Born in the USA But Lured by the "Romance" of the Caliphate

A new study tries to account for the appeal ISIS holds for American "yutes":

American-based ISIS wannabes who have been arrested over the past two years were drawn in by the utopian fantasy of an Islamic caliphate and not necessarily a desire to commit terrorist acts on U.S. soil, a new study has found.

The survey by Fordham Law School's Center on National Security found other common threads among the 25 people charged with supporting ISIS: They tend to be young and U.S.-born, and none is Arab. 

A third of them wanted to provide non-military support of the terror group that is bent on creating a single Islamic state — from financial assistance to bearing children for ISIS fighters, according to the study, which was based on a review of court cases filed over the last two years.  

"The narrative is that they have bought into the idea of the caliphate that they have romanticized," said Karen Greenberg, director of the Fordham center.  

"While some may want to fight, those arrested have wanted to do a wide variety of things to help the Islamic State, including nurse to wife to mother. They don't want to come home."

Good. Let 'em stay--and rot--there. 

As for the idea that they're idealists and not terrorists--the "romance" of it all may hook them at the outset, but once they're committed to the jihad they're likely to be willing to do anything--including unleashing terror on U.S. soil--for the cause. So who cares if, at least initially, they are "not necessarily" driven "by a desire to commit terrorist acts"?