Posted on 09/15/2007 4:31:40 AM PDT by shrinkermd
BERLIN -- Religious converts are playing an increasingly influential role in Islamic militant networks, having transformed themselves in recent years from curiosities to key players in terrorist cells in Europe, according to counterterrorism officials and analysts...
...The number of converts, it seems, is definitely on the rise," said Michael Taarnby, a terrorism researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies. "We've reached a point where I think al-Qaeda and other groups recognize the value of converts, not just from an operational viewpoint but from a cultural one as well."
Religious converts are sometimes more prone to radicalization because of their zeal to prove their newfound faith, analysts said. They are also less likely to attract police scrutiny in Europe, where investigators often rely on outdated demographic profiles in terrorism cases.
Converts are a tiny subset of the Muslim population in Europe, but their numbers are growing in some countries. In Germany, government officials estimated that 4,000 people converted to Islam last year, compared with an annual average of 300 in the late 1990s. Less than 1 percent of Germany's 3.3 million Muslims are converts.
...The trend is not limited to Europe. In Florida, U.S. citizen and convert Jose Padilla was convicted last month on conspiracy charges for participating in an al-Qaeda support cell. In March, David M. Hicks, an Australian convert, became the first prisoner at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to be convicted on terrorism charges.
Converts have joined militant groups, including al-Qaeda, for years. Wadih el-Hage, a Lebanese Christian who converted to Islam and became a U.S. citizen, served as an aide to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the 1990s and was convicted for his role in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
If only 1% of the Muslims in Germany are converts, the "outdated demographic profiles" used for terrorism cases would be appear to have some life left in them.
It is a Pagan Death Cult.
Maybe after the EU is Islamic the left will get behind the war.
I’ve had a few conversations with Muslim converts from western nations on the internet. This has led me to a hypothesis.
It would seem that violent prone mentally unstable people with anti social criminal tendencies prefer to think of themselves as pious and religious instead of dangerous and crazy.
Thus it is that violent prone mentally unstable people with anti social criminal tendencies prefer to convert to Islam rather than admit to themselves what they are really.
On the flip side, I wonder how many of these “converts” are actually Western intelligence agents? By having to rely on Westerners to carry out these attacks, these groups are opening themselves up to massive infiltration.
A lot of these westerners in name only were taught to hate Western civilization. They are violence-prone and good followers. Their great hope used to be communism. But Islamofascism is also an attractive way for such people to belong to a radical mass movement and channel their hate. You will notice that such converts do not become “moderate” Muslims, whatever that means. No, they convert one day and are building bombs the next, eager to prove that they are more pure and radical than OBL himself. Besides, Islamofascism promises them an eternity in Paradise raping children. What Marx and Lenin offer these savages pales in comparison, so we will see an explosion of Islamofascist converts (pun intended).
LOL... What’s that they say a picture is worth in words? Thanks, for the laugh and the pic.
I've long thought that even the muslim-born jihadists are sociopaths for whom the main attraction of Islam is that it gives them the opportunity to commit murder and mayhem while using religion as psychological cover for their insanity.
Well, that's what it did for Mohammed. It also permitted him to redefine his tribal (Arab) history of robbery and looting as a spiritual quest.
Sounds like a good way to get plants into the cells.
“Thus it is that violent prone mentally unstable people with anti social criminal tendencies prefer to convert to Islam rather than admit to themselves what they are really.”
Makes me wonder why our government allows Saudi Arabia to send “missionaries” to our prisons.....
“The Sun Is Rising In The West” bump
valid point...
A crazy person will easily blend into the Muslim landscape.
The history of humanity is peppered with groups that have been built on hatred and death. Islam is just another one. Islam should be treated like the other groups I mention above. Destroyed.
Very good point. Especially if the 'converts' claim they were previously members of some European terrorist organizations, like Red Army Faction, Baader Meinhoff Gang, or some others from the 70's and 80's, or were allied with them in some way.
There is no doubt that Islam attracts pathological personalities and those that despise Western culture; however, I suspect that the lack of any spiritual foundation for most of European society attracts a significant number of people to Islam. People need more than the hedonistic philosophy of European society. Many are looking for something to believe in.
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