A walk through the run-down Lavapiès quarter of Madrid and through the crowded Mazouk area of Tetouan, the northern Moroccan city, will tell you more about modern Islamic militancy than any number of studies of al-Qaida. In both you will see large numbers of young men, sitting, standing, talking, smoking, in internet cafes, on street corners, in coffee shops. People come and go. Friends arrive, greet each other and leave. Small groups form and then split up, only to reform elsewhere. Over a number of days spent in both locations in the last year, one element struck me: none of the groups, excepting those on their way to football matches as spectators or players, or, on Fridays in particular, on their way to or from prayers, ever numbered more than half a dozen. There was usually a couple of individuals who were more confident, more assured, louder, two or three who are clearly hangers-on and then some in the middle. Around them all circulated a larger number of acquaintances and contacts: some there for the ride, others with specific attributes such as a car, a cafe, a shop, hashish. The groups' composition was that of most terrorist groups.
Read Full Article »
