Vectors, Shmectors. It's the Siren Call of the Jihad, Stupid

It doesn't exactly inspire a feeling of confidence to know that those who have been put in charge of protecting us are either too clueless or too politically correct--or both--to see the jihad that's a core teaching of Islam, and that's calling to aimless Muslims youths to come imbue their lives with meaning by heeding Allah's orders:

In a speech last week, Andy Ellis of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said cases like the Toronto 18 show that radicalized individuals with a “distorted version of Islam” are willing to conduct attacks inside Canada.

“Frankly speaking, security agencies do not yet fully understand why and how a seemingly ordinary young man or woman can grow up in Canada yet come to reject the Western, liberal and democratic values that underpin Canadian identity — instead replacing them with the violent, anti-Western ideology of al-Qaeda,” said Mr. Ellis, the CSIS assistant director of policy and strategic partnerships.

“What we do know is that terrorist ideologues who are the vectors of radicalization seek to promote an ‘us versus them’ storyline. This simple message is attractive to many people, especially young people, who are looking for an identity and for a feeling of belonging, and who want to make sense of the world.”

Speaking at the Canadian Association of Security and Intelligence Studies conference in Ottawa, he said to tackle radicalization CSIS would have to work with other government agencies, police and at-risk communities. “We need to expand our efforts into longer-term, preventive programming that will foster individual and community resilience to extremist discourses.”

He's so caught up in the jargon about "vectors" and "extremist discourses" that he cannot even conceive of the possiblity that the problem stems not from a "distortion" but from a perfect understanding of how Islam's founder spread the faith, and how they might follow in his (perfect) footsteps. Also--the CSIS Clouseaus would be well advised to consider the compelling appeal of a hands-on Keeping Up With the Kardashians, posthumously and in perpetuity in Paradise.