The recruitment of Islamic terrorists

(To Nicolò Giordana)
24/03/15

The Islamic fundamentalist terrorist association (ISIS) is carrying out a massive recruitment program that is at the forefront, spreading news of its alleged victories and its crimes through social media and the Internet.

The psychological element that can be seen in these proceedings is that of seeking to leverage the sense of religious duty of potential recruits who, more often than not, represent themselves as subjects who do not possess a profound knowledge of Islam: believing individuals and Practitioners, unable to possess a critical sense of their own Creed, can in fact be attracted by a simple system in black and white, a us against them, a belief that, historically inculcated by most Koranic schools, dominates today among young people.

The new levers are seduced by adventurous views that are presented as a chance to escape the frustrations of Western life. Intelligence reports show how adolescents and women - more easily impressionable - are the real prey to be attracted to the "bad boys" jihadists who boast of their bloody deeds. Going forward to this problem, the actions of governments aim to stop the flow of laborers to terrorism and for this we see the recent work of capture of Islamic cell affiliates.

The reasons that push these subjects to embrace violent extremism often find out about poverty and oppression. The data collected from the biographical declarations made by these subjects escaped in the Middle East suggest a series of motivations towards such acts: alienation, personal crises, dissatisfactions linked to one's own spiritual life or mere adolescent crises.

According to intelligence estimates, about twenty thousand fighters from other countries have joined the fight in Syria and Iraq. Most are believed to be members of ISIS and constitute much of the strength of the association. The origins are varied: both, for the majority, from other Arab countries, which, about 15%, by western areas, especially from Europe. The French prime minister recently reported that - from the data at his disposal - the total number of Europeans who will migrate to the Middle East for the terrorist cause could rise to ten thousand by the end of the year.

The big distinction with respect to other jihadist groups is what ISIS advertises its violence in such a way as to make it appear almost totally unlimited. All this is an end to the attraction of subjects who are not only not hit by graphic images of mass executions, beheadings, crucifixions and fires, on the contrary they are attracted by the possibility of participating in such atrocities.

The strategy put in place is to create a dangerous population of ruthless subjects who do not find a peaceful place in everyday life, a terrorist threat that must survive even the eventual destruction of ISIS. In this case we could attend the operations of volunteer individuals who put in place suicide missions, events in the style of the London events of 2005 in order to foment chaos in the civilian population or events of a lower style such as breaking into targeted places, as for the more recent events in Paris and Ottawa. A September 11-style attack - destined for other areas than the US - seems unlikely today given the current degree of vigilance of the areas considered at risk.

Some of these subjects migrate to Afghanistan, where ISIS has a florid source, others in the Caucasus, a still uncertain front line with Russia, or in Libya, where it has found fertile ground for new allies.

To date, the defeat of ISIS could turn into a massacre scenario: the Sunnis could in fact react with a massive attack on the West that could be seen as the conqueror, which could generate a revenge. This is the reason why the attack on the terrorist threat in indiscriminate form would be absurd, this is the ratio that must push to continue on the line of the mapping of the subjects considered risky aimed at their capture and inertization. Only later will it be possible to eradicate the terrorist threat at the source.

The ability of Islamic fighters to carry out large-scale terrorist operations may be limited, but their intentions are not. The prospect of the capacity for violent actions is a strong attraction for a terrorist group and ISIS has established its cornerstone in the brutality and brutality of the actions.