More Homegrown Jihadis-A Strength and a Weakness
By Douglas Farah
It is interesting to note that two of the three suspects arrested in Germany for a possible plot were homegrown jihadists, not foreigners.
This points to the growing trend before toward self-starting individuals who feel they must act on behalf of al Qaeda, without necessarily ever coming into contact with the mother ship of the organization.
These self-starting groups that come from within their own population are far harder to detect that foreigners who may stand out.
Being converts, they are often more radical than the local population, either because they were recruited in a radical environment, they feel the need to prove they are worthy of their new religion, or any number of reasons.
The arrests also highlight the dangers posed by websites, often in the United States, that offer instruction in how to wage individual strikes against high-profile targets. These sites provide not only instructions but also motivational messages to encourage the person to act. My full blog is here.
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