Interesting bit in The American Interest:

"In a September 2007 video, al-Qaeda's third-highest leader, Sheikh Abu Yahya al-Libi, published a strategy, largely based on al-Qaeda errors in Iraq, showing how the West can fight and win its "war of ideas." Why would he do this? That is unclear. Al-Libi may have believed that the United States lags so far behind the global jihadist movement that al-Qaeda has little to fear.6 In any event, his six-part strategy for the West focuses almost exclusively on countering al-Qaeda's narrative:

1. Amplify cases of ex-jihadis who have renounced armed action;
2. Fabricate stories about jihadi mistakes and exaggerate actual mistakes;
3. Prompt Muslim clerics to issue fatwas that incriminate the jihadi movement;
4. Support Islamic movements that disavow terrorist violence, particularly those with a democratic approach;
5. Aggressively neutralize or discredit the jihadi movement's guiding thinkers; and
6. Spin minor disagreements among jihadi leaders into major doctrinal or methodological disputes.

This actually strikes me as a pretty good list. As to why a jihadist cleric would issue this, it seems pretty simple to me. I've seen more than a few "beware of the following dirty tricks from the other side, so you're prepared" pieces among political partisans. Why not among theocrats, for whom religion is politics and vice-versa?