While the fear of youth recruitment in Minnesota by foreign jihadists is real, United States attorney Andrew Luger’s outcry and the FBI’s enticement method of stopping evil-doers from tapping U.S. citizens should not be considered solutions.
The nation is in an unconventional war. Former President George W. Bush’s war strategists rationalized in 2001 that the country should face enemies where they are so we do not face them here. Obviously, the opposite became true. The country’s future labor force started joining terrorist organizations to fight us abroad as justice authorities watch in despair.
This shows how naive and uncritical federal authorities are about solving this perpetual issue. Luger was quoted by the Guardian as saying, “… your brother, son and friend could be talking to Abdi Nur,” who was known as a recruiter. Setting up a trap that intends to discourage recruits from being open to strangers does not cure
the problem and will not stop kids from going.
Furthermore, any surveillance employed to watch citizens’ activities will look repressive and become counterproductive. In fact, jihadists are taking advantage of this very method that we think will keep us safe. No doubt, law enforcement agencies do a rigorous job, but their job should not be a substitute for a durable solution.
A permanent fix for homegrown extremism requires strategic thinking. Doug Tice of the Star Tribune wrote in his column, “The terror recruitment crisis among our Somali neighbors is serious and dangerous; our response must be dry-eyed and unsentimental.” Our deeply held theories must be rethought.
