The Patriot Post® · Hardly 'Lone Wolves'

Foreign policy analyst and historian Michael Ledeen warns that terminology is important when discussing the Islamic men who attack us: “There ARE homegrown terrorists, like the Unabomber, but these aren’t the people we’re talking about just now. Unabomber is a nut, but he’s a distinctly American nut, and definitely a lone wolf. The so-called lone wolves of recent days – the killer in Canada, the axeman in New York, and, we should add, the Oklahoma City decapitator – aren’t loners, they’re members. They’ve been inspired by local or online jihadis. Another thing. These jihadis often turn out to be converts, even ‘recent converts.’ Words like ‘convert’ often slide past our active attention, but we should focus on them. The act of conversion requires the convert to join a religious community, and may require other actions. … [C]onverts are the opposite of lone wolves because they need help. … They are entering a new world – it’s why they are converting, after all – and it behooves us to take a careful look at the psychological dynamics of their transition. … Those boiling people are very dangerous, as we see most every day. But they aren’t loners. They’ve signed up to kill us.” More…