(September 19, 2016 at 7:22 pm)Jörmungandr Wrote: The process of Islamic radicalization mystifies me.
It mystifies me, too.
I think many of the terrorist acts are possibly carried out while under the pressure of secret threats or secret bribes. Maybe the mysterious leaders who train the would-be terrorists persuade them by telling them that they will do something to their family members, or friends, or someone they love if they don't listen to their order to carry out a terrorist attack. Then they prepare fake evidence and set up double agents who've been instructed on how to disclose those evidences gradually (like certain information on cell phones, laptops, etc), so that it appears as if the attackers were just lone wolves that somehow became radicalized. Perhaps their plans and persuasion tactics are that much elaborate and secretive.
Believe it or not, even the FBI has thwarted it's own terror plots in the past:
http://www.salon.com/2011/09/29/fbi_terror/