What Makes a Young Person Embrace Death and Murder? Former Jihadists Speak Out

Want to understand how a Jihadi thinks? Here is an excellent in-depth article from one of the premiere progressive news sources in America.

What Makes a Young Person Embrace Death and Murder? Former Jihadists Speak Out | World | AlterNet:

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So when he was 13, he joined an Islamic fundamentalist organisation called Jimas. At big sociable conferences every weekend, they were told: you don't feel at home in Britain, but you can't go "home" to a country you have never visited. So we have a third identity for you – a pan-national Islamism that knows no boundaries and can envelop you entirely.

It sounds familiar. This is the identity I hear shouted by young Islamists throughout the East End: I might sound like you, but I am nothing like you. I am Other. I belong elsewhere – in a place that does not yet exist, but that I will create, with my fists and my fury.

Jimas told their members they were part of a persecuted billion, being blown up and locked down across the world. "It was a bit like a gang," he says. "And we had a strong sense of being under siege. It was all a conspiracy against Islam, and we were the guardians of Islam. That's how we saw ourselves ... A lot of my friends would wear the army boots, and carry knives." I realise now that for a nebbish intellectual boy, it must have felt intoxicating to be told he was part of a military movement that would inevitably conquer history.

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95 killed on Iraq's deadliest day since U.S. handover

Al Qaeda WANTS the US to stay in Iraq and remain targets. They know blowing up Iraqis will not help them in the long run unless they can spark the Shia-Sunni war they've so far failed to do.

A series of bombings rocked Iraq's capital within one hour Wednesday, killing at least 95 people and wounding 563 others, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said.

The six explosions marked the country's deadliest day since the United States pulled its combat troops from Iraqi cities and towns nearly two months ago.

In one attack, a truck bomb exploded outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, damaging the building. Another truck bomb went off outside the Ministry of Finance building.

Near the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Iraqi security forces stood with shocked expressions as ambulances screamed past.

In central Baghdad, a roadside bomb exploded on Kifa Street, and another bomb exploded in the Salhiya neighborhood, where on Tuesday security forces had avoided injuries by successfully defusing a truck bomb. Wednesday's other two bombs exploded in eastern Baghdad's Beirut Square, officials said.

Two people believed to be connected to the bombings have been arrested, an official with the Iraqi army told CNN.

The two suspects were driving in a car rigged with explosives before they were arrested by Iraqi Security Forces, the official said.

The two suspects were believed to be al Qaeda in Iraq senior leaders, the official said.

via 95 killed on Iraq's deadliest day since U.S. handover - CNN.com.