Latest Arrests of Women Underscore Jihadist Recruiting Efforts By Dan Frosch, Nathan Koppel and Tamara Audi
http://www.wsj.com/articles/latest-arrests-of-women-underscore-jihadist-recruiting-efforts-1428093349?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsFifth
Islamic State’s appeal for American women can range from the prospect of romance to idea of joining a meaningful religious movement
From Denver’s suburban sprawl to Chicago’s immigrant enclaves, nearly a dozen young American women have been enticed over the Internet by extremist groups to join their ranks in the past year, authorities say, with promises of marriage, humanitarian efforts on behalf of Muslims and martyrdom.
The arrests of the American women come as law-enforcement officials and U.S. Muslim leaders struggle to counter the jihadists’ social-media savvy and the increasing number of young Western women who have joined groups such as Islamic State, or ISIS. These women, in turn, have become a critical part of ISIS’s recruitment, offering advice to fellow Western women contemplating joining the group and cheering on its attacks via the Internet, experts say.
“It’s sort of trite to say that the rise of social media has created a new avenue for these groups to reach young people, but it’s true,” said John Walsh, U.S. Attorney for Colorado. He has been meeting with the Muslim community members for several years, an effort that heightened in 2014 after an incident in which three teenage girls from Aurora may have been trying to join ISIS. The girls were returned to their parents by authorities after flying overseas.
It is unclear how many American women have joined or tried to join radical Islamic groups abroad. According the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a London-based think tank that has studied Western women who join ISIS, as many as 550 Western women have migrated to ISIS-controlled territory, out of an estimated 3,000 total Western migrants.
ENLARGE Experts said the allure for American women can range from the prospect of a romantic relationship, to the notion of joining a religious movement that appears meaningful, to a desire to join in the fighting.
In the case of the New York women, federal authorities allege in court documents that Noelle Velentzas, 28 years old, and Asia Siddiqui, 31, who had been roommates in Queens, were plotting for months to build an explosive to be used in a terrorist attack on American soil.
Although it is uncertain when the women may have become radicalized, a criminal complaint showed Ms. Velentzas was a Facebook friend of Tairod Pugh, 47, the U.S. Air Force veteran who was indicted last month in Brooklyn federal court on charges of attempting to join ISIS. It showed Ms. Siddiqui was close with Samir Khan, a Pakistani-American Islamist blogger who later joined al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula before being killed in Yemen in 2011.
Mia Bloom, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell who studies women and terrorism, said relationships with men can be entry points for potential recruits, and many social-media sites are used to pair women up with jihadi boyfriends. Younger women, conversely, are often targeted by fellow women recruiters online.
“There have been some women with some rather checkered pasts who have gravitated to ISIS and al Qaeda,” Ms. Bloom said. “There is an ’etch a sketch’ aspect to this—a conversion to a radical interpretation of Islam is a way to give yourself a completely new identity.”
Western women are particularly coveted by groups like ISIS, Ms. Bloom said, and are usually married off to fighters once they arrive overseas.
Keonna Thomas, 30, a Philadelphia woman charged Friday with attempting to aid the Islamic State, had been in contact with several male jihadi fighters over the Internet, one of whom invited her to take part in “martyrdom operations” with him, according to a criminal complaint.
“A girl can only wish,” Ms. Thomas responded in an email, the complaint said. She was arrested after researching plans to travel to Turkey.
All three woman charged this week are being held in custody. Ms. Siddiqui’s lawyer said she will plead not guilty. Mr. Pugh pleaded not guilty. Ms. Thomas’ lawyer said she plans to enter a not-guilty plea.
ISIS’s interpretation of Islam mandates a strict domestic role for women, where they are typically confined to the home unless accompanied by a male chaperone. ISIS forbids women from participating in fighting, according to social-media posts from women who joined the group.
That role could be changing, according to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue report released this year. One Western woman who migrated to ISIS-controlled territory recently wrote on Twitter: “I wonder if I can pull a Mulan and enter the battlefield,” referencing the Disney film character who pretended to be a man to join soldiers. “Maybe the time for us to participate is soon.”
Earlier this year, a 19-year-old Colorado woman was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to trying to help ISIS. Shannon Conley, a Muslim convert from suburban Denver, had been questioned several times by authorities who were alerted by a local church.
Her father also told authorities she had met a 32-year-old Tunisian man online who claimed to be an ISIS fighter, and that Ms. Conley wanted to marry him and move to Syria.
Despite warnings from law enforcement that she could be arrested, she told an FBI agent that “she would rather be in prison than do nothing.”
In an open letter written after her sentencing, Ms. Conley’s parents, John and Ana Conley, said their daughter regretted what she had done and that those involved with the case did not view her as a threat.
“They tell us that she was an incredibly naïve and idealistic young woman who trusted that others were telling her the truth about things happening in a distant land,” wrote the Conleys, who did not respond to requests for comment for this article. “This led her to make bad choices for which continues to pay a very high price.”
Rick Ross, executive director of the Cult Education Institute, a group that tracks cults, said Islamist terrorist groups have adopted similar recruiting tactics toward U.S. women, zeroing in on people who have endured hard times and are searching for a trusted friend to confide in.
“Destructive cults inherently recruit people deceptively and misrepresent themselves, and ISIS does the same thing,” Mr. Ross said. “ISIS paints themselves as saviors, as do-gooders. And so a woman they are recruiting may end up believing that she will be involved in a humanitarian effort for an idealistic cause with an attractive jihadist boyfriend by her side.”
Write to Dan Frosch at dan.frosch@wsj.com, Nathan Koppel at nathan.koppel@wsj.com and Tamara Audi at tammy.audi@wsj.com
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