Volume 45 - No. 23
June 11, 2015
by Dawna Kaufmann
Islamic extremists are using slick and well-produced videos and social media to attract American youths to join their jihad movement -- and declare war against their U.S. homeland.
A recent report by the Office of National Intelligence estimates that 180 American young people have traveled or tried to travel to radical outposts in the Middle East. The chosen youths are usually in their teens or early 20s, and approached over the Internet via sites like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Skype, Sharespot and Kik.
Recruiters, generally using aliases and masked IDs, lure the kids with the promise of adventure and a better life. They encourage the youths to travel on a one-way ticket to locations like Turkey, where they will be met and brought to antiAmerican terror camps in Syria or Iraq. The innocent tourists soon have their passports and communication devices taken away and learn that they'll be trained to fight for radical Muslim beliefs, including plotting the destruction of the USA and Israel. Anyone who seeks to return to the states is out of luck. If the kids make it to their wartorn destinations, they'll be forced to fight or die. But if the FBI intercepts and arrests them first, they'll face federal charges and long prison sentences. In the past 18 months, there have been more than two dozen prosecutions, and currently there are open FBI investigations in all 50 states. "The recruitment of our young people is a growing threat," says renowned forensic psychiatrist Michael Welner in an exclusive interview for The Paper.
"Radical Muslims have become adept at reaching our young people in the most modern methods possible through the most trendy social media, in English, and with the music and language of their generation. They pull in idealistic Americans who are at the point in their lives where they are open to adventure and want a sense of belonging to something greater than themThe Paper - 760.747.7119
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selves, and are devout in their faith."
Dr. Welner explains that the process doesn't happen overnight: "There's a period of grooming where the recruiter befriends the target, and over weeks or months, the messages sent back and forth create an attachment to a stranger and a cause. The trick is to get the child wrapped up enough to leave the everyday behind.
"The American kids may eventually be told they'll be trained with weapons to defend Islamic freedoms, but the reality is they're joining a movement
whose sole purpose is impose sharia law, which mandates that they be prepared, in accordance with tradition, to shoot, behead or stone to death any "apostate" who doesn't share their beliefs -- including other Muslims."
Once a recruit enters a jihadist camp, they're trained to use automatic weapons and knives, and often fitted with suicide bomber vests. "The recruits are viewed as expendable cannon fodder and, because they are American, are props for further recruitment," says Welner, who has lectured
on the subject to law enforcement and the public.
"The kids are trained that death is a prelude to the pleasures of Paradise, which for males includes a reward of female virgins. Male suicide bombers have been known to not put the explosives near their genital area, thinking they'll still have their equipment in the afterlife." Radical recruiters don't discriminate about who they try to tempt to their side. Males are invited for the purpose of becoming warriors, while females are told they'll serve as nurses or brides for the men.
ISIS Recruiters Want YOUR Kids Continued on Page 2