The Self Starter of Toulouse

What has emerged in the aftermath of the shootings in Toulouse has pointed at another spin on the 'lone wolf' theory; that of the motivated self starter. Despite travelling in regions associated with terrorist and insurgent training camps, finding the call of militant Islam and acting in line with religious beliefs it seems Mohamed Merah undertook these actions alone.

The evidence from his actions and background points to a dangerous cocktail of extremist views, a psychotic mindset and a criminal past mixing together to create a man who was capable of carrying out ruthless attacks, up in close proximity with his victims.

 

There were worrying signs from Merah's past; he had allegedly become obsessed with gory terrorist videos and attempted to radicalise Muslim youngsters in his neighbourhood. He reportedly was also a juvenile delinquent, guilty of a host of low level crimes whilst  paradoxically also being into football, theft, women and drinking, not the usual traits of a fundamentally inspired terrorist.

 

In the individual case of Merah the questions now lie with what assistance was provided by those close to him and should he been identified as a threat sooner? ,The issue of whether he should of had closer attention paid to him by France's domestic intelligence agency (DCRI) is a key point for debate, Yet there is a fine line between radical viewpoints and radical actions, keeping tabs on everyone identified as having a radical view becomes a dangerous undertaking...easily capable of inspiring action by those who feel threatened.

The theoretical interest for understanding this and possible future acts like this, lies with two considerations; Is the 'motivated self starter' even more of a threat than the 'lone wolf'? and how much fear is inspired by acts relatively simple to plan and carry out?

 

The 'lone wolf' (as discussed in  http://csaware.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/lone-wolf-terror.html)  has considerable advantage over the planning and logistical problems faced by small terrorist cells, yet can still be tracked and monitored due to established links and training with terrorist organisations; for example the UK threat of lone wolves points directly to extremists returning from time in countries such as Somalia. Let us for a moment assume that the reports are true and that Merah had no link with Al-Qaeda and that the supposed regional organisations were more inspirational than providers of training; that points to the idea that this 'lone wolf' was able to radicalise and inspire himself to undertake the acts which brought terrorism to the streets of Toulouse. In theory this then becomes the biggest threat, the idea that an individual can be inspired to commit terrorism with little contact with others, to take it one step further Merah could even be an exception in that there were warning signs in his travel and previous acts of violence and crimes, theoretically there could be motivational self starters who could achieve terrorist acts with few or no hints from their past pointing to radicalisation.

 

The acts themselves point to an even more worrying threat; the effectiveness of simple small arms attacks. The events in France have shown that a relatively small number of targets chosen for their religious or ideological significance can shock a country and induce fear, anger and response, all desired outcomes of terrorism. The fact this was achieved by the use of firearms points to the fact that simple conventional violent actions are still easily capable of causing shock and panic. Such actions avoid the chance of detection linked with acquiring explosive ingredients or even more obscure CRBN materials. Guns, whilst still causing suspicion, are far more often linked to the criminal class and thus do not raise the same alarms as more 'traditional' terrorist plots would. Merah was even able to incorporate the suicide martyr element into his actions with his last stand shoot out against police.

The counter consideration in the case of Merah and also in Norwegian massacre carried out by Anders Breivik are that these are two examples of individuals with psychotic and mental issues leading them to carry out violent actions in line with their religious and ideological views. Though undoubtedly identifiable as acts of terrorism they could be argued as horrific crimes which in  post 9/11 age have been linked under the ever growing umbrella of terrorist actions. However what is far more worrying is the idea that these 'lone wolves' are self starters, individuals who have been able to radicalise and arm themselves, giving them the ability to carry out violent acts with little or no help. The brutally simplistic nature of these acts also points to a much more simplified approach in terrorist acts one that is ultimately much harder to detect or predict.