Inside the mind of homegrown jihadi recruits:
Misplaced religious beliefs may have been a key factor in the decisions of some of these men to join the global jihad. But not all recruits are well versed in jihadist theology or even the Qur’an. Two British jihadists setting out for Syria ordered Islam For Dummies and The Koran For Dummies before they left.
Islam may be just a vehicle for nihilistic rage. Richard Barrett, a former British intelligence officer who authored a report on Western recruits for the Soufan Group, a security consultancy, says the reasons for Westerners joining the jihad are legion but that “people are seeking a greater purpose and meaning in their lives.” He notes French officials describe their jihadists as “disaffected, aimless and lacking a sense of identity or belonging.”
According to former Taliban recruiter, Mubin Shaikh, who now works for counter-terrorism research groups, jihadist mentors focus on people who don’t know the religion well and concentrate on converts, as they are more impressionable. Analysts have noted that in Belgium jihadist recruiters focus on the more shabby and dull towns where job opportunities are slimmer and excitement is in short supply.
“Violence is never simple to understand,” says O’Toole. “When you have someone who resorts to this kind of intense violence it is an evolutionary process. They were groomed. And the grooming doesn’t stop once they get there. They may kill because they have to – because it is required of them once they get over there.”
O’Toole doesn’t think all the Western recruits are psychopaths. “That doesn’t make sense to me,” she says. “Most people that young don’t think about consequences. They may never have been violent, although they may have talked a good game back at home. Once they are in Syria they are being exposed to violence that is off the charts and some of them will not be able to handle it.”
That appears to have been the case for a group of 30 British jihadists, who are reported to be disillusioned and eager to return to Britain, according to The Times newspaper. One jihadist claiming to represent the group contacted a de-radicalization center in London saying they were ready to submit to surveillance in the UK, if that meant they could avoid jail terms. “Right now we are being forced to fight – what option do we have?” he told researchers at King’s College London.
Others, though, demonstrate all the hallmarks of being psychopaths, says O’Toole. She would include the British jihadists involved in the killings of the American reporters and Haines. They engaged in what psychologists would describe as “instrumental violence” that “requires you look at people not as human beings but just as objects that you can do with what you want. It is very cold-blooded and very well planned out violence; you kill even though your victim did nothing against you and didn’t deserve it.”
Many years ago the IDF caught a woman who was trying to detonate a bomb belt at an Israeli/Gaza checkpoint.
She told a terrifying story of being married then forcibly raped by one of her husband’s friends in Hamas.
After the rape she was emotionally blackmailed that she HAD to die so which way would she go?
If she was ”honor killed,” she was doomed to hell…..but if she blew up a few Jews when she killed herself there was a chance she might not go to hell.
Well, well, well, ISIS is doing this same thing!
Great link!
I recall in Lawrence Wright’s “The Looming Tower”, the story of two Egyptian boys blackmailed by Egyptian Intelligence in a similar act of brutality in order to gain their cooperation against Zawahiri:
Join ISIS and be raped. Is this why Obama doesn’t want to defeat ISIS?
It is a frightening revelation to know savagery, murdering, beheading, raping, stoning, shooting, terrorism…and everything deemed ‘EVIL’ is finding meaning and purpose in one’s life….
….what the hell have we become?
@FAITH7:
The important things here dear readers is that this Mr Barrett is a ‘former’ intelligence officer who has written a report for a ‘consultancy’ group — i.e. He WAS hired to find a reason beyond adherence to the instructions IN the KORAN!
Google the Soufan Group — I smell mega bucks here — can’t possibly have anything to do with “the religion of peace”.
Bottom line is that for every “Western” recruit there are thousands from all over the MOSLIM world.
This is the same two-bit excuse I have heard for 50 years for any kind of “anti _____ ” behavior — it was the great rage of the 60’s hippies — come on kiddies – expand your mind with LSD and other drugs and get in on all the “free” love orgies — get some “meaning” and “direction” in your life – “find yourself”, “be Progressive”, “make a difference in this horrible world”. “Tune in, Turn on” and “drop out”. Mantra of Marxists for 100 years. Promoted typically by the “perpetual” students and other lowest rung psychotic ‘groupies’ that hang around Universities and support themselves with lowest rung ‘teaching’ jobs and/or legacy money!
Now we have one of these dickheads in the WH >> fainting adorers, Berlin speeches, and styrofoam columns anyone!