Stopping the recruitment cycle of terrorism

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Stopping the recruitment cycle of terrorism (7/26/05)

The July 16th, 2005 edition of "The Economist" provides insight into the forces that drive people toward radical Islam:


What prompts young British, French or Dutch Muslims to look for such mentors? Senior British insiders say that, although paths to extremism vary widely, they tend to follow certain social and psychological patterns. Frequently, a young Muslim man falls out of mainstream society, becoming alienated both from his parents and from the "stuffy" Islamic culture in which he was brought up. He may become more devout, but the reverse is more likely. He turns to drink, drugs and petty crime before seeing a "solution" to his problems - and the world's - in radical Islam.

"The enemy within", The Economist 16 July 2005 (Volume 276, Number 8435): pages 24 - 26.

The article goes on to discuss research done by Olivier Roy and Antoine Sfeir. Mr. Roy discusses "neo-fundamentalism" which he says is "a broad reaction by Muslims in western countries against their families and background, as well as against their host societies." Since people in such a position are essentially nationless, they are attracted towards faiths distributed digitally, over the internet.

Mr. Sfeir has identified another factor driving the attraction towards those faiths. He says the younger women in the family tend to do better at acclimating to the new country, for instance in school. This uproots traditionally patriarchal structures which greatly encourages younger men to sort of reassert the older orders, of faith, of course.

From there the picture is grim. Disaffected people always find each other in an effort to find comfort and understanding. Often, the article says, they "goad" each other on towards a deeper belief in the faith, in order to correct what they view as having gone wrong. This is reinforced by media, religious, and personal outlets talking to this perspective by, for instance, reporting on "any place where Muslims are fighting non-Muslims. The favourite war used to be Chechnya; now it is Iraq." This demonstrates at least one side of terrorism's cycle of recruitment.

Amazingly it is the very people we'd expect not to be involved in all of this who are. The first quote above describes a new immigrant who has turned to drinking, drugs and possibly petty crime due to feeling alienated. For a parent observing their son or daughter's integration into a new country, much of the more problematic aspects of their descendant's new life is probably hidden, and all that would be left for them to view is how their making friends, maybe even money, and are out of the house and thus, not in the house bedridden and depressed. Once the person turns the corner towards terrorism these observations need only continue, radical mosques and lectures with similarly minded groups of friends replacing the previous activities but still keeping the person out of the house. All the parent might find to hint at this new development would be a new Koran or perhaps a pamphlet; nothing to worry about and if questioned, easily explainable as having been handed to them by a "crazy" friend. Why tell the truth? The parent brought the child to this horrible country in the first place!

While the above scenario is of course just a possibility, the overall structure of what is happening certainly seems to be correct. It wouldn't be the first time a group has preyed on the disaffected. But it is here that we have a hint of a solution - the article makes it very clear that the internet plays a large part of this "radicalization" process. It is on the internet where they find others who feel like they do, where they can find guidance in the writings of others (some of whom have died for their beliefs), and most horribly, be connected to the people and groups actively employing weapons against human beings, Westerners and Muslims alike.

An Englishmen, Edward George Bulwer Lytton, once wrote "Beneath the rule of men entirely great, the pen is mightier than the sword." We are presented with a situation almost entirely suited to what Mr. Lytton meant. If those great men and women, who read and speak Arabic and are comfortable discussing the Koran, make a concerted effort to visit, communicate, and help those young disaffected men and women on the internet sites they frequent, they might be, for lack of a better phrase, brought back from the brink.

So where can those internet sites be found? Internet Haganah maintains a database of the more radical sites. In truth the interventions that need to take place are probably occurring on much more mainstream sites which you may already visit. With every posting being read by hundreds or even thousands of others, healing the seeds of doubt may be all that is needed.

I don't know how to tackle the other sides of the recruitment cycle, nor do I think we really know what they are, but I do believe the dialogues established by the people who take up this challenge will lead towards answering those questions and provide the relief needed to actually focus on addressing those needs rather than further exacerbating the problem.