Via the Daily Mirror it says there are reports that the 4 bombers received al-Qaeda-type commando training, and that another 100 persons have been put under surveillance.
Leeds residents were shocked at the involvement of the Leeds 4, and said that Muslims in Yorkshire were normal and the local mosque moderate. Few could believe these young men could have been the perpetrators. Scratch deeper and you'll find they had been meeting quietly with a local al-Qaeda recruiter, who instructed them not to display overt piety, so as to throw potential police monitors off the trail.
Readers who have followed this story with me during the past week will know that I was skeptical that British Muslims would have been the perpetrators, since they would have known that their actions would endanger their relatives. But, obviously, the cult these young men joined managed to manipulate their minds to the point where they were no longer capable of thinking about the consequences of their actions for their loved ones, or for the victims, for that matter.
Legislators in democratic societies who are thinking about how to respond to this problem should give serious thought to RICO-like laws that could be used to curb religious cults, which typically isolate members, indoctrinate them, manipulate them, and sometimes coerce them. Cults avoid scrutiny by harassing critics and whistleblowers, often in ways that police find it difficult to respond to. The enormous problems modern societies have had with groups like Christian Identity, the Koreishites, Aum Shinrikyo, and now al-Qaeda, suggests that current legal frameworks are inadequate to address this problem. Ex-members, victims and critics of cults need a legal basis for protection from the cults. The American Family Foundation is doing excellent work in this regard.
posted by Juan @ 7/13/2005 06:30:00 AM