Boomerang: Opinion versus action in the radicalization of Abu-Mulal al-Balawi

Abstract

Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, recruited by Jordanian intelligence as a double agent to gather information on high-profile Taliban leaders, blew himself up on 30 December 2009, in Khost province of Afghanistan. He killed seven CIA agents and one Jordanian agent. We distinguish two phases in al-Balawi's trajectory to violence: radicalization of opinion during his life in Jordan working as a physician from 2002 to 2009, and radicalization of action in Pakistan between March and December 2009. Mechanisms of radicalization, including personal and group grievances and “slippery-slope” increments of commitment, can make sense of al-Balawi's radicalization of opinion, but his turn to violent action requires consideration of his Internet identity as a warrior, Abu Dujana. In our interpretation, his radicalization in action depended on the means and opportunity offered by Jordanian intelligence and the CIA.

Keywords:

• radicalization
• virtual radicalization
• Internet radicalization
• Khost attack
• extremism
• suicide terrorism
• lone wolf terrorism

Notes

 1. This and later information and quotation from Defne Bayrak are from MT's interview with Bayrak in Fatih/Istanbul on 18 February 2010.

 2. Detailed report regarding this operation by Amnesty International [online]. Available from: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/015/2009/en/8f299083-9a74-48 53-860f-0563725e633a/mde150152009en.pdf (accessed 19 January 2010).

 3. Rana Sabbagh, “Jordanian suicide bomber who killed 7 CIA agents was triple agent”, The Times, 6 January 2010 [online]. Available from: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6977047.ece (accessed 23 March 2010).

 4. Leuprecht, C., Hataley, T., Moskalenko, S. and McCauley, C. “Narratives and counter-narratives for global jihad: Opinion versus action”, in National Coordinator for Counterterrorism (NCTb), Countering violent extremist narratives (The Hague: International Centre for Counterterrorism, 2010), 58–71 [online]. Available from: http://english.nctb.nl/Images/Countering%20Violent%20Extremist%20Narratives_tcm92-259 489.pdf?cp=92&cs=25496 (accessed 4 February 2010).

 5. ICM Muslim Poll 2005 [online]. Available from: http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Politics/documents/2005/07/26/Muslim-Poll .pdf (accessed 3 March 2010).

 6. Office of the National Coordinator of Terrorist Investigations. BBC News, 13 May 2009 [online]. Available from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8047477.stm (accessed 3 March 2010).

 7. Clark McCauley and Sophia Moskalenko, “Mechanisms of political radicalization: Pathways toward terrorism”, Terrorism and Political Violence 20, (2008): 415–33.

 8. Sally Neighbour, In the shadow of swords: On the trail of terrorism from Afghanistan to Australia (New York: HarperCollins, 2004).

 9. See the following website on Sahabas: http://www.sahaba.net/modules.php?name= News&file=article&sid=87 (accessed 3 March 2010).

10. Omar Ibn Kathir, Al-Sira Al-Nabawiyya [Life of the Prophet Muhammad], Great Books of Islamic Civilization Series (Reading: Garnet Education Press, 1999), 20.

11. Verse No. 100 of the Repentance (al-Tawbah-9) section of Quran [online]. Available from: http://www.najaf.org/english/book/25/9.htm (accessed 3 March 2010).

12. Narrated by Ibn [Arabic breathing (accent)] ‘Abd al-Barr in al-Jaami’, no. 1810. See also the other hadiths on Sahabas narrated by different Islamic scholars [online]. Available from: http://www.as-sahabah.info/#/virtues/4535369397 (accessed 3 March 2010).

13. http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/3889.htm (accessed 3 February 2010).

14. Icek Ajzen, “The theory of planned behavior”, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 50(2) (1991): 179–211.

15. Stephen Farrell, “Video links Taliban in Pakistan to C.I.A. attack”, New York Times, 9 January 2010 [online]. Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/world/middleeast/10balawi.html (accessed 14 February 2010).

16. Robert Mackey, “From jihadist blogger to suicide bomber”, 9 January 2010. The Lede, New York Times Blog [online]. Available from: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/09/from-jihadist-blogger-to-suicide-bomber/ (accessed 14 February 2010).

17. Bill Roggio, “CIA suicide bomber appears on tape with leader of Pakistani Taliban”, 9 January 2010 [online]. Available from: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/01/cia_suicide_bomber_a.php (Arabic) (accessed 4 March 2010).

18. As-Sahab, “An interview with the shaheed Abu Dujaanah al-Khorasanit: Hero of the raid of the shaheed Amir Baytullah Mehsud”, 28 February 2010 [online]. Available from: http://www.nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/Balawi0310-2.pdf (accessed 18 March 2010).