Al Qaeda Recruiting White Terrorists
[Guest post by DRJ]
The Scotsman reports al Qaeda has recruited as many as 1,500 white terrorists in the UK:
“HUNDREDS of British non-Muslims have been recruited by al-Qaeda to wage war against the West, senior security sources warned last night.
As many as 1,500 white Britons are believed to have converted to Islam for the purpose of funding, planning and carrying out surprise terror attacks inside the UK, according to one MI5 source.
Lord Carlile, the Government’s independent reviewer of anti-terrorism legislation, said many of the converts had been targeted by radical Muslims while serving prison terms.
Security experts say the growing secret army of white terrorists poses a particularly serious threat as they are far less likely to be detected than members of the Asian community.”
Some experts believe prison recruits might be even more extreme in their beliefs than life-long Muslims:
“Security experts say radical Muslims in prison have become adept at identifying potential new recruits to their cause. Those in custody for the first time, the young and the lonely are particularly susceptible.
Initially, the approach is made to comfort, console and support, with very little reference, if any, to religion. However, after several ‘chats’, the conversation will be turned towards the subject and, gradually, over a period of weeks or months, it is possible to complete the conversion.
Robert Leiken, director of the Immigration and National Security Programme and a specialist on European Muslims based at the Nixon Centre in Washington DC, said: “To me, the figure of 1,500 seems reasonable as many, perhaps less than a third, will actually go on to become radicals.
“New religious recruits always tend to be more zealous than those who have grown up with that specific religion.”
I assume US prisons are also fertile recruiting grounds but I don’t see how we can even come close to identifying and tracking every potential recruit. That’s a sobering thought.
— DRJ
I think the fact that we aren’t currently ankle-deep in blood testifies to the quality of these new terrorists.
Frankly, I have no doubt that those who convert and “go radical” would be willing to kill – if they thought they could get away with it.
That is not to say that the threat isn’t worth worrying about or doing something about, just that the dawa efforts of the radicals don’t seem to be bearing quite as much fruit as they’d hoped.
Which is good news.
Merovign (4744a2) — 1/13/2008 @ 5:43 pmThere is an argument on another string about stats in the Lancet study, and I don’t like them…
I don’t like people dropping numbers like these either, with no real way of knowing if their numbers are good or not.
We do need to look for “home-grown” terrorists, and be forwarned….but we need better info than guesses.
reff (99666d) — 1/13/2008 @ 6:22 pmThe wisdom of Gitmo – Isolate the scum so they don’t spread their diseases.
Perfect Sense (b6ec8c) — 1/13/2008 @ 6:48 pmThe best isolation is death!
Another Drew (d61b2e) — 1/13/2008 @ 6:51 pmBut this story doesn’t make any sense if these white folks are new converts to Islam. We keep getting told that Islam is the religion of peace!
Who are we supposed to believe now?
Where is blah when you need her?
daleyrocks (906622) — 1/13/2008 @ 7:26 pmTranslation: AQ is running out of converts and is having to explore new “markets” for their supply. Apparently, disaffected psychopaths were an unserviced cohort.
ras (fc54bb) — 1/13/2008 @ 7:31 pmThey gotta find a way around that pesky racial profiling that is making their terrorist plans more difficult.
j curtis (411a00) — 1/13/2008 @ 7:40 pmWho needs blah? Carlile’s story would be laughed out of court. The British need to grow some hair. They are turning their country into a paranoid police state. Not that the history of that miserable cold little island calls for anything better.
nk (dda711) — 1/13/2008 @ 7:53 pmobservation 1: Omar Padilla
observation 2: the zealousness of converts is a well known phenomenon in all religions and ideologies. So the idea that converts would be draw to a radical form of Islam–especially one that might resonate with whatever sociopathic tendencies got them into prison in the first place–is inherently plausible.
But they are in prison, which means the people in charge of the prison have a chance to control who gains access from the outside and segregate known radical prisoners from those they might target for conversion.
And, of course, donate to evangelical Christian prison ministries.
kishnevi (a3afc6) — 1/13/2008 @ 8:21 pmHeh.
DRJ (517d26) — 1/13/2008 @ 8:23 pmj. curtis – Don’t they have the ACLU in Britain so they can put a stop to that damn profiling? They couldn’t get away with that here. The A in ACLU stands for “atheist” doesn’t it, not America?
daleyrocks (906622) — 1/13/2008 @ 8:59 pmPelosi, Kennedy, Clinton, Ried, and Obahma oh so many others are obvious victims of such.
Listen to them sometime, it’s obvious. They are already here.
TC (1cf350) — 1/14/2008 @ 3:34 amThey might more than a few willing recruits among the American left.
The Underground Conservative (9f8dac) — 1/14/2008 @ 3:57 am#13
voiceofreason (39210c) — 1/14/2008 @ 4:19 amGive some examples of the “American Left” who would willingly join up.
14, Dick Durbin, John Murtha, Cynthia McKinney, Need I go on?
There was one plot busted out in LA by Muslim convicts, and I expect more. They have time and anger to do such things.
PCD (5c49b0) — 1/14/2008 @ 5:37 amThere are plenty of the “American Left” who have joined up, as their lawyers and shills.
Liberals generally don’t believe in the afterlife, and so may be hard to recruit into suicide bombers. But give them a chance to Stick It to those annoying, judgemental Christians by helping the Muslims do what they want, and they are all over it, Pro-Bono if need be. But they will gladly take laundered Saudi cash for their treason, if available.
martin (d3fe32) — 1/14/2008 @ 5:49 am15&16,
So because they are liberals they are traitors who actively work for the fall of the US government?
If I said “PCD and Martin are neonazi skinheads who burn incense to pictures of Ron Paul” you might just ask me for proof of that claim.
I don’t see any proof as to the assertions re the American left.
voice of reason (10af7e) — 1/14/2008 @ 6:24 amThe FBI has been worried about recruitment in prison for several years. The gang that was trying to support jihad by robbing gas stations in LA were sort of ridiculous but they will keep trying. Jose Padilla was recruited in prison. This is a major concern. The Black Muslims heavily recruit inj prison and are anti-white and separatist. It is just another step to join the world wide jihad movement.
MIke K (86bddb) — 1/14/2008 @ 6:37 am17, Vo(lack of)R,
You aren’t a patriot when you advocate surrender to the enemy in time of war, and we are at war with the Islamofascists. They have declared war on us and have attacked us. Only Democrats like you, Dirtbag Durbin (Who equates US Soldiers to Nazis) and Murtha (Who doesn’t know a surrender or a hard cut at DOD that he didn’t like) can’t accept that until there is an Islamofascist cutting your throat for a beheading.
PCD (5c49b0) — 1/14/2008 @ 8:17 amPCD,
Name calling doesn’t win an argument. You make allegations for which there is no proof; namely that they are signed up for AQ which is the topic of this thread.
voice of reason (10af7e) — 1/14/2008 @ 8:30 amI agree that excessive rhetoric is unhelpful. However, if you read the comments at Kevin Drum’s blog, you will see a lot of people who would not be unhappy if we lost the war. Teach us a lesson and all that. Of course, they don’t imagine that the jihadists would actually cut their own heads off or anything like that. Most of it is simply not being serious about the jihad movement but there is an undercurrent of wishing the US to be humiliated. Without, of course, upsetting the left’s grant applications and theater tickets.
MIke K (86bddb) — 1/14/2008 @ 9:12 amOf course, they don’t imagine that the jihadists would actually cut their own heads off or anything like that. Most of it is simply not being serious about the jihad movement but there is an undercurrent of wishing the US to be humiliated. Without, of course, upsetting the left’s grant applications and theater tickets.
Boy, did Mike K ever hit the nail on the head. That portion of the radical left who actually wants us to lose certainly doesn’t appear to care what happens unless it affects their daily caramel double-tall macchiatos and casual Sundays taking in filme and leafing through the New York Times over brunch.
no one you know (1f5ddb) — 1/14/2008 @ 9:27 am20, Vor, your reading comprehension is slipping. This thread is about who AQ is recruiting. I’m saying the left in this country, especially the anti-war Democrats are prime recruiting material as they WANT US TO LOSE!
PCD (5c49b0) — 1/14/2008 @ 9:51 amPCD,
There is a world of difference in saying we shouldn’t be there and should pull out versus they want us to lose.
When the Dems paint the GOP as all Neocons beholden to oil it is no more true than your blanket characterizations of the left as wishing for us to lose.
Voice of Reason (10af7e) — 1/14/2008 @ 9:59 am24, VOR, how many sites to you need shoved in your face to get you to realize how wrong you are?
Also, cutting and running is losing, and who wants to do that while we are winning? YOU DEMOCRATS!
PCD (5c49b0) — 1/14/2008 @ 10:46 amPCD,
Calm down bucky. It is affecting your grammar. I know it is hard for you to operate without demonizing 50 million registered democrats as a bunch of traitors based on the anti-war rhetoric of a few thousand. But you really need to take a step back. That is why adults are in charge and not you. Behavior like yours is what is pushing people to the Democratic party.
I pity your myopic view of the world in which it is all defined in absolutes, good guys and bad guys.
And of course you question my patriotism in your rant. As much as the hyper partisans on the right complain about hyper partisans on the left using the racism label, you can be sure that they will drop the “not a patriot card” on those who disagree with them about the war.
I sincerely feel sorry for you. It must be such a small universe in which you live.
Voice of Reason (10af7e) — 1/14/2008 @ 10:57 amVOR, is it voices like you who embolden AlQaeda and has since before the twin tower bombing back when Bubba and Company treated it like a police matter.
The only thing small is your mind.
PCD (5c49b0) — 1/14/2008 @ 12:54 pmPCD I can always count on you to call names in your efforts to conceal your shallowness. It only works for you. Personally I think you are compensating for something small but not your mind.
Voice of Reason (10af7e) — 1/14/2008 @ 12:58 pmThis is simply a new way to insure that Big Brother will get his hooks into us one way or the other. They will make sure that everyone is a suspect, and that it’s ok if they start watching everyone, because after all, anyone can be a terrorist. A few weeks ago, it was black Americans that were being romanced by the extremists. Now, the whites are falling for it too?
First of all, it’s pretty common knowledge that incacerated blacks tend to gravitate to this religion simply because it is not a predominately white religion, and they are imbittered by the fact that they are sitting in a prison system dominated by white guards and created by white authority.
Regardless of this, I can’t believe that anyone with a brain, Muslim, white or black, would be willing to detonate themselves in the midst of their fellow countrymen no matter what form of brainwashing they’ve had. Americans, say what you will, are inherently good citizens.
We care about our neighbors, and we care about our friends, families, and society as a whole. Most of the world see us as fat, lazy, unintelligent slobs. The fact is, we are victims of a government gone mad. Both parents are forced into the workplace, and our children are left to be raised by the system that we unwittingly helped create. As we drag our overworked and underpaid butts home, all we have time for is some disgusting fast food that we hurriedly slam down our throats because we can’t stand the taste of it anyway. Two hours later, off to bed, repeat process.
This standard of living is coming to a country near you, my world citizens. You think that you’re superior because you’re not American fatties and you aren’t involved in a seemingly endless war. Just wait, my friends. We as Americans have got to vote for a change in this current government. For better or worse, I’m voting for Ron Paul. He may be the only chance we have left. God help us all.
Anon Victim (d10b98) — 1/14/2008 @ 1:18 pmI thought that fighting the Al Quaeda in Iraq was supposed to keep them from attacking us here.
Now they’re recruiting us here — to attack ourselves. What went wrong?
Phil (6d9f2f) — 1/14/2008 @ 3:20 pmPhil,
What went wrong?
Nothing, There have been no major attacks on the US since 9-11 … you didn’t think that was cuz of the wisdom and ultra-efficiency of Homeland Security, did you?
It’s cuz the terror-sponsoring states saw the US troops on their borders, saw how easily they had already deposed bad boy Saddam, and they called off the dogs for a while lest they be next. US bases in Iraq will stretch this phenomenon well into the future.
So now, as state sponsorship wanes, AQ has been forced to change tactics, by need, not by choice; they’re losing. Long way to go yet, but the direction is positive.
ras (fc54bb) — 1/14/2008 @ 3:42 pmPhil,
If Adam Gadahn is any indication, they were recruiting before 9/11, too.
DRJ (517d26) — 1/14/2008 @ 4:00 pmDRJ,
voiceofreason (c2a7bc) — 1/14/2008 @ 4:07 pmHopefully our DHS, FBI, etc. will continue to do the job they are doing. Many plots have been foiled but many of the incidents are classified and we don’t realize how often the good guys hit pay dirt.
voiceofreason,
I agree and hopefully nothing I’ve said has left the impression that I think the government is doing nothing. However, fighting terrorism seems like a monumental task.
DRJ (517d26) — 1/14/2008 @ 4:32 pmDRJ,
I didn’t get that impression. It is a monster of a task and the fact that no attacks have occurred since 9-11 are a testament to what is going on behind the scenes.
The only real obstacle we as Americans may have is steeling ourselves for the one that may eventually get through. It won’t mean the whole effort has been a failure.
voiceofreason (232a30) — 1/14/2008 @ 5:05 pmThe Israelis have been dealing with this mindset on a much more frequent scale for decades.
Sure, but only because we were about to elect George Bush President.
Xrlq (b65a72) — 1/14/2008 @ 8:12 pmVOR,
Condescension is the last refuge of a beaten Liberal.
PCD (5c49b0) — 1/15/2008 @ 5:21 amWell, an excellent first step would be a blanket removal of Islamic “prison ministries”, especially those with ties to known terrorist fronts like CAIR.
SDN (5fc561) — 1/16/2008 @ 3:10 amRemember, religious wars have been taking place since the beginning of time. Nothing has changed, only the playing fields. From the battles of the holy land, Columbus enforcing religion on the native people, Spanish enforcing religion on native people, British enforcing religion all over, and it keeps going.
CIA (0cbee1) — 1/16/2008 @ 1:09 pmThis all strikes we as quite idiotic. First, the US Security Services themselves confirm that the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have increased the number of people willing to join ‘the cause’ but now we are being asked to believe that, in spite of this, ‘they’ are now recruiting white (infidels) to the cause as well. It’s also quite jarring that the ‘fanatic muslim fundamentalists’ are so willing to expand their grimy fingers into…. secular converts?
This is moronic. It’s sobering to reflect on the fact that most of this ‘intelligence’ comes from torture chambers (guantanamo or the extensive networks of secret prisons) and is not only completely false but also accepted for being ‘operationally useful’ rather than accurate. That is, it lets them paint the picture they want to paint.
Craig Murray is the former Ambassador to Uzbekistan for the UK. If you don’t believe me about the torture you should read his book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Murder-Samarkand-Ambassadors-Controversial-Defiance/dp/1845961943
One last thought. The terrorists who we ought to worried about, the ones tearing up Afghanistan, are the ones who were trained by the CIA with American tax dollars. These guys should not really be equated with the low-tech morons who seem to be responsible for the attacks in Glasgow and other places. Of course those attacks are to be utterly condemned, but I think we jump the gun if we accept to readily that it’s part of some larger ‘conspiracy’ that is completely intertwined.
Joseeph (2488e2) — 1/19/2008 @ 4:45 amWell just today your parliament passed a law outlawing the greatest protection you have ever had since Magna Carta – Habeus Corpus. Before the Magna Carta you were all worthless slaves with no rights.
Now, thanks to you swallowing hook line and sinker the terrorist propaganda, in the name of defending your freedoms, you’ve just lost all of them.
The UK authorities now have the legal power to imprison anyone without charge for 6 weeks.
Well done. Give yourself all a big pat on the back, forget the hundreds of years of selfless sacrifice of freedom fighters, your forefathers. And just give it all back to the oligarchs in one night like the good little slaves we all know you all dream to be.
What a pack of losers I see have commented here.
Jake McCrann (4e9690) — 6/13/2008 @ 10:48 pmYou absolute losers. The biggest hoodwinked fools of the 21st Century – ALL OF YOU!
Just another thing to get this loss of yo0ur most important personal liberty – Habeus Corpus – in perspective: In just the time of two days in the US more die of smoking than any of them have died in the last ten years from terrorism.
So why is it a War on Terror? Why isn’t it a War on Smoking and passing legislation to imprison anyone without arrest for 6 weeks if caught smoking anywhere on US soil????
Can you sheeple register this in your cute little bird brains?
Jake McCrann (4e9690) — 6/14/2008 @ 9:54 am