http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/07/world/isis-western-draw/
Oct 7, 2014
Why is ISIS so successful at luring Westerners?
The recruits are often young — sometimes disillusioned teenagers trying to find purpose and make their mark.
For many, it boils down to a lack of a sense of identity or belonging, Barrett said.
“The general picture provided by foreign fighters of their lives in Syria suggests camaraderie, good morale and purposeful activity, all mixed in with a sense of understated heroism, designed to attract their friends as well as to boost their own self-esteem,” he wrote.
And some are drawn by the desire to die as a martyr who would enjoy a sumptuous afterlife if they die fighting the “infidel” enemy......
.......it’s the extremist groups like ISIS that attract the most foreign fighters, Barrett wrote.
“They tend to be more inclusive, better organized and better financed than their more moderate counterparts,” he said. “They also tend to be more assertive and have more of an impact on the battlefield, and so enjoy greater local standing, which makes them still more attractive to foreign fighters looking to make their own impact.”
UK authorities believe at least 500 British citizens have gone to Iraq and Syria, many of them to fight with ISIS and other Islamist groups.
French authorities estimate more than 700 people have traveled from France to fight in Syria, according to Barrett.
On Sunday, FBI Director James Comey told CBS’ “60 Minutes” that his agency is tracking a dozen Americans that have joined terrorist groups in Syria.......
Bill Gertz - Oct 7, 2014: “.............The administration’s so-called soft power approach to countering Islamist terrorism also appeared to have difficulty with clearly defining the religious doctrine behind the ideology of the resurgent al Qaeda offshoot now rampaging its way across Iraq and Syria.
Obama stated in a speech on Sept. 10 that ISIL is “not Islamic” despite the group’s use of a fundamental Islamic precept of jihad, or holy war, in expanding its reach and imposing anti-democratic, hardline Islamic sharia law in areas it now controls.
Analysts and statements by the president and other administration spokesmen also indicate the administration may not clearly understand ISIL ideology, a required first step in developing a counter to it.
Sebastian Gorka, a counterterrorism specialist, said the major problem for the administration in countering ISIL ideology is that most senior officials hold “post-modern” and “secular” views.
“As a result, they have almost no ability to understand the drivers of violent terrorists which are religious,” said Gorka, the Horner chairman of military theory at the Marine Corps University.
“When you don’t take religion seriously, it’s almost impossible for you to comprehend the philosophy of a suicide bomber, or someone who cuts off the heads of people in the name of jihad,” Gorka said.
Senior State Department officials have expressed the view that ideology plays no role in Islamist terror and is spawned instead by “local grievances” such as poverty or other economic and social privation, Gorka said. “That is utterly fallacious. If that were true, half of India would be terrorists,” he said............
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/surrender-in-the-war-of-ideas/