British Jihadists

[emmie]

what do these British Jihadists hope to gain, apart from a possible bloody death. The woman featured is a Muslim convert, i for one don't get this desire to fight someone else's battle.

http://www.channel4.com/news/syria-rebels-jihad-british-foreign-assad

[emmie]

like these two brothers, both killed in Syria,

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/article1367724.ece

[emmie]

i was concerned that the Muslims blokes were being called Lions of Britain, for their actions in Syria, dying for the cause?

[andy-hughes]

What Westerners don't always grasp is the fact that, unlike the average Christian believer, for whom their faith is a part of their life, for an estremely devout Muslim, their faith is their life, it is intriniscally woven into who they are.

If a Westerner converts to this extreme version of the Muslim faith, then they genuinely see their role is to fight and die for that faith, and that is something they embrace and are excited to show their devotion.

So the battle is not 'someone else's', as emmie states, it is seen by these extreme devotees as a battle for every Muslim, and every Muslim should be not only willing, but actively seeking an opportunity to fight and die in the Jihad.

Not something I would envisage, but I am not a believer in any religion, so I would never experience that level of fervour, but I accept that others do - even though I think the consequences do not achieve their aim, or what I understand Allah would want.

[carrust]

Andy, in other words they're brainwashed.

[andy-hughes]

carrust - that is a point of view that can apply to anyone who believes in any higher power - it's only the degree of belief that varies.

[emmie]

AH, if you read the piece about the two brothers, they were living the life, both seemed to have been level headed nice blokes, both with decent jobs and parents who wanted the best for their children, so why oh why do these two young men lose their lives in a cause they wouldn't perhaps fully understand, nor indeed know they would lose their lives to. I don't have a fantastic amount of sympathy, because what i fear more is that many of these young people are going to come back to the UK and take their skewed thinking, ideology to the next level, on the people of the UK, having learned how to kill, either by gun or by bomb.

[Zacs-Master]

//many of these young people are going to come back to the UK and take their skewed thinking, ideology to the next level, on the people of the UK, having learned how to kill, either by gun or by bomb.//

Have you forgotten 7/11 emmie?

[andy-hughes]

emmie - you describe Jihadists as though they must all be disatisfied or lacking in some way - as though extremism only occurs in those with emply lives looking for a 'cause' to latch onto.

Religious fervour is not connected to lifestyle - there is no 'cut off' point of material comfort which makes you immune to the lure of laying down your life for what you believe.

Religious fervour can apply to anyone in the world, anywhere, no matter how apparently loopy the belief system may appear to be - ask goodlife!

[jake-the-peg]

What do you think of the international brigades that came from this country and other European countries to fight Franco's fascism in Spain?

(Or for him in a few cases?)

Do you get that? I think you'll find the motivation is very similar

[emmie]

zac, 7/11, either that's a misprint or you mean 7th July, in London, and no i am unlikely to forget that seeing i was near by, or 9/11 which i watched unfold on tv.

[emmie]

JTP, actually i don't see that, the people who fought for or against Franco didn't come back to UK with the idea that they would kill British citizens, at least to the best of my knowledge.

[emmie]

like these people

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/briton-who-fought-against-francos-fascists-dies-aged-94-8430522.html

[Zacs-Master]

erm....so if your aware of 7/7 (my sincere apologies for getting that bit wrong) you are aware that your prediction has already happened?

[emmie]

i meant more of the same.

[Zacs-Master]

I'm sure that it will happen again emmie, despite our intelligence services best efforts.

[emmie]

there are new avenues opening up with every day, a war in Syria, conflicts of one sort or another in many parts of the world, mean many of our British citizens could have their heads turned by their religion, they go and fight, die or come back to UK with what on their minds, and quite what do their families make of it. According to one report the parents of the two young men, told their family, friends they had died in an accident abroad?

[jake-the-peg]

Where do you say that they want to come back and fight in Britain ?

Actually similar moral panics were perpertrated about the international brigade fighters - the press portrayed them as communist stooges of Stalin who might Bring revolution to Britain

So there are a lot of similarities - the religious element is instead ideological but you have Britain's non involvement, not liking either of the side and foreign fighters going in to fight and you have a brutal dictator - similar to Assad

We see Franco's fascism through the lens of WWII so tend to be more sympathetic to those fighting fascism but it wasn't quite seen that way at the time - hence the Daily Mail's famous 'Hurrah for the Blackshirts' headline in 1934

[emmie]

so no truth to this then,

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10582945/Al-Qaeda-training-British-and-European-jihadists-in-Syria-to-set-up-terror-cells-at-home.html

[emmie]

this has been discussed before

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question1296418.html