Search: “Terrorists”

Here is the script that accompanies episode #4 of the podcast “An Intelligent Look at Terrorism”: W(h)ither Al Qaeda? There are a lot of good pieces on the status of Al Qaeda and here are links to a few of them: https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/08/opinions/where-is-bin-ladens-partner-in-crime-ayman-al-zawahiri/index.html https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/trump-isis-syria-iraq-iran-terror-islamic-state-washington-a8769936.html https://ctc.usma.edu/fighting-the-long-war-the-evolution-of-al-qaida-in-the-arabian-peninsula/ Here is a piece on the assessment of the Office of […]

A scant 48 hours ago I posted a blog in which I shared my dismay at the tone of some of the exchanges online and reactions to my posts on various aspects of terrorism. I admitted that the ad hominem attacks and nastiness had started to get to me and made me seriously ask myself […]

I’d like you to do me a favour. The next time you read a story like that of Shamima Begum, the UK Islamic State (IS) supporter who desperately wants to come home, although she does not regret her decision to join the terrorist group and thinks the Manchester bombing was justified, or see a report […]

In light of the announcement by the UK government that it is considering revoking the citizenship of clearly unrepentant jihadi Shamima Begum, claiming that she is “eligible for that of another country” (Bangladeshi apparently although she has never been there), I thought I would reproduce what I wrote about citizenship revocation in my second book […]

Well the last 24 hours have been interesting for me to say the least. It started when I binge-watched season 1 of Bodyguard on Netflix, a UK series on terrorism. Although there were some aspects I found a little far-fetched, I did enjoy the series and walked away with a profound sense of sadness that […]

This piece appeared in The Hill Times on February 11, 2019. We in Canada have terrorism on the brain.  On any given day there is at least one, and unfortunately usually far more than one, terrorist act somewhere  on this planet.  Death and destruction executed by idiots who see the use of violence as God’s […]

Recent weeks have borne witness to many stories and analyses about the problem of ‘foreign terrorist fighters’ and what to do about them. Those who are holding these terrorists are asking host nations to repatriate them and prosecute them at home.  The responses to these requests vary from ‘hell no, we don’t want them back’ to […]

A couple of years ago I went out to my car, which I had left on the street in front of my house and found a ticket on the windshield. For the record, overnight parking is allowed on my street, which is located in a subdivision of Ottawa. I could not understand why I had […]

I am always tickled pink when I see what I think are fascinating parallels between (or among) phenomena. As someone who worked in, and now writes about, terrorism and counter-terrorism, I try to find new ways to describe and, if I may be so bold, to explain why people opt for violent extremism as a […]