By Teresa Welsh
MINNEAPOLIS – Just last week, a North Carolina man was arrested for allegedly providing material support to the Islamic State group and planning violent attacks in the United States. Two other men were arrested in New York and New Jersey recently, charged with the same crimes, including attempts to detonate an explosive in the New York metro area. At least one of them hoped to travel abroad to join the terrorist organization, according to the charges. These sorts of arrests are a new reality in the United States, with more than 180 Americans attempting to or successfully traveling to Syria.
Authorities are struggling to understand what appeal the Islamic State group holds for youth, who have proven to be the most susceptible to recruiting efforts, outside the Middle East and what would draw them to travel abroad or carry out homegrown attacks in the U.S. The government faces a massive challenge in countering the appeal of the group that has successfully recruited foreign fighters from around the globe to help it wage its war of terror in Iraq and Syria.
As part of its response, the federal government launched a pilot program in three cities that aims to better understand why youth in Boston, Los Angeles and Minneapolis may be incentivized to leave the U.S. to travel to such a dangerous region. The efforts on countering violent extremism – known as CVE – seek to address root causes of extremism through community engagement and undermine attraction to terrorist activity. It is a preventive counterterrorism program that seeks to build awareness in communities and intervene when young people are believed to be falling under the influence of extremist groups and building awareness in their communities. The U.S. is also partnering with foreign governments to address the issue, particularly terrorist groups’ use of social media to attract recruits.
“[W]e have to recognize that our best partners in all these efforts, the best people to help protect individuals from falling victim to extremist ideologies are their own communities, their own family members. We have to be honest with ourselves. Terrorist groups like al-Qaida and [the Islamic State group] deliberately target their propaganda in the hopes of reaching and brainwashing young Muslims, especially those who may be disillusioned or wrestling with their identity,” President Barack Obama said at a White House Summit in February that brought together law enforcement and community leaders to discuss CVE implementation.
The Twin Cities are home to the largest Somali population in the U.S., an estimated 100,000 people. Refugees began settling in Minnesota after the government of Somalia collapsed in 1991. This isn’t the first time the community has struggled to counter the appeal of violent extremism to the state’s Somalis, but is much more puzzling. Somalis have no national or ethnic ties to Syria and Iraq, a link that helped explain why some went to fight with al-Shabab when Ethiopia invaded Somalia in 2006. Young men joining that terrorist group felt a nationalistic call to defend their nation against rival state Ethiopia, but many of those drawn to the Islamic State were born in the U.S. and have never been to Somalia, let alone Syria. Still in April, six Twin Cities youth were arrested for attempting to join the Islamic State group. At least one of the men has conspired to travel to Syria since 2014, according to prosecutors.
“As far as we know there is no one profile that brings [together] all these people who are leaving,” says Abdisalam Adam, an imam at Dar Al-Hijrah Mosque in Minneapolis. “Some people say, ‘Oh they are the ones who are not doing well,’ or whatever. That’s not true. There are some of them who have the opportunity of working, some are in school.”
The Somali community is united on two matters: the issue must be addressed, and the community needs increased access to resources to ensure youth have ample educational and economic opportunities to deter the appeal of extremist activity. But how to go about doing that presents a large challenge to a hard-working Somali community that wants to keep its young men safe but avoid government surveillance and counter negative narratives in the media. Some argue that the community should do it without government involvement, while others see genuine value in partnering with law enforcement to maximize resources. Both the district attorney’s office and the community agree that the approach must be community-based but some are still skeptical of government involvement. And even the name of the program has prompted criticism.
Read more: Sewing Trust at Home
Source: USA Today
