Are you able to give us a very brief synopsis?
unedited transcript of CNNi interview with Laura Mansfield:
Colleen McEdwards:
Well, British authorities said that they foiled a bomb plot, an al Qaeda-linked plan to blow up trans-Atlantic flights, and 23 British Muslim suspects are in custody.
We are joined now by Laura Mansfield. She is a terrorism expert who monitors Islamic message boards on the internet, and has also published a translation of writings of Al Qaeda's number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri. She joins us now to talk more about the global terror threat.
And I want to start - - welcome Laura - - I want to start by just going over some of the interesting stuff that you have pulled off the internet and you are obviously very busy these days. But there was a very curious reference to this Rakan Bin Willyamz. What's this all about?
Laura:
Well, Rakan Bin Willyamz first made his appearance on the jihadi message boards last November in a post through the Global Islamic Media Front which is one of the mailing lists that Al Qaeda puts out. The general consensus of most analysts was that Rakan Bin Willyamz was a prototype al Qaeda soldier. He was what the next generation of terrorists was supposed to look like.
Now, in going back after the London bombings were thwarted last week, we realized, Jill St. Claire and I noticed that they were using the plural instead of the singular. It wasn't "he", it was "they", and we started looking at more and more of the posts, and it's apparent that this is either referring to either a group, or possibly a cell, or possibly even the operation itself which is kind of a different way of looking at it.
Colleen:
Does anyone agree with you?
Laura:
No one has contacted me to tell me they disagree, so it's hard to say.
Colleen:
This is your own theory
Laura:
This is my theory.
Colleen
So if . . . if this indeed symbolizes a cell, or a group, how serious is this do you think?
Laura:
Well, I think we have to take what the Rakan Bin Willyamz posts say seriously because what it does is that it describes the individuals who will carry out the next terror attacks on America and Europe and they describe him, or the individuals who will be responsible, as being European or American they will have been raised in the US or in Europe. They have gone to their schools. They basically give the appearance of being fully assimilated into the European or American society, which makes them a threat because you cant profile them.
Colleen:
And this is of course what we are talking about when we talk about "homegrown" terrorism.
Laura:
Exactly.
Colleen:
How much more difficult is this type of cell than one that's based in Pakistan or wherever else?
Laura:
Well, the risk . . . the problem with these types of cells is first of all, if they don't appear to be . . . they aren't attracting attention from looking foreign, acting foreign, you know, acting like they don't fit in, if these guys fit in very well into Western society, then they are not going to attract as much attention. They're going to be harder to detect. Also, if they're not traveling back and forth to the Middle East or to Pakistan . . . what gave away this plot to a large degree last week was the money transfers to and from Pakistan, and several of the plotters had allegedly made trips to Pakistan.
Colleen:
What in the postings that you've seen referring to this Rakan Bin Willyamz . . . what's there for you in terms of the attitude issue because a lot of people wonder, you know, how it is that people who grow up in western cultures . . . many of them . . . and you know, as a member of Al Qaeda and actually executing terror plots.
Laura:
What it tells me is that the individuals who are going in this direction are people who are in many cases . . well the theory says in many cases they are supposed to be disaffected, perhaps they are impoverished, perhaps they cant find employment . . . now that doesn't really fit with the profiles they pulled out of the UK. They are middle class. So we are going to have go back and we are going to have to revisit these profiles of what makes a terrorist. Perhaps it's not about not being able to find a job. Perhaps it is something else.
Colleen:
How does Al Qaeda do it? I mean, what's there for a middle class young person in Britain?
Laura:
One of the basic human needs is a need to belong . . . a feeling of being a part of something and Al Qaeda and radical Islam in general reaches out to individuals. They embrace them. They make them feel a part of the community. And that's a basic human need that is universal.
Colleen:
You see that in the web traffic that you read?
Laura:
Yes.