The danger of foreign jihadists
Once again, a new video from the Islamic State features young foreign converts joining in the slaughter of prisoners and hostages alongside hardened jihadists. This latest one includes two 22-year-old French nationals, one the son of poor Portuguese parents and the other a middle-class man from Normandy, both of whom converted to Islam in their teens and made their way to Syria, apparently in 2013, to join the ranks of fighters. Why they did this is a matter of anguished questioning in France; that they did it is no longer a surprise as a growing number of foreigners, including many American, Canadian and European men — and increasingly women — from non-Muslim backgrounds, are being enticed into the ranks of the barbaric and media-savvy Islamic State.
Estimates of the number of foreigners in the Islamic State, or ISIS, vary, but of the more than 31,000 fighters the C.I.A. estimated in September to be active, as many as half came from foreign countries, according to the International Center for the Study of Radicalization in London and the Soufan Group in New York. The overwhelming majority are men from Arab and other Muslim countries, drawn to jihad by religious zeal, a chance to fight the decadent West and the lure of excitement in otherwise dreary lives. But the flow of non-Muslim or non-religious recruits from the West, and their use in some of the most grisly actions, is a new and worrying phenomenon.
It is worrying, first of all, because it speaks to the surreal appeal of the most vicious Islamist terror group to take the field in the terror wars of recent decades. It is also worrying because of the security risk it poses once surviving fighters, many radicalized, start filtering back home to the West. The response among Western governments has included blocking those suspected of going off to fight, arresting returning jihadists and offering deradicalization programs.
In the end, the surest way to combat the appeal of the Islamic State is to deny it success, and that must remain the priority. In the meantime, it is important to keep in mind that not all who are lured into its web will return a threat. Vigilance is clearly warranted. But there must also be a way left open for those who want to renounce extremism.