Legion of foreign fighters battles for Islamic State

[webfact]

Legion of foreign fighters battles for Islamic State
By JOHN-THOR DAHLBURG and MISHA DZHINDZHIKHASHVILI

PANKISI GORGE, Georgia (AP) — One day this April, instead of coming home from school, two teenagers left their valley high in the Caucasus, and went off to war.

In Minneapolis, Minnesota, a 20-year-old stole her friend's passport to make the same hazardous journey.

From New Zealand, came a former security guard; from Canada, a hockey fan who loved to fish and hunt.

And there have been many, many more: between 16,000 and 17,000, according to one independent Western estimate, men and a small number of women from 90 countries or more who have streamed to Syria and Iraq to wage Muslim holy war for the Islamic State.

Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the group's leader, has appealed to Muslims throughout the world to move to lands under its control — to fight, but also to work as administrators, doctors, judges, engineers and scholars, and to marry, put down roots and start families.

"Every person can contribute something to the Islamic State," a Canadian enlistee in Islamic State, Andre Poulin, says in a videotaped statement that has been used for online recruitment. "You can easily earn yourself a higher station with God almighty for the next life by sacrificing just a small bit of this worldly life."

The contingent of foreigners who have taken up arms on behalf of Islamic State during the past 3 1/2 years is more than twice as big as the French Foreign Legion. The conflict in Syria and Iraq has now drawn more volunteer fighters than past Islamist causes in Afghanistan and the former Yugoslavia — and an estimated eight out of 10 enlistees have joined Islamic State.

They have been there for defeats and victories. Following major losses in both Syria and Iraq, the fighters of Islamic State appear to have gotten a second wind in recent days, capturing Ramadi, capital of Iraq's largest Sunni province, and the ancient city of Palmyra, famous for its 2,000-year-old ruins.

There are battle-hardened Bosnians and Chechens, prized for their experience and elan under fire. There are religious zealots untested in combat but eager to die for their faith.

They include around 3,300 Western Europeans and 100 or so Americans, according to the International Center for the Study of Radicalization, a think tank at King's College London.

Ten to 15 percent of the enlistees are believed to have died in action. Hundreds of others have survived and gone home; their governments now worry about the consequences.

"We all share the concern that fighters will attempt to return to their home countries or regions, and look to participate in or support terrorism and the radicalization to violence," Nicholas J. Rasmussen, director of the U.S. government's National Counterterrorism Center, told a Senate hearing earlier this year.

"Just like Osama bin Laden started his career in international terrorism as a foreign fighter in Afghanistan in the 1980s, the next generation of Osama bin Ladens are currently starting theirs in Syria and Iraq," ICSR director Peter Neumann told a White House summit on combating extremist violence in February.

One problem in choking off the flow of recruits has been the variety of their profiles and motives.

Associated Press reporters on five continents tracked some of those who have left to join Islamic State, and found people born into the Islamic faith as well as converts, adventurers, educated professionals and people struggling to cope with disappointing lives.

"There is no typical profile," according to a study by German security authorities, obtained by AP.

The study reported that among people leaving that country for Syria out of "Islamic extremist motives," 65 percent were believed to have prior criminal records. They ranged in age between 15 and 63. Sixty-one percent were German-born, and there were nine men for every woman.

In contrast, John G. Horgan, a psychologist who directs the Center for Terrorism & Security Studies at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, found some common traits among American recruits or would-be recruits for jihad. Typically, he said, they are in their late teens or early 20s, though a few have been in their mid-30s.

"From a psychological perspective, many of them are at a stage in their lives where they are trying to find their place in the world — who they are, what their purpose is," Horgan said. "They certainly describe themselves as people who are struggling with conflict. They are trying to reconcile this dual identity of being a Muslim and being a Westerner, or being an American."

Some are driven by religious zeal to protect the caliphate, or Muslim theocracy, that the Islamic State has proclaimed in the one-third of Syrian and Iraqi territory now in its hands; others are thrilled by the chance to join what is tantamount to a secret and forbidden club.

Still others appear to enlist mainly because others do.

"What they have in common is that they are young, they are impressionable and they are hungry for excitement," Horgan said.

Once recruits arrive in areas held by Islamic State, they appear to receive only rudimentary military training — including how to load and fire a Kalashnikov assault rifle. Nonetheless, they have been involved in "some of the most violent forms of attacks" by the group, including suicide bombings and filmed beheadings of foreigners, said William Braniff, executive director for the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, a multidisciplinary research center headquartered at the University of Maryland.

Areeb Majeed, 23, from a suburb of Mumbai, India, joined Islamic State in May 2014 and fought for six months, killing up to 55 people and taking a gunshot to the chest.

But all was not heroics. He eventually called his parents from Turkey and asked to come home, according to Indian newspapers. Majeed's chief complaint, officials from India's National Investigation Agency were quoted as saying, was that the group didn't pay him, and made him clean toilets and haul water on the battlefield.

Often, though, the foreign combatants use social media to serve as "role models and facilitators for the next volunteers," Braniff said.

"Before I came here to Syria, I had money, I had a family, I had good friends, it wasn't like I was some anarchist or somebody who just wants to destroy the world, to kill everybody," said Poulin, the Canadian ISIS recruiter.

"Put God almighty before your family, put it before yourself, put it before everything. Put Allah before everything," the bearded and bespectacled transplant from Ontario urges in the video.

Poulin's jihad ended last August; he was reported killed during an assault on a government-controlled airfield in northern Syria.

But not, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., before he had recruited five others from Toronto to come fight for the Islamic State.
___

Dahlburg reported from Brussels. Sarah El Deeb in Cairo, Christopher Bodeen in Beijing, Rob Gillies in Toronto, Geir Moulson in Berlin, Ryan Lucas in Beirut, Katy Daigle in New Delhi, Zeina Karam in Beirut and Edie Lederer
at the United Nations contributed.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-05-21

[ABCer]

"What they have in common is that they are young, they are impressionable and they are hungry for excitement," Horgan said.

What is missed by this Horgan or what was deliberately omitted in his saying - they were all Muslims.

Such a long article! - yet missed the point...

Before the "Muslims are Good" brigade start driving nails in my outstretched arms I would like to hear from them

how to tell a Good Muslim from a Bad Muslim before they join the IS?

[daoyai]

^^^ good muslims (or any religious) are those that practice the rituals for traditions sake without beleving all the dogma and mythology.

[hextac]

^^^ good muslims (or any religious) are those that practice the rituals for traditions sake without beleving all the dogma and mythology.

So, none then? If you don't believe the dogma and mythology you don't count.

[MaxYakov]

Islamic State of Insane Sociopaths

[klauskunkel]

"You can easily earn yourself a higher station with God almighty for the next life by sacrificing just a small bit of this worldly life."

So, you get a promotion... in your next life..., uh huh, while whatever you sacrifice benefits the ones in power in this life...the scam of scams, sign me up!

[ggt]

Saw a TV interview just last night...an ex US military Sargent was collecting a group of ex-military people to fund their own trip to the ME to join in the fight against the IS...such is the situation where it appears that the world's governments are unwilling to do what is necessary to dispatch these inhumane IS creatures...civilians feel compelled to join in the fight to stop the IS tide of destruction...

[BudRight]

A hundred Americans seems like a lot, especially since it's hard to conceive that anyone would want to join ISIS, but to put that number in perspective it's 0.000034% of the US population - about one in three million. Statistically you'd expect many more than that to be crazy in a way that doesn't involve joining terrorist groups.

[Steely Dan]

^^^ good muslims (or any religious) are those that practice the rituals for traditions sake without beleving all the dogma and mythology.

So, none then? If you don't believe the dogma and mythology you don't count.

Your 'good Muslim' is an apostate in the eyes of ISIS, they back up their position by quoting scripture verbatim. If the article missed the point it did so intentionally. ISIS represent a literal interpretation of scripture, people in 90 odd Countries didn't somehow misunderstand it. They are in effect Islam's reformation, if reformation is returning to scriptural roots and ignoring more modern practices or voices that dilute it.

It has an allure because the Quran is supposed to be the literal word of Allah. It may be evil to us, but it is Islamic through and through. The West is sadly doing a great recruitment job for ISIS by appearing weak to people whose culture is to follow the strong horse. As two former Israeli tank commanders said to me, superior force is the only language the Arabs understand, with two towns falling to ISIS in a matter of days who looks to be the strong horse?

[Godders]

What a match-up - the Islamic State v the United States

In one corner, a bunch of armed-to-the-teeth fanatics with a reputation for inflicting death and destruction on anyone rash enough to resist their quest for world domination.

And in the other, IS.

[Docno]

^^^ good muslims (or any religious) are those that practice the rituals for traditions sake without beleving all the dogma and mythology.

So, none then? If you don't believe the dogma and mythology you don't count.

Your 'good Muslim' is an apostate in the eyes of ISIS, they back up their position by quoting scripture verbatim. If the article missed the point it did so intentionally. ISIS represent a literal interpretation of scripture, people in 90 odd Countries didn't somehow misunderstand it. They are in effect Islam's reformation, if reformation is returning to scriptural roots and ignoring more modern practices or voices that dilute it.

It has an allure because the Quran is supposed to be the literal word of Allah. It may be evil to us, but it is Islamic through and through. The West is sadly doing a great recruitment job for ISIS by appearing weak to people whose culture is to follow the strong horse. As two former Israeli tank commanders said to me, superior force is the only language the Arabs understand, with two towns falling to ISIS in a matter of days who looks to be the strong horse?

"Your 'good Muslim' is an apostate in the eyes of ISIS, they back up their position by quoting scripture verbatim. If the article missed the point it did so intentionally. ISIS represent a literal interpretation of scripture, people in 90 odd Countries didn't somehow misunderstand it. They are in effect Islam's reformation, if reformation is returning to scriptural roots and ignoring more modern practices or voices that dilute it."

Agreed. This is the bit that many people fail to see or don't want to admit. ISIS is trying to create a society based on a literal and conservative interpretation of the Quran and Hadiths. Western commentators are being disingenuous when they argue that ISIS is distorting the message of Quran - it's quite the opposite: ISIS is just taking that message quite literally. I'm currently reading the Quran to get a better understanding of where this other civilisation (Islam in general) is coming from and because I have a number of Muslim friends. I intentionally chose the official Saudi-sponsored English translation as it is now supposed to be the most widely distributed (Saudi wealth has helped that to happen), though it has been criticised for being anti-Jewish, etc. Well, I'm only about 25% of the way through, but I can say that hatred for the Jews has more than enough backing in there, and Christians come off only marginally better. There is a lot of social justice in these pages (proper treatment of orphans and divorced women, for instance), but also a lot of medieval cruelty (such as cutting off hands and feet from opposite sides of the body). If one believes these words come from Allah, it's hard to get around the fact that ISIS is trying to create just the sort of society that Allah wants to see down here, as abhorrent as it may appear to the rest of us.

[maidee]

nice free holliday

come back as a terrorist

[Anon999]

ABC. Unless my eyesight is deceiving me Horgan said Muslims in the second paragraph. Maybe a visit to Specsavers would be a good move!

[arjunadawn]

^^^ good muslims (or any religious) are those that practice the rituals for traditions sake without beleving all the dogma and mythology.

So, none then? If you don't believe the dogma and mythology you don't count.

Your 'good Muslim' is an apostate in the eyes of ISIS, they back up their position by quoting scripture verbatim. If the article missed the point it did so intentionally. ISIS represent a literal interpretation of scripture, people in 90 odd Countries didn't somehow misunderstand it. They are in effect Islam's reformation, if reformation is returning to scriptural roots and ignoring more modern practices or voices that dilute it.

It has an allure because the Quran is supposed to be the literal word of Allah. It may be evil to us, but it is Islamic through and through. The West is sadly doing a great recruitment job for ISIS by appearing weak to people whose culture is to follow the strong horse. As two former Israeli tank commanders said to me, superior force is the only language the Arabs understand, with two towns falling to ISIS in a matter of days who looks to be the strong horse?

"If you see the black banners coming from the direction of Khurasan then go to them, even if you have to crawl, because among them will be Al Lah's Caliph the Mahdi." http://blackflags1.blogspot.com/

It is preposterous to decorate this in anything other than Islamic prophecy. A mix of prophecy, legend, and social media manipulation synergizes the rise of this caliphate effort. The reason this is so attractive is the same reason dispensation christians are always looking for "signs in the sky" to predict the beginning of the tribulation or rapture- a profound article of faith.

Elsewhere, a poster notes something regarding IS or the US, suggesting the barbarians have no chance- wrong! Savaged by betrayal within the highest echelons of American government, stupidity, narrow vision, and social engineering the US is woefully unprepared to even measure the scope of the threat let alone the means to confront it. Be you christian, jew, buddhist or other... it makes no difference- You are in a religious war and the end will destroy "you" as a people, whether islam prevails or not- period! Refusing to appreciate the scope of the threat will only dictate the manner in which the West ceases to be. But when the future arrives the West will most definitely not resemble its post enlightenment self.

(I do not subscribe to every point in these videos only the gist).

The fear and finessing of prophecy is overwhelming in today's events and perceptions leading up today, from jews and muslims alike (see olive trees reference). Where the muslims have a deficit in their prophecy they will act out behaviors "that prophecy might be fulfilled." This is positively the same actions as the Christ when entering the city of Jerusalem and throwing palm leaves upon the ground en route- "... in order that prophecy might be fulfilled." It is toward this aim that I assert there is likely and certainly will be considerably more outreach to their taliban brothers to further cement the notion that this effort arises directly from Khurasan proper; it is the single greatest bona fides that makes them legitimate. These people are fulfilling their own prophecy as they go. The delusion is whole and complete in such a way that believers have a hard time dismissing that current events are not their promised salvation.

Each time you note the threat being minimized consider your children; consider tomorrow; consider posterity. If there is only a 10% threat this remains a greater threat to modernity than any threat in history. There are multiple scenarios to appreciate this. You let these people to continue to acquire the various tools of a State player and each day that passes you increase the body count that invariably will come.

Edited May 22, 2015 by arjunadawn

[Linky]

^^^ good muslims (or any religious) are those that practice the rituals for traditions sake without beleving all the dogma and mythology.

So, none then? If you don't believe the dogma and mythology you don't count.

Your 'good Muslim' is an apostate in the eyes of ISIS, they back up their position by quoting scripture verbatim. If the article missed the point it did so intentionally. ISIS represent a literal interpretation of scripture, people in 90 odd Countries didn't somehow misunderstand it. They are in effect Islam's reformation, if reformation is returning to scriptural roots and ignoring more modern practices or voices that dilute it.

It has an allure because the Quran is supposed to be the literal word of Allah. It may be evil to us, but it is Islamic through and through. The West is sadly doing a great recruitment job for ISIS by appearing weak to people whose culture is to follow the strong horse. As two former Israeli tank commanders said to me, superior force is the only language the Arabs understand, with two towns falling to ISIS in a matter of days who looks to be the strong horse?

Wrong. Some imams regard it as apostacy, some dont.

[Linky]

"What they have in common is that they are young, they are impressionable and they are hungry for excitement," Horgan said.

What is missed by this Horgan or what was deliberately omitted in his saying - they were all Muslims.

Such a long article! - yet missed the point...

Before the "Muslims are Good" brigade start driving nails in my outstretched arms I would like to hear from them

how to tell a Good Muslim from a Bad Muslim before they join the IS?

He deliberately didnt say they are all muslims because not all of them are.

[JockPieandBeans]

The alleged words of the mother of the Boston bomber.

With her terrorist son sentenced to death, the mother of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev sent raging messages to his supporters saying the United States will burn “in the flames of an eternal and terrifying fire,” a person who knows the mother told Vocativ.

“They think that they are killing us and they celebrate this, but we are the ones who will rejoice when Allah grants us the chance to behold them in the flames of an eternal and terrifying fire, an otherworldly flame,” Zubeidat Tsarnaeva wrote Sunday in a WhatsApp message to Zarina Kasenova, a supporter.

http://www.vocativ.com/usa/nat-sec/boston-marathon-bomber-dzohokar-tsnarnaev-mother/?utm_campaign=InternAllMay15&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=outbrain

The mask slips and the truth will out.

[Chicog]

Well someone slipped into Saudi, put on a vest and blew himself up in a Shi'a mosque in Saudi today.

That's getting a bit close to home.