Islamic State Beheadings Beget Beheadings

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“It's too early to tell how popular this technique is going to become,” said Thomas Jocelyn, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and senior editor of the Long War Journal, a publication that focuses on counterterrorism. Al Qaeda has specifically rejected beheadings because it believes they alienate and offend Muslims, and because the videos may turn away more new recruits than they attract, Jocelyn said.

“Videos like these get the hotheads, the psychopaths, but al Qaeda believes they won't attract the more ideologically minded people who will be committed to the cause,” he said.

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