Teenager from Dewsbury becomes Isis suicide bomber

[ItsNotAsPerfectAsItSeems]

I am appalled for this young man, his family and friends and his community. Such a waste of life.

But what I really want to say is how fantastic it is to hear his family issue a statement making clear to others that Isis is not Islam and that these evil bastards are nothing but lawless, murdering criminals. Especially courageous to make that wider point when they are in the midst of grief.

I was also really pleased to hear the guy from the Yorkshire branch of the Muslim council draw clear parallels between Isis and paedophiles. He said it was grooming. It's going on online up and down the country and that teenagers are vulnerable.

I know the MCofB has been criticised on many occasions got being too soft in their condemnation of radicalisation and terror pushers but I think the statements issued today are a shift change and I really hope that some good can come from this tragedy in that young, easily led Muslim teenagers can start to see this bullshit for what it is; terrorist propaganda trying to steal your life.

[ItsNotAsPerfectAsItSeems]

Second paragraph should start with 'What I also wang to say, not really want to say.'

[AnyoneForTennis]

just read this....awful

[ItsNotAsPerfectAsItSeems]

I know. I've been thinking about it all day. 17? What a waste of life. His poor parents.
I really hope their, 'Not in our name' statement gets through to other young people in the Muslim community. I think the grooming message needs to be pushed and given greater airtime.

[ginghamcricketbox]

Hang on, you are appalled for him, family and friends and his community what about the 11 people killed by this piece of shit.

[chocolateyay]

Went with a mate, whose brother was jailed for terrorist support offence. Remember the 3 Bethnal girls who ran off to be jihadi 'brides' (supposedly now trying to claw their way out) and the fathers 'outrage' at everyone whose fault he thought it was - apart from his, who, it turned out had taken her to Chowdhry rallies...

[shitebag]

I feel for his family but not for him.

I don't care how you fall into the trap but as soon as you leave the country knowingly to join a terrorist group in order to kill people you lose my sympathy.

As with those girls, once they leave they should be left to it and not allowed back in.

[038THETA]

But what I really want to say is how fantastic it is to hear his family issue a statement making clear to others that Isis is not Islam and that these evil bastards are nothing but lawless, murdering criminals. Especially courageous to make that wider point when they are in the midst of grief

maybe but then again we would expect them to do all they can to give the impression that they had nothing to do with the fact that this teenagers mindset provided fertile ground for Isis rhetoric.

As Chocolate points out that is exactly what the father of one of the Bethnal girls did, but the reality turned out to be rather different.

[ItsNotAsPerfectAsItSeems]

But they're still kids. Under 18! I'm certainly not condoning what they did. It's horrendous. But they are bring brainwashed and we, as a society, need to try and stop it happening.
It's all very well saying the parents are to blame. Maybe in some cases they are either proactively or by being very passive in the way they deal with the dangers if radicalisation. But the 'teenagers' board on here will tell you that parenting a 16/17yr old isn't easy. That sometimes kids from good home circs do incredibly selfish and stupid things. Teenage Suicide happens not because kids have awful home lives but because their brains see everything in extreme. Young girls are warned in school about grooming for sex. Grooming for terror needs to be talked about more and out in the open. These people need to be ridiculed as propaganda peddling lowlife in the eyes of the teenagers they are targeting.

And I, along with others, have been critical of the MCB for releasing fairly tame statements in the past so today I'm pleased to see them be so firm in their condemnation of those who seem to radicalise.

[ItsNotAsPerfectAsItSeems]

seek to radicalise.

[BreakWindandFire]

I think it's very different from grooming. In the cases of grooming, young and often vulnerable girls are promised love and affection, protection and care. They are sold a lie.

In the case of wannabee jihadis surfing the web, they are clearly being offered a rape holiday with a bit of kuffar oppression, head-chopping and some bombing added for good measure. It's made explicitly clear what's being offered. The violence is glorified and part of the attraction strategy - it's in no way hidden.

[Pixel]

I read a newspaper article about this and the parents told how devastated they were, how he was such a sweet boy really etc etc, but not one mention of his innocent victims or their devastated families.

And I think it's interesting that in this situation 'they are still kids', they are vulnerable and brainwashed and know not what they do, yet there are those who think 'kids' of this age have the maturity to vote on the future of our country. Which is it I wonder?

[TealFanClub]

Poor old Dewsbury

ALWAYS with the bad news
My family were from there and the mere mention of the word makes me all nostalgic

[ggggllll]

Awww, poor mass murderer who killed 11 people. What a tragic "waste of life".

I happen to think the waste of life is the poor victims he chose to kill, and that it's only a shame he didn't catch a bullet before he could kill anybody else.

[038THETA]

?
I agree that making an analogy with grooming by pedophiles seems to be a disingenuous attempt to obscure the fact that the suicide bomber is a perpetrator of terrorism to a greater extent ?than he is a victim

[chocolateyay]

A victim who made more victims, more grieving families, more of a bloody mess in a shitty situation.

[ItsNotAsPerfectAsItSeems]

Oh I'm not at all dismissing what he has done. His actions are heinous. No question. I'm just saying, he was 17 FFS! And something is going wrong somewhere when we have 17yr old British boys leaving their relatively privileged existence and running off to commit terrorist acts with a bunch of nutters!

There was a Syrian woman talking on R4 a couple of wks ago saying how she couldn't comprehend it at all and that if they knew what these places were really like then no way would they run off there with some romantic notion of killing in the name of God.

And I disagree that it's not at all like grooming. Young Asians are being bombarded with these messages online and through social media. They are targeting the vulnerable ones and they keep 'whispering in their ear' about how nobody in Britain respects them or how British women will make them feel inferior. Slowly turning them towards the idea that joining Isis is the answer to all the teenage angst inside them. They pretend it's the land of milk and honey when it's nothing but sand and death.
It's ok to be appalled at what he has fond whilst still feeling sad he has wasted his young life doing it.

[chocolateyay]

We know a Syrian family (came over on a contract and are now stuck here) and they just can't comprehend why little gobshs who know nothing about the country, culture, politics, or the actual religion are rushing over to 'play jihadi' and f up their country (that they can't go home to now).

[partialderivative]

But they are bring brainwashed and we, as a society, need to try and stop it happening.

He was not part of any society that I belong to.

[Pixel]

He was not part of any society that I belong to.

Well said.

[avocadotoast]

There was a programme on a while back - BBC I think? - about teenage girls who went off to Syria. They were definitely groomed. It's terrifyingly easy to find the websites involved as well - one of the names mentioned I googled just out of curiosity, and came across a tumblr that basically tells you what you'll need to take with you to Syria. It's worded in such a way that makes it sound like a great big adventure.

It is very sad about this boy but pp are right; the real tragedy is the victims and their families.

[ginghamcricketbox]

Why are you trying to make a mass murderer a "victim" this piece{s} of shit was not groomed on line, he was groomed from the moment he was born.
And as usual the MCB and Shami Chakrabarti & co blame everyone but themselves.

[IPityThePontipines]

Hang on, why would this be the fault of the MCB, or Shami Chakrabarti?

Why was he groomed from the moment he was born? Do you think all Muslims are like that?

[TheNewStatesman]

Totally agree with the poster upthread with the comment about voting.

I don't get it! If a poor ickle 17yo is not capable of understanding that blowing people up is not a nice thing to do (duh!), then why are we planning to give this age group the vote? One way or the other, please.

[TheFairyCaravan]

He wasn't part of any society I belong to, either.

You can keep saying "he was 17, he was a kid", but I've parented 2 boys who are now 18&20, they don't change overnight when they hit 18. At 17 they are pretty smart, they have a real understanding of what is going on around the world. They have more access to the news, to what is happening, to inform and educate themselves than ever before.

I do agree that they are being groomed to a certain extent but and that needs looking in to. But this lad was a nasty piece of shit who killed 11 innocent people. We need to not forget that.

[Tanith]

When I was growing up, it was cults such as the Unification church that were brainwashing young people and manipulating them.

You've all seen people like Derren Brown making people act totally out of character. If he can make a perfectly ordinary person carry out an armed robbery, then is it so difficult to believe that similar techniques are manipulating young people to run away to IS and carry out suicide missions?