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Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
Did any of ya'll hear this interview this morning on NPR with Evan Kohlman? It's about an American guy who showed up on an Al Qaeda video recently trying to recruit other Americans to convert to Islam and join up the cause. Kohlman basically gave a background on this guy. Raised Christian to a Christian mother and a formerly Jewish father on a goat farm in Fresno, alarmed his parents with too much heavy metal music, so sent to live with Grandma in LA. Grandma had internet access, and the guy trolls the web and ends up becoming fascinated with Fundamentalist Islam. Kohlman says this guy isn't particularly charismatic, so it's unlikely that he'll do much in the way of recruiting, but it's possible that there are others out there like him. He apparently was entirely brought into Islam and Al Qaeda while he was living in the US.
He sorta sounds a lot like John Walker Lindh. No real cultural or ethnic reason that he should be drawn into Al Qaeda, but somehow he is. I sorta got the impression listening to the radio that this guy could have easily been those assholes from Columbine High School if they hadn't ended up shooting themselves. American al Qaeda (that I've heard of) seem different than the homegrown terrorist types in the UK. These guys seem like lost loners looking for a way to be shocking.
Anyhow, I thought that the interview was interesting.
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The American recruits differ from the UK recruits in the sense that they did not necesarily have an existing support network of radical muslims to seek out. However, they are exactly like all of the radicals in that they are drawn to an extreme position because they feel frustrated and impotent with their life as it is. Engaging in terrorist activity allows them to force the world to pay attention. It's a mindset that is very close to the boys at Columbine and other spree killers.
