England’s blue-eyed jihadi wannabe
Police in West Yorkshire, England, have taken interest in a blond-haired, blue-eyed 12-year-old boy who has been sending around al Qaeda beheading videos. He’s not a religious extremist, they say. He just seems to like guns and violence: [Local constable] Sir Norman described him as an "angelic looking boy" whose police mugshot showed a fair-haired ...
Police in West Yorkshire, England, have taken interest in a blond-haired, blue-eyed 12-year-old boy who has been sending around al Qaeda beheading videos. He's not a religious extremist, they say. He just seems to like guns and violence:
Police in West Yorkshire, England, have taken interest in a blond-haired, blue-eyed 12-year-old boy who has been sending around al Qaeda beheading videos. He’s not a religious extremist, they say. He just seems to like guns and violence:
[Local constable] Sir Norman described him as an "angelic looking boy" whose police mugshot showed a fair-haired child so short that his head was barely in the frame of the camera.
"He is at risk of being a violent young man and a threat to society," the chief constable said.
"He is not a Muslim. He is not driven by ideology – he is too young to spell the word.
"But he is being influenced and intoxicated by the imagery and appeal of Jihadist and other internet violence."
It’s hard to tell from the Telegraph’s story just how serious a threat this little boy poses. At age 12, I was probably doing some stupid stuff, too. Nonetheless, it seems the bobbies in West Yorkshire have taken Malcom Nance’s warning to heart, which is good news:
So what will the next wave of terrorists look like? In short, a lot like you and me. Al Qaeda in Iraq has already pioneered the use of Caucasians and Africans. European passport holders, mostly immigrants and the children of immigrants, are a fast-growing part of the terrorist rank and file. From Baghdad to Glasgow, Madrid, and Mumbai, trend lines indicate that "clean-skin" operatives—both men and women with no history of trouble or violence—will serve as the new terrorist foot soldiers. And, most frighteningly, many will probably be Americans.
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