My Brother the Bomber

[davidbfpo]

The Prospect Magzaine article is excellent.

The latest speech by the UK Security Service head reflects some of the new thinking by the government, with a new emphasis on prevention (plus some "spin"). Information gathering aside what does any democracy do with radicalisation activity or talent spotters? An activity that is rarely criminal and acknowledged as difficult for traditional law enforcement to learn about.

Note the recent NYPD paper on radicalisation is fine on analysis and description, but does not offer any tools to counter the activity (the NYPD report is no longer on the NYC / NYPD website).

I like the "iceberg" analogy. Most CT work is rightly directed to those plotting attacks, when suspects / activity is exposed to view and investigation. Out of sight is the radicalisation, the scale of which is unclear and occassionally exposed to the view of LE / Intell. It is suggested that the Muslim community known far more, but are reluctant to tell LE / Intell.

Plenty to think about.

davidbfpo

[davidbfpo]

A long, excellent piece on the radicalisation process in Morocco, with jihad warriors despatched to Spain (Madrid train bombings) and Iraq. Takes time to absorb. Some gems hidden there, for example the hostile reaction to the Madrid bombings which could have killed fellow Moroccans and the death of innocents.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/ma...=1&oref=slogin

davidbfpo

[bourbon]

Jason Burke has a big article out on the homegrown phenomenon in the UK:
Omar was a normal British teenager who loved his little brother and Man Utd. So why at 24 did he plan to blow up a nightclub in central London? The Observer, January 20, 2008.
Part 1
Part 2

Not really any new insights or info, except for a look at Operation Crevice - which thwarted a nasty plot and rounded out a big network. But not a bad read overall.

[davidbfpo]

Bourbon,

Thanks for the links. I like reading Jason Burke and this is no exception. He has added some new details, helps with some context - notably the importance of travelling abroad, invariably UK to Pakistan, but it is "old wine". For example I admire those who have publically renounced Hizb, like Shiraz Maher, but Jason Burke is repeating old news.

A variety of issues are there. What has happened to all those reported as being radicalised, say in Bosnia and the anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan, who have not pursued the cause? Yes, they are older, may have no commitments. I cannot recall one example in the public domain of this and thousands must have done this.

What does society do for an individual who rejects being radicalised and wants to return to his past life? They might be on the law enforcement / intelligence "radar" or fear reprisals or being denounced by the radicals.

Dispite all my reading we still do not understand what has happened, so cannot intervene at the right point for example. In the UK context the government talks about common values, but there has been no public discussion I know of what they are.

As one Muslim iman asked - what do you replace the radical ideology with?

Yes, some are termed religious novices (to Islam) and what type of Muslim would be have any impact? Some argue "mainstream", "moderate" or Salafist.

Meantime time to relax and read more elsewhere on SWJ.

davidbfpo

[bourbon]

As one Muslim iman asked - what do you replace the radical ideology with?

Scientology.

Joking aside, the gap between diagnosis and prescriptions is frustrating. Take for example this brief: "Terrorism and Radicalization: What to do, What not to do," Presentation to U.S. State Dept. / UK House of Lords, Oct / Nov '07, by Scott Atran. I consider he and his research partner Marc Sageman to be some of the better researchers on the topic, great stuff in the brief -- but just not enough in the “what to do” section.

What about looking into drug rehabilitation processes? I've heard that junkies say heroin is “like kissing God”, similarly in books like Omar Nasiri's Inside The Jihad, you hear of the highs the militants get from the sense of kinship and sense of purpose they have. I imagine the volume is turned down lower in life in both cases when outside of either activities. You could where it becomes addictive....chasing the greater high.

[selil]

Scientology.

Interesting....

Today

War Breaks Out Between Hackers and Scientology -- There Can Be Only One


A loose confederation of online troublemakers who call themselves Anonymous have declared war on the Church of Scientology by flooding its servers with fake data requests, describing the attacks as punishment for the Church's alleged abuse of copyright laws and alleged brainwashing of its members.

Anonymous congregates on the net at various hangouts such as 711chan.org (NSFW) and partyvan.info and sundry IRC channels. The group usually amuses itself by stealing passwords to downloading sites and finding ways to harass online communities that its members disdain. They were last seen on THREAT LEVEL when a Los Angeles Fox News affiliate ran a story that hilariously implied the group's arsenal included exploding vans.

The attack on Scientology, which Anonymous has dubbed Project Chanology, started in recent days, set off by the Church's most recent attempt to censor the internet by forcing sites to remove a creepy Tom Cruise Scientology video. A wiki set up for the project directs Anonymous members to download and use denial of service software, make prank calls, host Scientology documents the Church considers proprietary, and fax endless loops of black pages to the Church's fax machines to waste ink.

More at the LINK

[bourbon]

"His eyes flickered for a moment, and I knew I had him. There are guys like this all over the world: They drink, they smoke, they snort coke, they are complete infidels in the eyes of real Muslims. But at the first mention of the words umma or jihad, they suddenly reconnect with Islam. I think this is particularly true in Europe, where young men are so far from everything, from the Muslim land. Jihad is nothing for them, nothing real. But it is also everything."
- Omar Nasiri, Inside the Jihad: My Life with Al Qaeda: A Spy's Story