Quote Originally Posted by Zack View Post
I didn't mean to sound as though there are clear sides. It just seemed like a conflict of interests to me. On the one hand he had a personal affinity for European life but he also seemed to think that insurgent groups that only targeted combatants were legitimate. If that is your conception it seems to me very contray to his beliefs to work for Western intelligence which targets both insurgents and terrorists.
By black and white I intended to mean by his perspective. He might have been sympathetic on macro level; but on micro level - in practice, he wanted them out of his house and was stealing money from them. That’s an interesting grey area to me, it’s an interesting paradox.

Indeed, contradictions run through the book; he writes about how young North African males in Europe struggle with self identity, seeing themselves as neither fully Muslim nor fully European. How some will drink booze, have sex, and peddle drugs, but will become absolutely spellbound at the mention of the word ‘Jihad’. How some pursue this to fulfill that void in their life.

That's a fascinating insight. How big a theme is this in the radicalization process? How can apply this insight to counter homegrown radicalization? That's where I think the value of this book comes in.