Lone Wolf Terrorism (18 page)

WOMEN ARE LESS LIKELY THAN MEN TO KILL A STRANGER

Another reason why women are virtually absent from the ranks of lone wolf terrorists is that they are less likely than men to kill a stranger when they engage in solo killings. The victims of female murders are usually people close to them, such as a child, parent, lover, or spouse.
⁵⁸
One of the characteristics of lone wolf terrorism (as well as terrorism perpetrated by groups or cells) is that it usually involves attacks on victims the perpetrator does not know. Whether it be a car bombing, a hijacking, or a mass shooting, it is unlikely that a perpetrator has had prior contact with the victim(s). There are exceptions, of course, such as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's shooting of fellow soldiers and others at Fort Hood, Texas, but even in that case, it was a mass shooting, with Hasan firing indiscriminately into a processing center for soldiers at the base. John Gilbert Graham
blew up a plane with his mother on board, but in that same attack, he killed scores of other people he did not know. To be a lone wolf terrorist, then, one has to be able to murder complete strangers and not have a group to fall back upon for emotional or moral support. Women seem to have a harder time than men in doing that.

WHEN WOMEN DO KILL BY THEMSELVES, IT IS MORE EMOTIONAL AND IMPULSIVE THAN PREMEDITATED

As compared to men, when women kill, it is more often based on emotion and impulse. As one expert writes, “The major portion of violent crimes committed by women are characterized by great impulsiveness. Most murders perpetrated by women have a strong emotional motive, are unpremeditated, and are carried out while the woman is in a depressed, desperate or anxious state of mind.”
⁵⁹
Another expert found “instrumentally motivated violence to be more characteristic of men's motivations, whereas women are more apt to use violence for expressive purposes or as a way of releasing accumulated tension.”
⁶⁰
While some lone wolves may also release pent-up emotions and tensions by committing a violent act, their terrorism is nevertheless always premeditated. The tendency for women to kill based more on emotion and impulse than on premeditation is yet another reason why we haven't seen many female lone wolves.

There may be additional explanations for why men seem to dominate the world of lone wolf terrorism. Men, for example, are more likely than women to be familiar and comfortable with using explosives, assault rifles, and other weapons that are favored by many lone wolves. Boys are more likely than girls to grow up in environments in which they are taught how to use various weapons for hunting and other purposes. Shooting guns and playing with other weapons is considered more of a masculine activity, and it is something that many girls would not be interested in. We therefore have a larger
pool of potential male lone wolf terrorists. Furthermore, around the world, there are more men than women who have had training in the use of different types of weapons in militaries. Lone wolves such as Timothy McVeigh, Eric Rudolph, and Nidal Malik Hasan all served at some point in the US Army, with Hasan still in the military when he committed his mass shooting attack at Fort Hood.

Another reason for the relative absence of women as lone wolf terrorists is that committing a terrorist attack by oneself can sometimes fulfill a need for a sense of power, dominance, and control over others, traits more associated with men than with women. While lone wolves have many different motivations for their attacks, ranging from political and religious to criminal and idiosyncratic, there might still be at work on some psychological level, whether conscious or subconscious, the desire to strike a blow all by oneself against a larger and more formidable enemy. By perpetrating a terrorist attack that causes fear in a wide audience and elicits reactions from governments and societies, lone wolves can satisfy that need.

BREAKING DOWN THE BARRIERS TO WOMEN BECOMING LONE WOLVES

Although the factors contributing to the scarcity of female lone wolves are numerous and varied, there are indications that some of these may be changing. First, we have seen a plethora of conflicts erupt around the world during the first decade of the twenty-first century that will fuel the flames of anger, hatred, and retaliation among many individuals for years to come. Memories of what happened to relatives, friends, and others in the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere will linger long after the conflicts end. A parable about two Druze in Lebanon best captures the endless nature of terrorism. One Druze is walking down the road with grenades, machine guns, and daggers weighing him down from head to foot. He passes by a fellow Druze, who inquires why his friend is carrying so many weapons. The first Druze replies that he is going to the Abdullah house to kill
all the people there because they killed his ancestors one hundred years ago. The second Druze looks at his friend in amazement and exclaims, “One hundred years ago! What's the rush?”
⁶¹

Time is indeed on the side of those who seek revenge, including women. The “black widows” of Chechnya and the female suicide bombers in Iraq demonstrated how women who have lost loved ones during a war can be recruited by militant groups to commit terrorist attacks. It will not be surprising to see more women from these and other war-torn countries turn to terrorism, even without the support and training of an extremist group. We have new generations of angry young men and women coming of age around the world, and they have been socialized by their experiences to accept violence and terrorism as the norm and to not be afraid to take action on their own.

Another factor that might bring more women into the ranks of lone wolves is the global economic crisis, which will take a long time to resolve. This has led to major disruptions in people's lives, as they lose their homes, jobs, savings, and more. A sense of hopelessness consumes their everyday existence. Some of these unfortunate people may therefore turn to violence, including individual terrorist attacks, to address their grievances. This could include lone wolf attacks by men or women on banks, financial institutions, government officials, and others.

The most important factor, however, that is likely to lead to a breakdown in women's reluctance to engage in lone wolf terrorist activities will be the continual growth and impact of the Internet. Two recent examples may be harbingers of what is in store as more women gain confidence and knowledge through the Internet to embark on terrorist missions.

THE ONLINE ODYSSEY OF JIHAD JANE

It all started in June 2008, when a diminutive, forty-five-year-old, blue-eyed, American blonde, Colleen LaRose, posted a comment
on YouTube under the username “JihadJane,” stating that she was “desperate to do something somehow to help” the suffering Muslim people.
⁶²
LaRose, a convert to Islam, had a troubled past, which included two failed marriages, convictions for passing a bad check and driving under the influence, and an attempted suicide. She posted many more YouTube videos over time, most of them training videos or violent scenes she had taken from jihadi websites.
⁶³
She had a MySpace webpage that contained photos of her wearing both a hijab, which is a headscarf worn by Muslim women, and a burqa, which covers the entire face and body.
⁶⁴
LaRose also used the alias “Fatima LaRose” in her numerous Internet postings and communications. She communicated via e-mail with people in Europe and South Asia about mutual desires to become martyrs for the Islamic cause.

One e-mail message she received in December 2008 was from a man in a South Asian country who stated his desire to wage jihad and become a martyr. LaRose responded with an e-mail indicating that she, too, wanted to become a martyr. Then, in January 2009, LaRose received an e-mail from a woman in a western European country, stating that she “tried twice [to become a martyr] but i wasnt [
sic
] successful…[but] i will…try until Allah will m[a]ke it easy for me.” LaRose responded with an e-mail that once again expressed her desire to become a martyr in the name of Allah.

The flurry of Internet activity continued in February 2009, when LaRose explained in an e-mail to the South Asian man why she could be valuable to the cause of Islamic extremism. She wrote that, because of her all-American physical appearance and US citizenship, she would be able to “blend in with many people,” which “may be a way to achieve what is in my heart.” LaRose was in communication with yet another man from a South Asian country in March. This man stated that he “can deal in bombs and explosives effecti[v]ely” and that LaRose “can get access to many places due to ur [
sic
] nationality.” That man also asked LaRose to “marry me to get me inside europe [
sic
].” LaRose agreed to marry the man and wrote that she would obtain residency status in a European country. LaRose then
contacted the Swedish Embassy in March via e-mail, requesting information on how to acquire permanent residency status in Sweden. Less than two weeks later, that same man sent LaRose an e-mail telling her to travel to Sweden to kill Lars Vilks, a Swedish illustrator who had angered Muslims throughout the world in 2007, when he drew a derogatory caricature of the Prophet Muhammad. LaRose enthusiastically agreed, e-mailing back that “i will make this my goal till I achieve it or die trying.” The man then instructed LaRose to kill Vilks “in a way that the whole Kufar [non-believer] world get [
sic
] frightened.”

Having made contact through the Internet with other like-minded potential terrorists, LaRose then posted an online solicitation for funds on July 1. Meanwhile, the FBI, which by now had become aware of her attempt to aid and join Islamic extremist movements worldwide, interviewed LaRose on July 17. She lied to the agents, telling them that she had never solicited funds for terrorism, had not made online postings to a terrorist website, and had not used the online username “JihadJane.” Apparently not concerned or worried about the FBI interview, LaRose continued to try to recruit more people.

After being encouraged and emboldened through her Internet activity to wage jihad, LaRose took the next step and traveled to Europe on August 23. She had in her possession the stolen passport of her boyfriend, which she intended to give to a male member of her budding terrorist network. The purpose of her trip to Europe was to live and train with jihadists and to find and assassinate Vilks. She joined an online community while there that was hosted by Vilks. She also conducted online searches of Vilks and his location. On September 30, she sent an e-mail to the man she agreed to marry, stating that she considered it “an honour & great pleasure to die or kill for” him and pledging that “only death will stop me here that I am so close to the target!” However, she was arrested on October 16 after returning to the United States without completing her mission.

LaRose's arrest was not made public until March 2010, when
several people, including those with whom LaRose had communicated over the Internet regarding the plot to kill Vilks, were arrested in Ireland. One of those detained was Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, another American woman who had converted to Islam, whom LaRose had recruited through e-mails for her planned terrorist activities. Paulin-Ramirez returned voluntarily to the United States in April 2010 and was arrested by federal agents in Philadelphia. She pled guilty in March 2011 to conspiring to provide support to terrorists and faced a fifteen-year prison sentence. She was scheduled to be sentenced in November 2012. LaRose, meanwhile, pled guilty in February 2011 to four federal charges, including conspiracy to murder a foreign target, conspiracy to support terrorists, and lying to the FBI. Her sentencing was scheduled for December 2012, where she faced the possibility of life in prison.
⁶⁵

We see in the case of Jihad Jane how a single individual, living in a Philadelphia suburb, can, through the magic of the Internet, build a terrorist network from scratch with online postings and communications. She demonstrated how an individual with no prior contacts with extremists anywhere could announce her intention to become a martyr for the Islamic militant cause and then just sit back and see what unfolds. It would be hard to imagine LaRose being able to reach around the globe for advice, support, funds, and comrades without the existence of e-mails, YouTube, MySpace, and other Internet wonders.

The LaRose case, however, also illustrates a potential Achilles' heel for lone wolves who act as recklessly on the Internet as LaRose did. LaRose's flaunting of her desire to commit terrorist acts through her numerous e-mails and her advocacy of Islamic extremism through her many YouTube postings made her an easy target for identification by not only law enforcement agencies but also by others patrolling the Internet to uncover extremist websites and those advocating terrorist attacks. In fact, online monitoring groups such as My Pet Jawa and YouTube Smackdown, whose volunteers pressure Internet service providers to take down websites that are tied to extremist
groups or contain material in support of Islamic extremism, claim to have known about LaRose long before law enforcement discovered her activities and to have alerted the authorities about her growing militancy.
⁶⁶
Therefore, one of the main advantages lone wolves have over organized terrorist groups and cells—namely, the ability to fly under the radar, since they usually work alone and do not leave a trail of communications that might be intercepted by authorities—can be compromised by those lone wolves who delve into the world of the Internet without taking precautions to cover their tracks.

BRITAIN'S FEMALE LONE WOLF: ROSHONARA CHOUDHRY

Whereas Colleen LaRose needed the emotional and logistical support of others to gain the confidence to plot a terrorist attack, all Roshonara Choudhry needed to gain the confidence to actually carry one out was a series of downloaded video sermons by the extremist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. The American-born al-Awlaki, who was the spiritual leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was killed in a US drone attack in Yemen in 2011. He could be considered the godfather of lone wolf terrorists, having influenced from afar a diverse array of extremists, including Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan. But it was his influence over Choudhry, a bright, young British woman whom he never met, e-mailed, or talked to, that demonstrates how rapidly one can be drawn into the web of terrorism via the Internet.