The propaganda wing of ISIL has recruited several Canadians, former CSIS official says
Stewart Bel/National Post/ April 27/16
TORONTO — The propaganda wing of ISIL, known for its gory videos and exploitation of social media, has recruited several Canadians into its ranks, a former senior counter-terrorism official told a security conference Wednesday. Andy Ellis, who recently retired from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, where he was Assistant Director of Operations, said not all of the roughly 100 Canadians who have converged in the region are active in combat operations.
“Many of the Canadians, for example, found their way into the propaganda wing of Daesh,” the 30-year-veteran of CSIS said, using another name from ISIL, in a speech at the Royal Canadian Military Institute in Toronto. “I would argue that would be equally as dangerous, maybe more, than someone who is joining the military wing. A lot of these young Western adherents to Daesh are put on the frontlines and die very quickly. Someone who is working in the propaganda wing can hurt us over and over and over again.”
ISIL has put a heavy emphasis on its violent, religiously-oriented propaganda and the involvement of Canadians has long been speculated, especially since the terrorist group released its claim of responsibility for the Paris attacks using a spokesman who had what sounded like a distinctly Canadian accent.
The same voice was featured in an earlier English-language ISIL video called Flames of War that showed the narrator, dressed in camouflage with a black mask on his face, forcing prisoners to dig their own graves and then executing them.
The RCMP has said it was investigating whether a Canadian had voiced the threats and the FBI issued a seeking information alert asking for the public’s helping identifying the man, who they said was believed to have a North American accent.
Speaking publicly for the first time since his retirement in January, Ellis said Canadians did not fully appreciate the gravity of the terrorist threat they faced and said the “most dangerous” category of extremists was what he called “frustrated jihadists” who are unable to leave Canada.
He cited the example of Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, who killed Cpl. Nathan Cirillo at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Oct. 22, 2014. The attack occurred after the extremist was unable to obtain a passport to travel abroad to join a terrorist group.
“He had a desire to go to the Middle East. He had a desire to fight with the caliphate. And pursuant to good judgment and the law, every effort was made by law enforcement and security services in this country to disrupt his ability to travel,” Ellis said. “It frustrated him. It angered him. He had a history of drug use, of some mental illness. This exasperation probably led to his violent outburst.”
The former CSIS official said that while the link between mental health and violence had once been dismissed, experts were now rethinking that as “an increasing number” of those drawn to ISIL have been found to have a serious mental illness.
More often, these tend to be the lone actors but this is an area that requires more study and frankly improved community resilience. This is not something that the police, that the intelligence services, can manage alone
“More often, these tend to be the lone actors but this is an area that requires more study and frankly improved community resilience. This is not something that the police, that the intelligence services, can manage alone,” Ellis said.
Propaganda is playing a significant role in ISIL recruitment. CSIS interviews with foreign fighters who had been captured and returned to their home countries suggested they had been “mesmerized by the abhorrent violence that they saw on the screen and there was something in that violence that drew them to participate in it,” he said.
“The unsaid promise of sex, either legitimately through the promise of marriage to like-minded people in the caliphate, or through the participation in pillage and rape, has also been cited, albeit privately, as a key recruitment driver by some returnees who have returned to their homes.”
Last week, the National Post revealed that Kadir Abdul and Samuel Augustin Aviles had been arrested after returning to Toronto from Turkey, where they had allegedly been detained for trying to enter the conflict zone. Neither has been charged but the RCMP is alleging they may engage in terrorism and want their activities restricted through peace bonds. Aviles lives on the same Whitby, Ont. street as Kevin Omar Mohamed, who was arrested March 25 and charged with terrorism for allegedly traveling to Turkey to join the al-Qaida faction in Syria.
