Why Some Terrorists Make the Choice to Leave al Qaeda
Learning what drives militants away could help officials fight the terrorist group, a new paper says
When it comes to exploring why people join the ranks of the al Qaeda terrorist network, scholars and intelligence officials have offered a host of possible motivators, ranging from the disenfranchisement of a particular tribe or sect to more general humiliation, marginalization, and alienation from society.
But what prompts a terrorist to quit an organization like al Qaeda?
For L'Houssaine Khertchou, it was $500. The Moroccan, who joined al Qaeda in 1991 and later trained to become Osama bin Laden's personal pilot, eventually turned in his al Qaeda membership card when a bin Laden aide refused to cover the cost of his wife's cesarean section. After another financial dispute, Khertchou had had enough. "If I had a gun, I would have shot [bin Laden] at that time," he later testified.
Learning the answers to why some terrorists abandon their brethren, says one terrorism expert, is critical to understanding the "radicalization cycle."
The failure of the terrorist group to provide for its members, for instance, or a failure to meet the expectations of recruits might be key to splintering cells from the inside. "It appears that terrorist cell members who maintain contact with friends and family outside the organization are more likely to withdraw," terrorism expert Michael Jacobson writes in an upcoming paper published in the journal of the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. "Perhaps in part in recognition of this, [9/11 hijacker Mohamed] Atta had forbidden the 18 other hijackers in the United States from contacting their families to say goodbye."
Terrorists' frequent lack of respect for their commanders also poses intriguing opportunities for counterterrorism officials.
Noman Benotman, who ran a Libyan terrorist group attempting to overthrow Muammar Qadhafi, broke with bin Laden in 2000 over the direction of the global jihadist movement. In fact, Benotman claims to have urged bin Laden to abandon international terrorism altogether.
It is unclear how many members of al Qaeda (or other terrorist groups) have quit, but the answer could help in the fight against terrorism.
Jacobson, a senior fellow with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy's Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence who was one of the investigators for the 9/11 Commission, says that exploring the motivation for terrorists leaving groups like al Qaeda is just as critical as understanding why they join in the first place. "Until all aspects of the radicalization cycle are better understood, including those who have left the terrorists' fold, it will be difficult to develop an effective strategy to defeat the al Qaeda movement and its ideology," he says.
Reader Comments
Best way to fight teror is to help their families
While corruption in government encourage normal people to
Become supporters of Al Qaeda and Taliban, love and affection
And care for the families of terrorist may cause the family
to convince the terrorist to abandon his actions of killing
Innocent people. Example, I had an attorney as my assistant
He did his best to destroy me, but I continued returning good
for evil, after few years he repented and confessed what he
was doing. It is difficult to harm those who are constantly
Helping you and your families.
Show them the beneffits of love firt, If they refuse, show
Them the stick, if unrrepentive, then use the only option
Abailable
counterterrorism
As i read and understand from this article about Noman Benotman, who ran a Libyan fighting group attempting to overthrow Muammar Qadhafi, split with bin Laden in 2000 over the direction of the global jihadist movement. Benotman claims to have urged bin Laden to abandon international terrorism altogether. We need more like Noman Benotman in this world, The united states and the UK, should support people like Noman Benotman, becous they Know how Alqada thinks and moves, I realy think that Noman Benotman, should be a commander in counterterrorism.
Alkajda
"The problem is not that a computer network [Internet] offers an alternative to the information aristocracy. The true crisis is that neither the news media nor the government has enough credibility to be accepted as either truthful or impartial on their own."
military writer William M. Arkin
Alkajda was created in New York when tehy try use "mobster"law to prosecute action toward WTC in 1993.Aladin did not found Alkajda and he even did not know is exist until Aladin read it from newspaper and he was surprise he was named as leader.
Still he is fighting most powerfull military earth ever seen from his cave in mountain.In times when satelites control us as never before,when NYPD use for surveilance Fuji aircraft,in times when every single phone call,email,chat,googling etc is collected...Aladin need no eat.No heat,no guns,no conection with his staff.And there is nobody,who like those milions of $$$ for Death or Alive.Even those poor on Pakistan-Afghanistan border.There do not operate thousands undercover guys(To help hide Aladin?)who says they looking for him.There is not Dog bountyhunta,no US Marshalls like....
"The Middle East is center of the world's energy resources... That's been an axiom of U.S. foreign policy, that it must control Middle East energy resources. It is not a matter of access ... the issue has always been control. Control is the source of strategic power."
Noam Chomsky
"fascism - A system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with belligerent nationalism."
The American Heritage Dictionary, 1983
advertisement
