On Friday October 3, 2014, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced plans to send CF-18 fighter jets to Iraq to bomb ISIS, perhaps for as long as six months. He also outlined how Canada would provide humanitarian aid to Iraqi refugees. In his speech to MPs, he said that “being a free rider means you are not taken seriously,” pointing out how several of Canada’s allies have already started engaging ISIS. Although Harper has promised not to send any Canadian ground forces to Iraq, it is worth noting that some Canadians have already joined the conflict: the ones who ISIS recruited.
After the United States began its airstrike campaign against ISIS in August, over 6000 people have been recruited to the extremist group. At least 1300 of the recruits are not from Syria or Iraq. On September 24, CBC reported that a 20-year-old man from Hamilton was killed by anti-ISIS forces in Syria. His was the first confirmed case of Canadian recruitment, but is unlikely to be the last.
ISIS’ chosen tool of communication is the Internet. They utilize the same familiar web services we use every day: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, among others. Sometimes ISIS makes use of trending hashtags to deliver their propaganda: on the day of the Scottish independence referendum, some tweets by ISIS included the #VoteYesForScotland hashtag. They also have an Android app which allows ISIS tweets to be posted through a user’s account.
ISIS propaganda materials are not low-budget affairs. A 55-minute video released by ISIS in September titled Flames of War was filmed in full HD. The video featured an English speaker with a perfect North American accent near the end, who gestures to captured Syrian soldiers and executes them on record. There is even an 87 second trailer. One of the copies available on Youtube was watched over 750,000 times. Versions exist on a wide variety of video sharing and downloading sites, with several subtitle languages available.
Therein lies a problem in trying to curb ISIS recruitment: nothing is ever really eliminated on the internet. There are always copies, copies of copies, modifications and people willing to upload them. ISIS doesn’t trust its future with the shifting tides of internet fame, however. They have a sophisticated network of “media mujahedeen” who continually share content to ensure ISIS persistently has a social media presence. Websites such as YouTube and Twitter try deleting accounts that spread jihadist messages, but ISIS simply reloads it all in new accounts, or those of volunteers.
It is not just Canada that is worried about its citizens joining the terrorist group. Countries as far away as the Philippines are on high alert for ISIS recruitment attempts. In Britain, ISIS has started trying to recruit people on the ground by seeking out potential recruits and speaking with them in person. A police report in Birmingham leaked in early September claims that extremists were operating out of gyms, restaurants and cafes.
Recruiters encourage the image that they are not too different from the people they’re recruiting. Some of them reference popular video games such as Call of Duty in an effort to market joining a terrorist organization as some sort of adventure. Others mention mundane interests such as soccer, and even post pictures of themselves with cats on the internet. The recruits themselves needn’t be fanatics: they are often people feeling disaffected, and searching for greater meaning in their lives.
The recruit is interviewed, often over Skype, to ensure that he is serious, and not a spy. He is then often told to see a “jihadi mentor” to train them in extremist ideologies and physical exercise. Once that’s complete, the logistics issues begin. In some cases ISIS pays for flights to Turkey, from where recruits can then be escorted across the border to Syria.
Stephen Harper may be right to send fighter jets to attack ISIS from above. However, for this conflict and future ones, governments and web companies will also need to find new ways to cut such organizations at their roots, by stopping them from convincing ordinary people to join their inhumane causes. In the case of ISIS’ complex recruitment process especially, the West has its work cut out for them.
Leave a Reply