The book at Amazon: Understanding-Terror-Networks-Marc-Sageman
To view a version of the conference youtube
This conference describes his findings after sampling 400 Al-Quaïda militants from the Middle East, South East Asia, Africa and Europe. He describes this sample and adresses these myths :
- Myth: They join young, average age at induction 26 years
- Myth: Uneducated, over half were college educated, mostly in engineering
He also proposes a typical path to radicalization:
They start as groups of young friends that share community, activity, etc. Eventualy one or more become radicalized through some personal event. The rest follow him through frequent contact at the mosque. Typically the Imam will report the extreme group to local authorities (who generally ignore him). Eventually they become more and more extreme in their behaviour. Insisting on complete covering of their wives, etc. If they gain access to explosives or some other means of terrorism, they immediately begin selecting an easy target and preparations. Once they pay off their bills. When they begin to adopt western looks, they are about to act (within days).
- The groups are locally led and funded
- The attacks are opportunistic not strategic
- The groups are led through friendship and kindship association
- The groups are typically diaspora
- They form in about 20 mosques around the world
Une conférence offerte par Marc Sageman, ancien agent de la CIA, psychiatre et auteur de Understanding Terror Networks (Comprendre les réseaux terroristes), qui nous livre ses observations sur un échantillon de militants d'Al-Quaïda issus du Moyen-Orient, d'Asie du Sud-Est, d'Afrique du Nord et d'Europe.
- canal.qc.ca original broadcast
- to view current broadcast on this channel
