<http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/issuesideas/story.html?id=dc76d8e9- 0dd8-4237-b694-87416910f8b8> http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/issuesideas/story.html?id=dc76d8e9-0 dd8-4237-b694-87416910f8b8 How jihad starts Thomas Quiggin National Post Tuesday, June 06, 2006 <http://media.canada.com/idl/ntnp/20060606/92650-32472.jpg?size=l> CREDIT: Robert Nickelsberg, Getty Images Ahmed Said Khad Canada is afflicted by a sense of denial when it comes to terrorism. We like to think we are safe -- yet some of the world's most infamous terrorists have operated in Canada for years. Ahmed Said Khadr was a key founding member of al-Qaeda, running an extensive fundraising network and receiving money from the Canadian government. Abdullah Khadr's life story reads like a Tom Clancy novel gone bad, with forays into al-Qaeda, Guantanamo Bay and the Bosnian jihadist community. Fateh Kamel's Montreal-based operation is regarded in some studies as an example of how to run a terrorist network, and included other notables such as Abdallah Ouzghar, Mokhtar Haouari, Noureddine Saidi and Ahmed Ressam, who before 9/11 nearly changed the course of history with a plot to blow up part of the Los Angeles airport. Other examples abound. Jamaat Al Fuqra's attempt to blow up a theatre and temple in Toronto seems to have passed unnoticed, even though a lengthy jail sentence resulted. The crash of Air-India Flight 182 in 1985 made Canada the world leader for most deaths in an aviation terrorist event until 2001. A bombmaking cell -- one of whose members was alleged to have studied his craft at the infamous al-Qaeda Khaldun camp in Afghanistan --had its members deported from Toronto in 2004. To all this, add Friday's arrests. And remember: This is only a short list. The domestic response to this growing problem has been limited. What is needed is a candid evaluation of how Canadian residents are converted into jihadists, and what we can do about it. For instance, most Canadians do not know that our country's international forays are habitually twisted by jihadists to woo support within local Muslim communities. While our peacekeeping role in Bosnia is generally seen as benign, for instance, jihadists push the message that Canada's humanitarian intervention in the Balkans was motivated by a desire to oppress the region's Muslims. And of course, similar claims have been circulated in regard to our recent operations in Afghanistan. Adding fuel to the fire are the sophisticated jihadist communications that transcend borders. At the time of the 9/11 attacks, al-Qaeda had only one main Web site (www.alneda.com). Since then, the movement has had a direct presence on more than 50 sites. The main message is that violent jihad is the only way to ensure the end of Western oppression against Muslims. In addition to the blogs and chat rooms, there are also recruiting videos, training materials and films of operations being carried out by jihadists. Canadian jihadis have little trouble accessing any of this material. The jihadist message now appears to be aimed at younger audiences as well. Videos feature high-end graphics, game sequences and hip-hop style music. This mix of violent messages has been attractive to a younger set of second- and third-generation immigrants to Western countries, as well as some newly arrived individuals. The ability to instantly communicate with one another provides such groups with a sense of belonging. Who are the individuals inspired by the message of violent jihad? Most are perceived in their communities as having had normal upbringings. (Certainly, that is the case with the 17 boys and men arrested on Friday.) They are not insane by any measurable standard, and most are neither poor nor oppressed. They tend to be educated, many with a post-secondary education. Most of them likely will not have been deeply religious during their upbringing. They generally come to religion in their late teens and early twenties, and their so-called "religious education" is usually nothing but cherry-picked Koranic statements heavily laced with poisonous jihadist messages that bear little resemblance to the actual message of Islam. (Even the majority of non-jihadi Salafists, noted for their desire to return to an austere version of early Islam, mock the simplistic jihadist message and its militant adherents in public forums.) What binds the jihadists is a sense of a global community, based on the common message of Muslim oppression and suffering. The sense of frustration and anger they feel is real. And they are highly susceptible to messages that instruct them on how to apply their rage. Whatever Western soldiers are doing in Afghanistan and other fronts in the "war on terror," little is being done here at home to help us actually understand the jihadist message and counter it. There is no "hearts and minds" campaign to counter the wave of violent messages. It is well and good that an alleged Ontario-based terror cell has been broken up. But our problems with jihadists will only mount if we don't start dealing more directly with them here on the home front. No one got hurt this time. Next time, we might not be so lucky. - Thomas Quiggin is a former RCMP expert on jihadism who now works in Singapore. C National Post 2006 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> See what's inside the new Yahoo! 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