Rukmini Callimachi, NYTimes reporter, interviewed on her coverage of ISIS on NPR's "Fresh Air" 5 days ago:
http://www.npr.org/2016/08/11/489555425 ... -the-world
Interesting insight into ISIS' "training process"... it's not at all thorough, mostly a crash course. Very different from, say, the level of training that Qasab and the 26/11 PigLeTs received from ISI. It seems that ISIS isn't preparing its cadres to achieve operational success but rather seeks the attention of having large numbers of incidents take place (whether each specific incident achieves a high kill ratio for the terrorists is secondary.) Quantity over quality.
GROSS: What did you learn about the training process in Syria for ISIS fighters from Harry Sarfo?
CALLIMACHI: It varies greatly. So on the one hand, there's a network of dormitories just across the border from Turkey and Syria where they house new recruits as soon as they arrive. And in those dormitories, they triage them. They do a lengthy intake interview with each one where they're asking them all sorts of questions about their backgrounds. A doctor comes and gives them a physical, draws blood, takes their fingerprints. And in that initial intake interview, they identify the ones that they want to send back right away.
When the Emni - which is this body - comes and gets them, we've seen that the training can be as little as a couple of days, which is the case for Reda Hame who was sent back in July of last year, or a couple of weeks. And it's rare that it goes beyond that. The reason for that is ISIS - when they're recruiting fighters from the West, from Europe etc., they give them instructions that when they're coming to Syria. They need to try to make it look like a holiday, so they teach them to book a return ticket. They teach them to go ahead and pay for an all-expensive, one-week vacation at a resort on the Turkish coast. And the note - the idea is to make it look like they're, you know - they're there just having a fun time.
And if they go to Syria for more than a couple of weeks, it becomes harder to justify the so-called vacation when they're returning through European checkpoints. Harry is approached as soon as he arrives. He was very much a desirable target for them, given his German passport and his experience living in London - two countries that they're still trying to infiltrate. And they ask him if he wants to be a suicide bomber right away in Germany. He says no. At that point, they then funnel him to ISIS's special forces, which is this very grueling training program - 10 levels. He makes it through part of the first level when they come to him again and say, would you like to go? He again turns them down. He goes to the second level. He's again approached.
So my impression - I mean, again, this is single source. It's his experience. But my impression is that if you have the chops - meaning the passport, the criminal background, et cetera - to be one of the people that they would like to send back, they aggressively recruit you throughout the process that you're in Syria.
And the training is not that important. And I think the reason for that is that they've realized that with an automatic weapon, you can cause a lot of harm even if you're not, you know, a trained commando.
Another interesting point. ISIS is eager for recruits from UK and Germany, but they have more than enough sleepers in France (and, presumably, Belgium):
HARRY SARFO: Then one man approached me, said I heard you used to live in London, and I heard you were born in Germany. Do you have any contacts or any networks in Germany who are willing to give their life for the emir Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi? And I told him, no, I don't have no one. I'm not willing to go back at all. Then he said, especially in Germany and in England it's lacking of people who are willing to give their life. My friend asked him, so what about France? Because where they were asking about - England and Germany - that they don't have people who were ready to give their life, and then my friend asked him what about France? And they started laughing and really serious laughing with tears in their eyes, saying don't worry about France. (Speaking Arabic) in Arabic means no problem. France's - don't worry about France. France - we have enough people.
See how this correlates with % of Peaceful Population: UK and Germany have 4.8 and 5.8% respectively, France has 7.5%. Tipping point around 6.5 to 7%?
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/20 ... in-europe/
About the US, there is apparently still some truth to the old strategic adage that America is protected by the width of oceans on either side... ISIS sees a disadvantage in the fact that there are long flights involved for recruits to go from the US to West Asian training centers, or go back from West Asia to the US. Long flights mean more security that's harder to clear, apparently, than for West Asia-EU routes. However, ISIS sees an advantage in the US' lax gun laws.
GROSS: What did he tell you about the U.S.?
CALLIMACHI: So there's two obstacles to the U.S. One is that anybody that trains in Syria - and he said that they do have Americans training in Syria and also Americans inside the Emni - which is this body that is responsible for sending them back - but the first obstacle is obviously you have to go there by flight. You know, whether it's directly onto U.S. soil or through Canada or through Mexico, there's a flight involved, and it's a long-haul flight. And in general, the security checks there are more intensive than they are at small provincial airports in Europe.
The second thing he said is that despite that obstacle meaning that it's hard for them to get fighters back, they have a great advantage in the U.S. which is, as he put it, the fact that our gun laws are, quote, "dumb." He was quoting ISIS when he was saying this. And what he means is that it's much easier to get guns in America as we know than it is in Europe. In Europe, they're looking for fighters who have a criminal background. The reason they're doing that is they're hoping that that criminal background will allow them to be part of an underworld that makes it easier to get weapons because it's not easy to get weapons in Europe.
