Now 30,000 foreign Muslims have joined ISIS; analyst says they’ve lost momentum

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2015/09/now-30000-foreign-muslims-have-joined-isis-analyst-says-theyve-lost-momentum

September 27, 2015 8:54 pm By Robert Spencer Leave a Comment

“Nearly 30,000 foreign recruits have now poured into Syria, many to join the Islamic State, a doubling of volunteers in just the past 12 months and stark evidence that an international effort to tighten borders, share intelligence and enforce antiterrorism laws is not diminishing the ranks of new militant fighters.”

But don’t be concerned. The New York Times will always find a learned analyst who will tell us we are winning: “ISIS no longer has the momentum in its core territory of Syria and Iraq,” said Peter Neumann, director of the International Center for the Study for Radicalization at King’s College London. “It’s no longer the ever-expanding jihadist utopia that it seemed to be.” No, contemporary Britain more deserves that accolade.

“Thousands Enter Syria to Join ISIS Despite Global Efforts,” by Eric Schmitt and Somini Sengupta, New York Times, September 26, 2015:

WASHINGTON — Nearly 30,000 foreign recruits have now poured into Syria, many to join the Islamic State, a doubling of volunteers in just the past 12 months and stark evidence that an international effort to tighten borders, share intelligence and enforce antiterrorism laws is not diminishing the ranks of new militant fighters.
Among those who have entered or tried to enter the conflict in Iraq or Syria are more than 250 Americans, up from about 100 a year ago, according to intelligence and law enforcement officials.
President Obama will take stock of the international campaign to counter the Islamic State at the United Nations on Tuesday, a public accounting that comes as American intelligence analysts have been preparing a confidential assessment that concludes that nearly 30,000 foreign fighters have traveled to Iraq and Syria from more than 100 countries since 2011. A year ago, the same officials estimated that flow to be about 15,000 combatants from 80 countries, mostly to join the Islamic State.
That grim appraisal coincides with the scheduled release on Tuesday of a six-month, bipartisan congressional investigation into terrorist and foreign fighter travel, which concludes that “despite concerted efforts to stem the flow, we have largely failed to stop Americans from traveling overseas to join jihadists.”
Other parts of the Obama administration’s policies on Syria and for combating the Islamic State have suffered significant setbacks, as well….
A small but growing number of defectors from the Islamic State are risking reprisals and imprisonment to speak out about their disillusionment with the extremist group, according to a report published this month by the International Center for the Study for Radicalization at King’s College London.
“ISIS no longer has the momentum in its core territory of Syria and Iraq,” said Peter Neumann, director of the center and a professor of security studies at King’s College. “It’s no longer the ever-expanding jihadist utopia that it seemed to be.”
In Britain, more than 750 people have traveled to take part in terrorist-related activity in Syria and Iraq, up from about 500 a year ago. About half of those have returned home, raising fears that they could carry out attacks on British soil. And since September 2014, 34 countries, including the United States, have arrested foreign terrorist fighters or aspirants. The United States has active criminal cases against almost 50 foreign fighter suspects….
Most countries have passed laws to restrict “incitement” to terrorist acts, but in some places those laws are so broad that they prevent free expression. Most countries, however, do not have laws that enable them to prosecute those suspected of planning travel to a country to commit terrorist acts or receive terrorist training; of the 21 countries, only five had such laws.
Amid the spate of new laws, human rights groups warn of a possible backlash if governments go too far in muzzling dissent and in turn, send even more of their citizens into the arms of radical extremists….

“Don’t fight the jihadis, it will just make more jihadis.”