‘Their homeland,’ said Abdelhamid Abaaoud, about country where he was born

The interview in Dabiq

Read any account of Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the possible mastermind of the Paris attacks, and the most interesting bit is when he talks about plotting to attack Europe.

In Dabiq, an ISIL magazine published in several European languages, including English, Abaaoud (Abu Umar Al Baljiki) derides “the bloated crusader intelligence” and crucially says the following:

“My name and picture were all over the news yet I was able to stay in their homeland, plan operations against them, and leave safely when doing so became necessary.”

Their homeland, he says. This Belgian son of Moroccan immigrants, who, according to The Washington Post, graduated from one of Brussels’s most prestigious high schools. (Click here for The Post story.)

Obviously, Abaaoud is an aberration but the distance that second and third-generation immigrants are able to put between themselves and Europe becomes ever more urgent.

In that gap falls loyalty.