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Who is a terrorist?

Editor

The age old question of “Who is a terrorist?” (versus a freedom fighter, rebel, dissident, opposition, etc.) is not getting any easier to answer in today’s chaotic world. We have seen the campaign against ISIS/ISIL in Syria take a dramatic turn this month with Russia jumping onto the “War on Terrorism” train and directly getting militarily involved in Syria. This has left the American-Saudi-Qatari-Turkish faction in a bit of a sticky situation. One one hand you have the United States denouncing Russia’s bombing campaign in Syria, Turkey invoking NATO defense clauses and Islamic clerics in Saudi Arabia promoting ‘jihad’ against Russia and Iran. All the while, the Russians seem to be methodically going about the business of taking down the ISIS terrorist positions in Syria – and as for what type of terrorists?

 

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Over 40 killed in Islamic terrorism trifecta

Editor

Terrorists have killed over 40 people today in attacks conducted in France, Tunisia and Kuwait. It is still not clear whether all three attacks from today were related/co-ordinated and if they were all conducted by ISIS, their sympathizers or some other Islamic terrorist groups. But ISIS did play a role and the aftermath of these attacks is being felt around the world.

In France, two men drove a car into the premises of a factory near Lyon and triggered multiple explosions and injured two people. A decapitated head covered in Arabic writing was also pinned to the factory’s gate. One of the Muslim (Salafist) terrorists has reportedly been arrested as French authorities are on the hunt for accomplices.

The Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the bombing of a Shia mosque in Kuwait City which has already claimed 13 victims with another 25 wounded. A suicide bomber (claimed by an ISIS related group to be Abu Suleiman al-Muwahhid) entered the Al-Imam al-Sadeq mosque and created the devastation during Friday prayers.

The third mass terrorist attack of the day came at a sea side tourist resort in Tunisia. Two Islamic terrorists attacked the mostly German and British tourists at two hotels in Sousse and killed 27 as panic struck the resort’s beach and hotels. One of the gunmen is reported to have been killed while the other was still being sought by Tunisian security services.

ISIS has publicly called for its followers to turn Ramadan and into a time of “calamity for the infidels” (Muslims around the world have just recently started celebrating their holy month of Ramadan). While world leaders will give lip service to the horrors from today, many of the countries, their rulers, religious leaders and power brokers that are deeply involved in sustaining this radical Salafist ideology will likely continue to have their complicity swept under the rug.

Deadly terrorist attacks in France, Kuwait and Tunisia

Deadly terrorist attacks in France, Kuwait and Tunisia

The attacks come just days after the Reuters news agency reported that Islamic State leaders had urged its followers  to escalate attacks against Christians, Shi’ites and Sunni Muslims fighting for the U.S.-led coalition against them. (Irish Examiner)

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ISIS owns up to Texas cartoon exhibition attack

Editor

Garland, Texas hosted an exhibition on May 3rd where caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad were on display. Two heavily armed men attempted to attack the Curtis Culwell community center but were killed by a police officer guarding the perimeter of the location. The two terrorist roommates were from Phoenix, Arizona – American Muslim convert Elton Simpson and Pakistani-American Nadir Soofi – and proclaimed loyalty to the Islamic State (IS/ISIS). The fact that two heavily armed terrorists were brought down by a pistol toting Texas cop is either extremely good luck or a testament to law enforcement training. These two terrorists have since been embraced by ISIS as “soldiers of the caliphate” and the terrorist group has promised worse attacks to come.

Two terrorist were killed after trying to attack an exhibition organized by Pamela Geller

Two terrorist were killed after trying to attack an exhibition organized by Pamela Geller

Authorities said roommates Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi of Phoenix were fatally shot by a police officer when they opened fire with assault rifles in a parking lot outside the cartoon exhibit and contest. An unarmed security guard suffered a minor wound.

Court documents showed Simpson had been under federal surveillance since 2006 and was convicted in 2011 of lying to FBI agents about his desire to join violent jihad in Somalia. “I believe that perhaps he might have just snapped when he heard about the cartoon contest,” Kristina Sitton, a Phoenix attorney who defended him in the case, told CNN. Sitton said Simpson had never shown any desire to join violent jihad.

Soofi was a popular student at an elite school in Pakistan but struggled to adjust to life after moving to the United States as a teen, friends said on Tuesday. Soofi’s story appeared to trace a familiar arc for some Western Islamists – disappointment, alienation, and a search for belonging that ended with the embrace of militancy.

The shooting in Garland, an ethnic melting pot in a city of about a quarter million people, was an echo of attacks or threats in other Western countries against images depicting the Prophet Mohammad. (Reuters)

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Female terrorism

Editor

At least within modern history, the face of terrorism has been dominated by males. Women have been part of terrorist organizations, often in supporting roles and sometimes as direct actors when tactically prudent but the perpetrators have almost always been men (though their victims have spanned the sexes and various age groups). But the face of terrorism is changing as more women are making it to the ranks of terrorists. This has become more apparent with the tactics and success of ISIS/ISIL in bringing Muslim men and women from across the world over to the Middle East to fight in their jihad. While the profile of the typical terrorist remains the same, the question of why more women are joining terror organizations was recently tackled by Professor Mia Bloom of the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

The evolution of female terrorism

The evolution of female terrorism

“Recently, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria published videos depicting women with guns on social media. According to Bloom, this is a tactic that ISIS used to goad men into joining the fight. Women who join the fight are usually forced to go into relationships with the males.

There has been examples of using women as suicide bombers or fighters and posting videos and pictures in social media outlets. However, historically women have been a part of terrorist organizations dating back to the Irish Republican Armies and al Qaeda, according to Bloom. Terrorist organizations commit rape against women to have them join the fight because they feel they are damaged goods and they join a terrorist organization to make themselves useful.” (Cerritos College Talon Marks)

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Tunisian anti-terrorism bill

Editor

The terrorist attacks at Tunis’ National Bardo Museum last week shook up the country and occurred as ISIS continues to gain steam in Africa. We now see that the Tunisian government is implement tougher anti-terrorism laws in order to stem the rise of terrorism and protect the country’s citizens and its tourism industry. The focus on this proposed law seems to be similar to many others we have seen being proposed around the world; dealing with terrorists returning from foreign lands, curbing the illicit funding of terrorism, better prosecution, special anti-terrorism judges and more.

Tunisian cabinet has approved a draft anti-terrorism bill

Tunisian cabinet has approved a draft anti-terrorism bill

“According to Ahmed Zarrouk, the draft law also provides for the creation of a national committee of fight against terrorism, in charge of the follow-up of the implementation of the international commitments and the proposal of measures to be taken against other authors of alleged terrorist crimes, in addition to the achievement of a national study on terrorist crimes, means to face them and the modalities of prevention.

Thus, he said, the future law bans the use of “secret bank accounts”. The text of the law includes 60 articles and provides aggravated sentences until the death sentences, Ahmed Zarrouk in a statement to TAP. According to him, the terrorist returning home after having fought with terrorist organisations will be punished by the new text as was the case of the law of 2003.

Answering a question if the text of the law includes penalties for anyone who joins a terrorist organisation in Tunisia as well as abroad, Ahmed Zarrouk replied in the affirmative.

Besides, the cabinet meeting reported the official spokesman, listened to briefings of the Ministers of the National Defence and Interior on the general security situation in the country.” (allAfrica.com)

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