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July 16, 2007 | Editor Al Santoli
The July 10, 2007 firefight and subsequent beheading of 10 Philippine marines in the Tipo Tipo area of Basilan Island in Muslim Mindanao epitomized the growing use of brutal terror tactics by extremist organizations around the world. The interview of a teenaged terrorist in a June 22, 2007 on BBC and in the Associated Press article cited below relates to beheadings and similar terror in Thailand. He speaks to the issue of regional violent extremism, its root causes and the way that violent organizations recruit and manipulate youth into becoming merciless killers.
What the young terrorist in in the BBC interview describes is similar to what I learned from my Afghan experience in the 1990s. When I worked in Congress, before the 9/11/2001 attacks, lawmakers would not deal with the reports by those of us who were investigating human rights abuses by Arab, Afghan and Pakistani religious extremists. Our pleas included interdicting terror training and finding resolutions for the plight of those who are recruited to become aggressively evil. The politicians hoped it would go away and would stay isolated in remote wastelands
But the extremists are betting that good people will not have the stomach for understanding and countering their methods. Instead, playing to public emotion, politicians assign the military to respond blindly with violence against it, rather than thoughtful comprehensive engagement of the communities who are at risk. Venegeful and violent reaction only reinforce the message of the extremists. In contrast, culturally respectful education programs and livelihood building are key deterrents. Law enforcement rather than military campaigns may be a better means of identifying and arresting murderers.
Victory also requires the ability to engage spiritually strong local leaders, regardless of their religions, to work for good within their violent communities. Tragically, in some countries respected imams have been murdered by fellow Muslims who seek control through brutality. This is also why the Asia America Initiative's Development for Peace program in Jolo, Philippines has formed and focused on education and livelihood. It takes an NGO with long term commitment to be in the field and working with forgotten at-risk youth and then educating policy makers to support successful programs that respect human dignity. By their nature the military are reactive and short-term mission oriented and cannot do this long-term development effectively. It requires courageous civilians who can interface with local cultures. And if the military can swallow their pride and their desire to forcibly "control" the environment, sometimes they can best operate as tactful security for humanitarian workers.
It may be that the beheading of the Philippines marines was related more to revenge killing by the clan of a murdered senior imam allegedly by Philippine marines. The grisly events may have be driven by lust for power and have little to do with regional politics, peace talks or any role of radical Indonesians. It is the psychology and mindset of those who commit brutality that is the fundamental issue. Please try to read the article below, especially the quote by the boy assassin who succinctly emphasize the manner in which extremists manipulate youths who have little education and feel the world is against them. It is a psychological and spiritual struggle, with the psychotic perversion of religious teachings at its core.
In Afghanistan, a July 15, 2007 Associated Press report told of the Taliban and their Pakistani mentors training pre-teen children to carry out suicide bombings, either as the "will of God" or with threats that they will be killed if they refuse. Recently, 6-year-old boy in Ghazni province told AP that Taliban militants forced him to put on a suicide vest and walk up to American soldiers -- a potential attack foiled when the boy asked Afghan soldiers for help. A gory Taliban video that surfaced in April that showed militants instructing a boy of about 12 in Pakistan as he beheaded an alleged traitor with a knife.
The June 22, 2007 the BBC website reported a suspected Muslim militant beheaded a man in southern Thailand in front of customers in a teashop. Police said the victim, a traveling salesman, was shot twice and then decapitated in the shop in Narathiwat province, in the middle of the day. It was the fifth beheading in just over two weeks. Despite being beheaded in public in front of a number of people, no one was willing to speak out. This act was ordered by extremist leaders to demonstrate the extent to which the government has lost control. It also shows how the extremists have terrorized the public with witnesses too afraid to come forward. The young assassin was arrested and spoke publicly about the beheading.
The extremist youth, Mohama Waekaji stated he walked one cool morning to a rice mill, carrying a knife and following orders from a guerrilla commander to behead the 72-year-old Buddhist owner. Waekaji's account of his journey -- from quiet, average student to a confessed killer -- offers insights into how young Muslims fall under the influence of militant Islamic thinking.
He was attending a private Islamic school in Pattani province when a school buddy persuaded him to join a religious event at a mosque. There "ustad," or teachers, told him about an organization to liberate southern Thailand, asking him to take an oath to become a servant of Allah, obey the teachers and take the secrets of the organization to his grave. Although confused and with little knowledge of politics, he took the oath and began secret training at age 19.
His teachers stressed the sufferings of Muslims in the Palestinian territories and Afghanistan and also in Thailand, where many Muslims feel they are second- class citizens in a Buddhist-dominated land.
The teachers detailed the Tak Bai tragedy of 2004 when Thai security forces confronted Muslim protesters, resulting in the deaths of 85. The victims died of suffocation when authorities arrested 1,300 people and mercilessly stacked them on top of each other in trucks.
"I was shaken when I heard the story. I was revengeful, and I did hate them, those who did this to us Muslims," Waekaji said at the prison in and the police have filed a case against him in criminal court.
During rigorous training, Waekaji learned how to do knuckle push-ups, wield knives, swords and guns and how to take a life.
After two years, he was sent out to burn tires and spread nails on roads to puncture tires and distract police before attacks staged by his comrades.
"They recruit responsible, tightlipped and trouble-free teenagers ... people who can carry out orders and who don't attract attention to themselves," said Thai army Col. Shinawat Mandej. "They train their minds before training their bodies. They get them at the most vulnerable age when they need something to believe in and turn them into cold-blooded killers."
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