Al Qaeda Recruitment in U.S. Prison
Al Qaeda Recruitment in U.S. Prison
Al Qaeda is an international Islamic and militant group founded by Osama bin Laden. The group strictly operates under sharia law and calls for global jihad. This group is considered to be a terrorist organization by several countries including the United Nations Security Council. After the September 11, attack which is attributed to Al-Qaeda activities, the U.S. government launched a war against terrorism. This move has dampen the activities of Al-Qaeda however it seems that their recruitment process has been more active especially being prominent internationally (Joscelyn, 2014). Additionally, it seems that people in prisons are the most vulnerable targets for new recruits and mitigation measures must be undertaken to prevent any actions from Al Qaeda.
Recruitment process starts from indoctrination of Islam to target prisoners. The process usually starts from that and may lead to radical teachings and influence. Recruitment occurs usually from an outside source. Most religious groups teach and preach inside prisons in the hope of giving positive guidance to those incarcerated. Preachers may use the indoctrination of Islam to the prisoners in order to easily convince them of radical ideas resulting in extremist activities. A funnel model can be used to describe this recruitment process. In a funnel recruitment model, a recruiter would create steps and incremental phase in order to transform potential recruits to dedicated group members (Silber & Bhatt, 2014). During the process, some recruits may exit during the process while others become committed to the principles of radical Islam and the use of violence. Although, it can be attested that indoctrination to Islam, for this specific case, is not the direct motivator to be an Al Qaeda member. It is through the phase of radicalization that contribute to the act of terrorism. In order to mitigate this, stricter rules must be imposed on selecting religious chaplains including Muslim imams. Proper background check must be made to make sure that he is not being influenced by the network of Al Qaeda. In doing so, it would prevent unnecessary doctrines of violence being passed on to the prisoners. With this process, it not only cover the teachings of Islam, but of other religious sects that may be used to shroud the real intent of recruiting people for extremist activity.
Bibliography
Joscelyn, T. (2014). Their 9/11 Role. Weeklystandard. Retrieved 19 June 2014, from http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/their-911-role_794957.html
Silber, M., & Bhatt, A. (2014). Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat (p.10). New York: The New York City Police Department.
