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The Guardian: Islamist fighters drawn from half the world's countries, says UN
Report says there are more than 25,000 ‘foreign terrorist fighters’ from 100 countries in jihadi conflicts, who pose an ‘immediate and long-term threat’
More than half the countries in the world are currently generating Islamist extremist fighters for groups such as al-Qaida and Islamic State, the UN has said.
A report by the UN security council says there are more than 25,000 “foreign terrorist fighters” currently involved in jihadi conflicts and they are “travelling from more than 100 member states”.
The number of fighters may have increased by more than 70% worldwide in the past nine months or so, the report says, adding that they “pose an “immediate and long-term [terrorist] threat”.
Update: Legion of Foreign Fighters Battles for Islamic State -- AP
WNU Editor: The UN report is very blunt in its assessment .... “Those who eat together and bond together can bomb together”. On a personal note .... I live in Montreal and only last week 10 teens suspected of wanting to join Islamic State fighters in the Middle East were stopped at the airport by the RCMP .... RCMP anti-terror unit stopped Montreal teens heading to Middle East (CTV). And earlier this year, six teens and young adults left Montreal and are believed to be fighting in the Middle East. These are just kids .... some of them young enough to be considered as child soldiers .... but it appears that they are young enough to want to kill. This is a growing problem .... and if kids in Montreal from well to do families can be easily radicalized to want to go to the Middle East and commit murder and mayhem .... we clearly have a huge problem.
There are no "child soldiers" who volunteer.
ReplyDeleteGood point James. It is just that I live in Montreal .... and I know how incredibly lucky the people who live here are. But to see many teenagers willing to throw it away and commit murder and mayhem in a foreign country .... it baffles my mind.
ReplyDeleteI have been sitting in front of my computer for the past 10 minutes trying to figure out what to say ... and for the first time ever in this blog .... I have no idea on what to say or what to point out. Yes .... after reading this story your humble editor is speechless.
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Whether we like what's happening or not ..
They are a state ..
Right now there seems to be easy pickings. A bit of sign up money, a monthly stipend and the ability to kill with relative impunity is quite an attraction for the extremists and perhaps lost souls in our midst. Eventually though as the need increases and the supply becomes less the price will go up of course and the next level of not so extreme, but still extreme will be tapped and so on. It's all market driven.
ReplyDeleteSay how much was the sign up bonus in the US, where religious extremism is replaced with patriotic extremism, during the Iraq war?