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Exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts

Turning students into terrorists: Jihadists recruit young Muslims in European cities

Nov 9, 2004 6:37 am By Robert Spencer

I have spent a lot of time trying to explain how jihadists recruit; this is a little-examined field that actually reveals a great deal about the sources and goals of the international jihad. Here is more evidence from AP () that recruiters play on the Islamic loyalties and sensibilities of those they are trying to recruit “” a fact that presents severe difficulties for anyone who believes that the jihadists are twisting and hijacking the religion:

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — Two years before he allegedly killed a Dutch filmmaker in the name of radical Islam, Mohammed Bouyeri volunteered at his local community center and was a promising member of the second generation of Moroccan immigrants to the Netherlands.

His transformation from student to purported jihadi terrorist fits a pattern of young Muslims in Europe who are being recruited by Islamic militants — sometimes openly in the streets — and trained to carry out violent attacks against the West.

Local youth who knew Bouyeri, 26, said he became interested in politics after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, but only grew radical after the death of his mother from cancer in fall 2002. He began wearing traditional Muslim dress, grew a beard and attended a mosque where key Sept. 11 hijackers and plotters had reportedly met, including Mohamed Atta….

The article then describes the killing and the note Bouyeri left on van Gogh’s body, although it doesn’t mention the Qur’an references in it.

Bouyeri also carried a will in his pocket written in proper Dutch titled “Baptized in Blood,” urging others to “go for it, and Allah will give you Eden instead of this filthy Earth.”…

Bouyeri has yet to enter a plea to charges including murder and membership in a terrorist criminal organization. There are seven other suspects in the case who face charges of forming a terrorist conspiracy to murder Van Gogh and belonging to a terrorist criminal group.

At the time of the Van Gogh attack, Bouyeri was living with several of the suspects in an apartment where police seized fundamentalist literature and videos. He was not on any terror watch list, though he has been convicted of assault and a violent robbery, police said….

“They may start out as nice boys, but once they go to Afghanistan or wherever for training, then it’s all over,” said a young Muslim woman who grew up in Bouyeri’s neighborhood.

She said she had seen recruiters handing out literature and propaganda openly on the streets and in some mosques. The woman asked not to be named for fear of reprisals….

Meanwhile, the focus has already shifted away from the implications of a Sharia killing on an Amsterdam street:

The case has prompted a backlash with Muslim groups yesterday asking the Dutch government to protect Islamic sites after an elementary school was bombed — the latest incident following Van Gogh’s murder. The powerful, pre-dawn explosion in Eindhoven, about 75 miles south of Amsterdam, caused no injuries but blew out the school’s front doors and scattered glass and debris.

Amsterdam city officials announced round-the-clock police protection for Islamic buildings. Ayhan Tonca, chairman of the Contact Group for Muslims and Government, said he’ll ask today for permanent police protection, camera surveillance and undercover agents to help ensure the safety of Dutch Muslims — about 1 million in a country of 16 million people.

More on recruitment:

After striking up a friendship, militants tell youths that modern mosques are too lax and take them to isolated, sect-like surroundings to convince them that taking part in jihad is a Muslim duty, with martyrdom the highest achievement.

“They watch jihad videos with each other and go to readings, congresses and (Muslim) summer camps. In addition, they participate in Internet chatrooms that discuss jihad and Islamic martyrdom,” the report said.

As the culmination of their training, the young men make a written or recorded statement of farewell to their families — similar to the one found at Bouyeri’s arrest.

Bouyeri graduated from a local high school in 1995, and started college, but never finished. In 2001 he began volunteering at the Eigenwijks neighborhood center. A spokesman for Eigenwijks said Bouyeri quit coming in August 2003 because he was upset that alcohol was served there, and that women mingled with men.

Bouyeri began attending services at the al-Tawhid mosque. There, he befriended Samir Azzouz, 18, who was arrested in the Netherlands in June for allegedly planning to bomb a major Dutch landmark and is now awaiting trial.

Tawhid, which like most Muslim organizations has condemned Van Gogh’s killing, said it was unaware Bouyeri ever attended.

In mid-June 1999, authorities believe, Sept. 11 pilots Mohamed Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi met during a conference on Islamic Puritanism held at Tawhid, along with Ramzi Binalshibh — the man accused of coordinating the attacks on the United States. He’s now under arrest in Pakistan.

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