Countering Violent Extremist Narratives

7 Contemporary Jihadist Narratives:The Case of Momin KhawajaTom QuigginCanadian court qualified expert on global jihadism and Senior Research Fellow at the CanadianCentre for Intelligence and Security Studies at Carleton University, OttawaIntroductionMomin Khawaja was arrested in 2004 in Ottawa, Canada, for his supporting role in a United Kingdombased plot. The plan of the self-formed ‘jihadist’ cell was to explode a 600 kilogram bomb in London.Momin and his fellow cell members were subsequently convicted of terrorism offences in Canadian andBritish courts.His case may be unique in that Momin Khawaja was both literate and enjoyed writing extensive emails thatexplained his radicalisation process and violent beliefs. He also maintained an online blog, which, onoccasion, would address radical themes (http://www.klashinaat.blogspot.com). During the investigationprocess all of his computer hard drives were seized from his home and place of employment. The result isan unprecedented multiyear record in which Khawaja describes how he came to be radicalised and why hethought violence was both necessary and justified.Momin Khawaja was born in Canada on April 14th 1979 as the son of Pakistani immigrants who arrived inCanada in 1967. His family lived in the well-off Ottawa suburb of Orleans in a large single family house.At the time of his 2004 arrest, Momin Khawaja was earning CDN $500.00 a day (approximately €300) as aprivate computer consultant to the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs. By his own description he leda relatively normal life until the fall of 2000. His views began to change when he began to have a series ofpolitical thoughts during the start of the Second Palestinian Intifada. These thoughts became the basis ofhis radicalisation process that would eventually lead to violent extremism and his participation in a terroristplot. This chapter will, after several introductory remarks on the mind and make up of Islamist terrorist,utilise the detailed information available in the case of Momin Khawaja to analyse his radicalisationprocess, and the various extremist narratives that have influenced him along the way.In the mind of a terroristCan you get into the mind of a terrorist who tries to plants a bomb with the intent of killing large numbersof innocent people? Is it possible to understand what motivates an individual to go from being a seemingly‘normal’ person to one who is willing to use terrorist violence as a means of gaining political influence?In order to understand the mind of a terrorist and the reason why terrorist attacks occur, we must look athow our societies perceive such individuals, as well as the overall political backdrop against which theirradicalisation takes place. Simplistic or jingoistic explanations may be suitable for politicians trying toscore political points. The public are fed lines such as ‘the terrorists hate us because they hate our freedom’.However, these explanations are not sufficient for a society that actually wishes to defend itself whileturning back the narratives and ideologies of terrorist groups.One method of gaining insights into the minds of terrorists is to examine the narratives that they use,stories that will influence them to the extent that they trigger a radical change in thought, and in certaincases also in behaviour. It is important to understand how they perceive world events themselves, and howthey then interpret those events and translate them to other like minded individuals. It is furthermoreessential to analyse the specific kinds of narratives that influence them as they develop an extremist outlook.The make up of an Islamist terroristA number of questions are frequently asked in public, most often by politicians and others who seek toamplify an already alarming situation with regards to public safety. 1 However, some of these questions are8485