Douglas McAuthur McCain: What was lure of Islamic State for him 鈥� and others?
Douglas McAuthur McCain, who was killed while battling rebel forces in a Syrian suburb, made it clear on social media that he found camaraderie and a sense of conviction in the Islamic State.
Douglas McAuthur McCain, who was killed while battling rebel forces in a Syrian suburb, made it clear on social media that he found camaraderie and a sense of conviction in the Islamic State.
Top US intelligence officials have been warning for years about the threat of 鈥渉ome-grown violent extremists,鈥� or HVEs in their shorthand lingo.
These are typically young Americans, they say, who may feel like outcasts in their own communities but find comfort and purpose in a greater cause 鈥� such as, say, violent jihad 鈥� often through the Internet.
Minnesota resident Douglas McAuthur McCain, who was killed while battling rebel forces in a Syrian suburb, posted Facebook entries and tweets making it clear that he found camaraderie and a sense of conviction in the Islamic State, also known as IS or ISIS.
鈥淚鈥檓 with brothers now,鈥� he tweeted in June from Syria, according to NBC News. 鈥淚t takes a warrior to understand a warrior. Pray for ISIS.鈥�
Born in Illinois and raised in Minnesota鈥檚 Twin Cities area, Mr. McCain is 鈥渁bsolutely the next iteration of the home-grown terrorist threat,鈥� says Matthew Levitt, director of the Washington Institute鈥檚 Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence.
鈥淭hese home-grown violent extremists are people who keep me up at night,鈥� Attorney General Eric Holder warned in July. 鈥淭rying to monitor them, trying to anticipate what it is they are going to do.鈥�
In the case of McCain and others, they may 鈥済o over as disaffected young men and come back having forged networks and training 鈥� as well as battlefield experience,鈥� says Michael Singh, former senior director for Middle East affairs at the National Security Council, who is now also at the Washington Institute.
An estimated 300 Americans have gone to fight 鈥� or attempted to go and fight 鈥� in the region, according US intelligence officials. In July, an American from Florida, Moner Mohammad Abusalha, carried out a suicide attack in Syria on behalf of Jabhat al-Nusra, which the United States has labeled a terrorist organization.聽
With the war in Syria, 鈥渢he foreign fighter phenomenon continues to grow,鈥� says Dr. Levitt, who adds that the conflict has drawn far more foreign fighters than Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq, or Afghanistan.
The process of recruiting foreign fighters 鈥� specifically, the ways in which IS reaches out to Americans 鈥� is also troubling to US intelligence officials.
鈥淚S is the sexiest jihadi group on the block right now, and also the most prominent on social media,鈥� Levitt says.
This in turn has helped the group reach out to Americans far more effectively. As a result, 鈥淥ur concern is that the radicalization process has sped up so significantly: The timeline is so much shorter, and it鈥檚 much harder to identify them in time.鈥�
Before Syria, potential recruits had to be radicalized to the point where they were willing to carry out violent jihad. 鈥淣ow, with Syria, all you have to do is convince them to defend innocent Sunni women and children against the butcher [Syrian leader Bashar al] Assad, or to go help create the idyllic Islamic state,鈥� Levitt says.
Recently, Levitt says, he met with European intelligence officials who 鈥渏ust had a bunch of 15-year-olds who went for a little jihadi spring break. The ease of travel is so significant in terms of going to Turkey and then south.鈥�
From there, he adds, 鈥淭hey can get radicalized very quickly.鈥�
More troubling, as they return to America, they may decide to carry out attacks 鈥渁t the behest of others. Or, scarier still 鈥� because they don鈥檛 send e-mails, make phone calls, or trigger other electronic tripwires,鈥� Levitt notes, 鈥渢hey decide to do things on their own.鈥�