else in the organization) and trying to kill them.

Simply bizarre.