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 10:41 AM
November 03, 2005
C’est la Zone, monsieur
The riots in Paris have been building for years. This is one of the best pieces that I have seen in a while on rising Muslim rage in Europe and how compassionate Europeans are indirectly fueling it. Largely the same observations could be made about Brussels and, I suspect, Rotterdam and Amsterdam as well as Hamburg.
Posted by Richard Miniter at 02:22 PM
October 08, 2005
New Danish Blog
A free-market revolution has been slowly unfolding in Denmark for the past two decades, but it was accelerated in the past five years. That peninsular nation now is home to two laissez-faire think tanks, the Copenhagen Institute and Cepos. If you read Danish, you should check my friend Peter Kurrild-Klitgaard’s blog. He and few other of Denmark’s friends of liberty opine on a wide variety of subjects. Even if you don’t read Danish, visit anyway and read (in English) the inspiring quotes at the top and bottom of the blog. Peter is a political science professor at an university in Odense—and his wit and intelligence daily make me sorry that I can’t read Danish either. He is probably even funnier and smarter in his native tongue.
Posted by Richard Miniter at 03:57 PM
June 29, 2005
Libya's New Bargain
The Libyans have successfully extorted more money out of the Europeans, this time for border control. Either pay us to guard our borders or be swamped by millions of African Muslims, Khaddafi said. They paid. Also, see Libya complaints about illegal immigration. Priceless. Here is a fascinating article on Brussels Journal, edited by my friend Paul Belien. He is a former contributor to the Wall Street Journal Europe, a free-market activist who started the Centre for the New Europe, and has just published a new book on the EU. It argues that the European Union—with its myriad official languages, socialist-minded regulators and desire to build an artificial state that transcends traditional borders—is simply an attempt to create Belgium on a continental scale. As such, the EU will face all of the problems now faced by Belgium. Buy it now.
Posted by Richard Miniter at 11:50 AM
June 06, 2005
If only the EU would do this...
Sometimes the Sunday Telegraph (of London) can be more far-seeing that the eurocrats, who now suffered defeat twice in two weeks. I think the "torygraph" is wrong about abolishing the European Parliament (instead its budgetary and investigatory powers should be strengthened against the Commission), but the rest seems fairly sensible.
Posted by Richard Miniter at 09:16 AM