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Shaping Sheet
Introduction
Fact Statement: With hundreds of thousands of Middle-Eastern men and children fighting for Al-Qaeda, what can be
done to discourage the children from growing up to become Jihad Radicalists?
Claim Statement: Al- Qaeda, which means “The Base” in English, was believed to have been founded by Osama bin
Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. This Islamic terrorist group is responsible for the killing of
thousands of Americans in the attacks of September 11, 2001. This group will stop at nothing to win, what Americans
call, the war on terror. Al-Qaeda has even resorted to the use of children and disabled women to be used as suicide
bombers and the children can also be used as child soldiers. So, with all of the available options, what tactics are Al-
Qaeda members using to recruit young children to be child soldiers?
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Topic Sentence 1: According theQuilliamFoundation.com, whose motto is “the world’s first counter-extremism
think tank set up to address the unique challenges of citizenship, identity and belonging in a globalized world.
Quilliam stands for religious freedom, equality, human rights and democracy,” the cartoon movie was announced
by a contributor calling himself Abu al-Laith al-Yemen on the password-protected Arabic-language al-Shumukh
online discussion forum on Sunday.
Concrete Detail 1: Al Qaeda sympathizers are planning to produce a children's cartoon film to inspire young Muslim
viewers to take up armed violence against the West, according to security specialists who monitor militant websites
Commentary 1: Scenes from the cartoon show young boys dressed in battle uniforms and participating in raids,
killings and terror plots.
Commentary 2: "It's a Disney-like film aimed at kids that tells stories of the Prophet, stories of holy wars and
anti-Western propaganda," said Noman Benotman, a former jihadist with links to al Qaeda who is now an analyst
at Quilliam.
Concrete Detail 2: "The cartoon movie 'Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula' (AQAP) is a very exciting story that tells
the facts about who let down the Islamic religion and the Prophet, and how the Arab leaders are agents of the West
and other Islamic issues," Quilliam quoted al-Yemen as saying.
Commentary 1: Al-Yemen posted some pictures from the proposed cartoon, showing masked figures firing rifles
and executing captives. He said the cartoon would include depictions of real incidents including "raids, armed
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engagements and assassinations."
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Commentary 2: Will McCants, a leading scholar of militant Islamism and former U.S. State Department adviser on
countering violent extremism, wrote on the Jihadica.com website saying “if it's legit and anywhere near like the
purported screen shots and promotional banner, it would indicate that AQAP is becoming even more sophisticated in
its efforts to reach out to youth,"
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2. Concrete Detail 3: "Al Qaeda's plan may backfire," said Benotman, a former Islamist militant and associate of Osama
bin Laden.
Commentary 1: In a statement, Quilliam analyst Noman Benotman said many Muslim parents would see the venture
as a direct attempt by al Qaeda to create divisions within families and to undermine the authority of parents.
Commentary 2: While online cartoons could help get complex messages to various audiences, including people who
don't read newspapers, this venture may show al-Qaeda "can no longer attract new followers in much of the Arab
world", Benotman said.
Wrap Up (Clincher) Sentence: So, while AQAP is getting more sophisticated in their attempts to recruit children, the
US has middle- eastern associates that can topple the plans before they can ever leave the drawing board.
3. Shaping Sheet
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Topic Sentence 2: Children who are not being kidnapped by Al-Qaeda, may be joining willingly due to a sense of
patriotism towards their country.
Concrete Detail 1: According to an article on dailytelegragh.com, children are willingly joining the terrorist network.
Commentary 1: Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, a US military spokesman, said five videos showing children being
trained by adult terrorist members were seized in a raid on December 4 on a suspected al-Qaeda base in Khan Bani
Saad.
Commentary 2: The videos showed boys apparently as young as nine wearing balaclava masks and European
football jerseys and wielding pistols, machineguns and rocket launchers during training exercises.
Concrete Detail 2: “Yusuf Al-Ayeeri trained his own and other children in using machine guns and endangered their
lives,” the public prosecutor said while charging 10 alleged members of an Al-Qaeda cell during Apr 16, 2012 hearing.
Commentary 1: The charges against them were that they set up a secret cell to train children in the use of
sophisticated weaponry and advanced telecommunication technology.
Commentary 2: Also, this group was embracing and spreading the takfiri (branding opponents as kafirs) ideology,
providing shelter to fugitive terrorists, resisting law enforcement agencies, helping forge travel documents and
participating in wars all over the world.
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4. Concrete Detail 3: On an online article on www.yidwithlid.blogspot.com, a terrorist group in Gaza called the “Hamas”
are using summer camps to teach children the basics of terrorism. According to the article, “100 thousand kids and
youth spent their summer vacation training in 700 Hamas training camps. The camp's curriculum includes firearm
training and military drills in order to nurture the next generation of militants.”
Commentary 1: While children in America learn to make lanyards, play baseball, and go canoeing, children in
Gaza are learning how to set explosives, hate the west, the proper use of rifles and the joys of martyrdom.
Commentary 2: The supposed purpose of these camps is to show children to achieve leadership of the
organization through "Victory and Freedom".
Wrap Up (Clincher) Sentence: The recruitment of children for terroristic actions has been in effect of many years but
hopefully soon, their usefulness in the military will cease.
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Shaping Sheet
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Topic Sentence 3: According to an article Faisal Darem in Sanaa on www.al-shorfa.com, Al-Qaeda is using a false
brand of Islamist ideology as a brainwashing tool to recruit children for suicide operations
Concrete Detail 1: Ahmed al-Qurashi, director of the Seyaj Organization for the Protection of Children in Yemen, said
“child recruits constitute up to 40% of all al-Qaeda recruits in Abyan province.“
Commentary 1: The Abyan Providence was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group, making
inhabitants, including children, susceptible to recruitment by Al-Qaeda members.
Commentary 2: According to a questionnaire in the article, a man named Al-Shorfa asked “Does Seyaj have data
on the number of children al-Qaeda has recruited? “Al-Qurashi,director of the Seyaj Organization for the Protection
of Children in Yemen, answered “No one can provide a specific number for al-Qaeda's recruits among children or
adults because of the great danger involved, but we are certain that the percentage of child soldiers under the age of
18 is not less than 40% of the overall number of recruits. The recruits are tied to the organization more on ideological
grounds than as a source of livelihood, as opposed to boys younger than 18 who join government forces as a source
of livelihood.”
Concrete Detail 2: An article written by Islamic scholar Bernard Lewis, explains how terrorists refer to the west as
“Gods enemy.”
Commentary 1: Bernard Lewis wrote "The Roots of Muslim Rage," explaining the rise of Islamic radicalism and the
increasing hatred of the West as a response to Western superiority and to the “stealing of the culture” of Islam's
traditions by Western culture.
Commentary 2: The Islamic hatred is, according to Lewis, an outcome of the collision between the Western and
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Extra civilizations and "an Islamic historical response to secularism and the Jewish-Christian heritage."
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6. Concrete Detail 3: In recent years, radical Islamic scholars have renounced the privileges that Christians and Jews had
enjoyed under Islamic rule and denied their status as “ahl al-dhimma”:(people of protection), accusing them of
crimes against Islam and deviation of faith in God by attributing associates to God.
Commentary 1: This denied status opened the way to justifying mass killing of Christians and Jews under the flag
of jihad for the sake of Allah.
Commentary 2: The article also explains how the U.S. is viewed as a global infidel force menacing Islam with its
ideology, social and economic values, and hostile policy, seen in terms of a modern Crusader war against Islam.
Wrap Up (Clincher) Sentence: The terrorists are very aggressive and very infuriated with Americans as well as the
Western culture and with the decreased number of Al-Qaeda members, I believe that one day America will help the
enemy rebuild and they will all coexist together as one.
