Officials Fear Iraq's Lure for Muslims in Europe

[BeyondGeography]

By CRAIG S. SMITH and DON VAN NATTA Jr.

Published: October 23, 2004
The New York Times

PARIS, Oct. 22 - France's antiterrorist police on Friday identified a young Frenchman killed fighting the United States in Iraq, the first confirmed case of what is believed to be a growing stream of Muslims heading from Europe to fight what they regard as a new holy war.

Redouane el-Hakim, 19, the son of Tunisian immigrants, died during an American bombardment of insurgents in Falluja on July 17, according to an intelligence official close to the case.

Intelligence officials fear that for a new generation of disaffected European Muslims, Iraq could become what Afghanistan, Bosnia and Chechnya were for European Islamic militants in past decades: a galvanizing cause that sends idealistic young men abroad, trains them and puts them in touch with a more radical global network of terrorists. In the past, many young Europeans who fought in those wars came back to Europe to plot terrorist attacks at home.

"We consider these people dangerous because those who go will come back once their mission is accomplished," the intelligence official said. "Then they can use the knowledge gained there in France, Europe or the United States. It's the same as those who went to Afghanistan or Chechnya."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/23/international/europe/23france.html?hp&ex=1098504000&en=6951563352f1ff7a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[barb162]

1. reminds me in a way of when we helped the Afghans

fight agaisnt Russia. I always felt the Afghan women would be way better off under Russia (secular society) than the Taliban. Was I ever right. But we helped train them militarily and they used the same training against us later.

Bush will go down in history as the worst prez in US history. This Iraq war will go down as the stupidest war in US history.

[Aidoneus]

2. Reaping what has been sown

Such a response is not extraordinary, in fact the lack of one would be. The occupyers brought in foreign mercenaries from all over the world to assist them in criminal acts and barbaric atrocities, it is not in their place to whine with a straight face that others involve themselves as well. Of course there will be complaints on the part of the spokesbots for the aggressor states, but the tears (and not merely these) of such hypocrites will only make the grass greener and are not worthy of any other consideration.

The tragedy with this, of course, is that those who deserve it will likely not suffer for their deeds. All the same, there is a certain sense of irony to the matter. The campaign was carried out for years so as to help secure the US dominance of the order of power in the world; instead, it will be the burial ground for this fading era.

[saigon68]

3. foreign mercenaries from all over the world

Lots of amerikan thugs paid $1,500.00 a day to guard the elite (Bremer) and to kill RAG-HEADS