When Jihadis Go Home

[Valin]

Via Meadia:

 

Walter Russell Mead

7/22/12

 

A fascinating piece in Der Spiegel tracks one German would-be jihadi, who uprooted his family to the infamous Waziristan in order to live the life of a true mujahid, only to find that his religious heroes were illiterate, incompetent and generally lived so poorly that, literally, he feared for the lives of his family.

 

After an investigation by German authorities drove his family from Ulm, Germany and then Egypt, Mr. “Peter B.” and his family packed up for Pakistan to start again among the Taliban and al-Qaeda. But upon arrival, B. refused to fight, looking only to recruit, so al-Qaeda (rather ungraciously) kicked him out of his apartment. His family then moved into a mud house, dodged drones, and coped with the less-than-stellar infrastructure of Paksitan’s tribal mountain villages:

 

(Snip)

 

It’s a side of the narrative that’s not often considered and the disillusionment of people like Mr. and Ms. B is a bit like what happened to so many starry eyed Cold War lefties once they actually got a look at the nastiness of Soviet life. When life in a Turkish prison is preferable to a free life in the Wild West of Waziristan some people may actually ask if the dirty, disorganized, illiterate fanatics waging “holy war” by stoning adulteresses and fighting polio vaccination have the slightest idea what God really wants for mankind.

 

 

 

Reality is a b*tch!