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December 02, 2005
Lessons of a Belgian Woman’s suicide-attack in Iraq
So Murielle Degauque is "the latest European, and the first woman, to join the lengthening list of bombers," in Iraq, according to the (London) Independent. Her bomb attack killed only herself, but her trajectory from working-class Belgian to Islamist suicide-bomber deserves a closer look, partly because what her life portends about Europe’s future and partly because it provides still more evidence that racial profiling ("search all Arab males") will not stop terrorist attacks. Let’s take the last one first. In my new book, Disinformation, I devote a chapter to debunking the idea focussing on searching all Muslims or Arab males or any particular profile will defeat hijackings and bombings. Instead, radical groups simply recruit people who do not fit the profile. French prisoners, white Australian hotheads, Berkeley, Calif.-converts, Indonesian students and Filipinas married to Arab men have all been recruited to al Qaeda, the Taliban or other Islamist terror outfits. If Ms. Degauque brought her bomb into an American airport instead of against an American patrol in Iraq, she would not have seemed suspicious. When you are looking for Arab males, you tend to ignore Belgian females. It makes more sense to profile on the basis of documented relationships (sharing a bank account with a known terrorist, et cetera), than on a clutch of skin-deep categories.
Now what does Ms. Degauque transformation from party animal to terrorist teach us? One, the riots in France and Belgium are just the beginning. As Europe increasingly becomes a recruiting ground for terrorists, the EU should expect some attacks on their continent. Two, Belgian intelligence is not very effective in tracking radicals in their midst. Remember that the two terrorists (and one of their wives) who used a bomb-rigged camera to kill anti-Taliban leader Ahmed Shah Massoud on Sept. 9, 2001 carried Belgian passports. Belgian intel does not seem to have stepped up its efforts in the past four years. Paul Belein wrote in the (London) Spectator about the laissez-faire attitude at Belgian intel several years. Despite a parliamentary investigation and a high-profile resignation, little has changed. Add to that, that Degaugue mere and pere were not surprised when police arrived to tell them that their daughter died in Iraq. They knew why the police were there before they even said bonjour, as the Independent article says. Even after her husband died at the hands of U.S. forces in Iraq, Belgian intel did not question her or her parents. There are, of course, domestic political reasons in Belgium for the dangerous laxity. The excellent Brussels Journal.com adds some important information:
"The American authorities informed the Belgian authorities of the woman’s identity a few weeks ago, but Brussels kept it secret. Yesterday evening the Franco-Luxemburgian network RTL announced the news. Last night, the Belgian police arrested 14 people. Nine of them are Belgians, mostly of foreign origin, three are Moroccans and two are Tunisians. They are said to belong to the same network as the woman suicide bomber. Today a 27-year-old man was arrested in Paris. He is suspected of belonging to a group that takes Jihadists from Belgium to Iraq."
Well, better late than never, mes amis. Three, Degauque began her drift into terrorism in a fairly standard pattern: marriage to a Muslim man of North African descent — dramatically changing her behavior and appearence to conform to Islamist doctrines, isolating herself from family and friends and becoming emotionally and financially dependent of a man with terrorist connections. Finally, and this may have been the catalyst, the death of her "benefactor" — which provided a powerful revenge motive. The "right to revenge" seems to be an key doctrine in radical Salafi circles, especially among women. The woman who failed to detonate her bomb in Amman, Jordan on Nov. 9 lost three brothers and an husband to anti-American activity. We know that al Qaeda prefers to recruit people who have lost a close relative to allied military or intelligence services. Allied forces should encourage moderate imams to speak out against the so-called right to revenge.We must learn to spot the signs of terrorist transformations of the Degauques of the world or we will pay for our ignorance with the blood of innocents.
Posted by Richard Miniter at December 2, 2005 10:41 AM