Where do Homegrown British Suicide Bombers Come From?

By Evan Kohlmann

Related: Spokesman for UK Cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed Endorses Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as "Brilliant" (audio)

In early July 2002, while conducting research in London with a longtime colleague (Tamar Tesler of the Investigative Project), I explored the back streets of northeast London--literally in a search for jihad.  At the time, I needed to better understand why so many young British men were joining the ranks of Islamic militant organizations around the world and eagerly volunteering their lives for the suicidal cause of Al-Qaida leader Usama Bin Laden. 

At a local community center not far from the Bethnal Green Underground station, I found exactly the answers I was looking for.  After having attended a series of events hosted by the fanatical British Al-Muhajiroun movement and its leader Shaykh Omar Bakri Mohammed, we had finally received an invitation to a more intimate gathering of local militants.  Under the auspices of the "Bangladeshi Society of London Guildhall University," several Al-Muhajiroun acolytes had independently organized their own discussion group titled, "Islam vs. the Satanic World Order."  According to a flyer from the event, the talk was aimed at highlighting "why Islam declares war against the Satanic World Order of Bush and Blair... Find out who will win the battle between Islam and The Satanic World Order."

Needless to say, I was a bit shocked and dismayed when we arrived at the community center that afternoon to discover an audience of approximately twenty young British kids of Bengali origin mostly between the ages of 12 and 20.  My heart sank as I realized that any hope of maintaining anonymity in this utterly homogeneous crowd was quickly dashed.  In the end, I suspect we were only allowed to stay because the organizers recognized us as recent guests of Shaykh Omar Bakri Mohammed and thought us fairly harmless. 

After several minutes of introduction, the main speaker at the event--a twenty-something Briton named "Faisal"--took to the podium, and wasted no time in launching a series of ranting tirades against Jews, freemasons, and Americans who, according to Faisal, are "all working against Islam... They're fighting against the truth."  Faisal then continued:

"There is a war, a major war going on... Millions of people are going to die.  This is not the beginning of it.  Millions of people are going to die... Allah has given us an opportunity.  Allah has created people like Usama Bin Laden... how much are you going to worship [Allah]?  How much are you going to fight in [his cause] with your money, with your body, how much are you going to do it?  ...It's so clear that, you know, you can live your life, fight, and die either in the cause of Allah or else in the cause of Satan... There are secularists who say Islam is a peaceful religion.  They want you to say, 'Yes, we�re all getting slaughtered now, but we�re so peaceful, we�re going to sit here with our hands tied behind our backs and do nothing'... No, Islam is not that peaceful.  Islam says at that point we kill them... In Palestine, both the women and the men are occupying our land... [they are] a legitimate target... you can kill them, it is not a problem.  "

When pressed on his point about Palestine, Faisal reiterated several times, "that's all occupied Muslim land.  Every single part of it is Muslim land and it all has to be taken back by force... yes, the women have to be targeted... in Israel, we're going to target the women... if the children get killed, the Jewish children, [you can only] blame yourselves" for living on occupied land.

Perhaps what disturbed me the most about Faisal's desperate words was searching around the room and seeing dozens of eyes diligently trained on him--the eyes of young, impressionable Muslim kids.  It is common in this modern era for Western youths (of all backgrounds) to worship popular rock stars or Hollywood actors and aspire to become them.  Yet, for many years, the radical religious fringe has preached a consistent countermessage to young Muslims: "by virtue of your heritage alone, you are different from your peers and 'we love death as they love life.'"  A minority of these youths have been raised to idolize Usama Bin Laden and Mohammed Atta in the same way that many Americans follow Johnny Depp and Bruce Springsteen.  With disastrous "Muslim wars" ongoing in Iraq and Afghanistan, some of those brainwashed into following Al-Qaida now see a unique opportunity for themselves to step forward from obscurity and become famous, heroic "martyrs" of the Islamic nation, much like the 9/11 hijackers.  Let noone be mistaken: the deluded suicide bombers responsible for the carnage on 7/7 are far from alone.  The age of the "human cruise missile" is now fully upon us and it is likely only a matter of time before this problem crosses the Atlantic and reaches the shores of the American homeland.

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