The Los Angeles Times article gives some fascinating insight into Zacarias Moussaoui?s possible motivations for and trajectory to jihadist militancy and offers evidence to support earlier TRC analyses of more the generalized psychological and personality ?root causes? and motivations for jihadists emerging from Western societies.
The alienation Moussaoui felt regarding his identity and purpose in life seems to echo similar hypothesized feelings of the attackers in the London train bombings (Terrorist Incident and WAR Report) that likely contributed to the allure of, and motivation for, Islamist militancy. Namely, this was a sense of alienation, social inequality, and/or persecution within their immediate Western society, an adrift and frustrated identity caught between ancestral and adopted ethno-nationalist identities, and the perceived allure of jihadist ideology and militancy as a remedying life course for these issues.
On the issue of feelings of a lack of belonging on the part of Moussaoui?caught between feeling a certain alienation in France and the UK but possibly distanced from ancestral, ethno-nationalist identity (Moroccan)?as the article notes, French Moroccans living in Western Europe largely did not feel integrated into those societies. With regard to both this identity issue and a seeming lack of purpose in life, the description of Moussaoui by one of his classmates is telling: ??he wasn?t a proper Arab or a French boy either. He was sort of stuck in between belonging to nowhere. He had a lot going for him, but nowhere to go.?
Within this context, the starkly explanative and absolving ideology and life course of Islamist/jihadist militancy offered to ameliorate these issues. It offered a perceived clear and noble identity and sense of belonging to a defined group as both a member of the global Muslim and jihadist communities and, more specifically, a jihadist action group. Further, the Islamist/jihadist ideology offered a worldview that describes the righteousness and victimization of his Muslim and Islamist community and anoints scapegoats and scripture rationales responsible for his troubles and the abuses of his community. In turn, these ideologies provide a sanctified course of militant empowerment and revenge to respond to and overcome these circumstances.
Once Moussaoui began down the path of Islamist militancy, he entered into an apparently structured regime of indoctrination in both militant jihad and small group radicalism. According to the article, al-Qaeda recruiters and trainers funneled Moussaoui and other recruits into isolated camps where they trained, prayed, and received indoctrination from bin Laden himself. In addition to teaching terrorist tradecraft, the camps served to cut recruits off from external information and immerse them in the philosophies and exhortations of militant Islamism and jihad.
The general ?root cause? motivations hypothesized of the London bombers and their similarity to Moussaoui suggests that Muslim immigrant communities of Western societies and particularly segments perceiving societal inequalities have proven particularly susceptible to the empowering and transformative allure of Islamist militancy. Thus, it remains critical that counterterrorism strategies recognize and take steps to temper and end social inequality and xenophobic/racist attitudes against Muslim and immigrant communities and integrate immigrants into society, both to work toward societal harmony and advancement and to reduce the communities with a greater susceptibility to becoming radicalized with homegrown Islamist militancy.
