Book Review

BOOK ANALYSIS

Bell, Stewart. The Martyr’s Oath: The Apprenticeship of a Homegrown Terrorist. Mississauga: John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd., 2005.

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Cold-blooded mind-robbers are on the loose, preying on the pliable: a gregarious adolescent riding the bus, an affable youth delivering newspapers, or a blossoming teenager, such as Mohammed Mansour Jabarah, living in suburban Canada.

The Martyr’s Oath: The Apprenticeship of a Homegrown Terrorist chronicles Jabarah’s transformation from middle-class youth in St. Catharines to prominent al-Qaida operative in Asia and the Middle East. National Post reporter Stewart Bell showcases Jabarah’s path to indoctrination, training, and ascension in the mujahedin, and his capture by CSIS.

This thrilling account kept me riveted. Bell avoids temptations to regurgitate his 15 years of terrorism research, keeping the story fresh and well-written; I recommend it without reservation.

Bell asserts that recruitment into terrorist cells is a gradual three-step process: friendship, kinship, and discipleship. “This social affiliation results in intensification of beliefs and formal acceptance into jihad.”

Jabarah is a poster-child for this progression. Malleable, he is swayed by best friend Anas al Kandari, and brother Abdul Rahman, to move to Kuwait. Here, the men are recruited by radical Sunni cleric Sulayman Abu Gaith, who they follow to Afghanistan. The men become insurgents, pledging bayat, the oath of allegiance, to Osama bin Laden.

Jabarah’s father admits, “I strongly believe some group washed their brains, because I know my sons, what they hoped to be.”

Bell discusses the increasing number of youths lured into militant factions, a disconcerting movement within modern terrorism. Jabarah “was just one solitary product of a global network manufacturing terrorists. Until shut, the jihad factory, turning pliant youths into killers for God, will continue to mass-produce terrorists who will haunt us for years to come.”

The book puts a kibosh on contemporary stereotypes about terrorist roots, rejecting Western attempts to identify why they are hated so much, that terrorists eagerly try to kill them. “They won’t find answers… international jihadist terrorism is not a consequence of a particular Western foreign policy. It is the product of terrorists who distort and harness policies and events to bring followers into their movements.”

Bell argues that terrorism is megalomania; “nothing more than a brazen grab for power,” and that propaganda and inflated persecution claims nurture illusions that keep members dedicated.

Bell has obviously done his homework, conducting comprehensive research with assiduous attention to detail. Wise journalists do likewise. Despite unsuccessful attempts to receive information from Jabarah, his lawyers, and governments, Bell remains resilient, implementing other ways to obtain facts: spending countless hours with Jabarah’s family, gaining access to classified documents through Canada’s Freedom of Information Act, and traveling to three continents to interview a myriad of sources. Reporters should emulate his unwavering determination and assertiveness when gathering evidence.

Bell is guilty of preaching to groups combating terrorism, but is vindicated because of accurate research and recognition of the limitations of his claims. “It would be impossible to prevent adolescents from developing radical views. But we can challenge the worldview of extremists, stepping in when radicalization becomes recruiting that supports terrorism.” News-writers must not sermonize if judgments are unsubstantiated.

The Martyr’s Oath is about one man, characterizing many, seeking identity.

“We are all searching for meaning in a world of confusion,” Bell notes. “When someone comes along with an explanation that makes simple sense, giving us something to belong to, it can be a powerful thing.”