Court papers don't say how a former San Diego man was allegedly recruited by a Somalian terrorist organization. One expert says slick new Internet videos combined with radical Islam's push for a global movement is rapidly making recruitment easier.
When the government publicly accused Jehad Sewan Mostafa this week of helping the terrorist outfit al-Shabaab, the Internet as a recruitment tool came up yet again.
San Diego U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said al-Shabaab, through online propaganda, is luring foreign recruits.
San Diego State University political science professor Dipak Gupta says terrorist groups are constantly posting videos depicting their belief of Western atrocities against Muslims.
"And then you show really vivid pictures of dismembered bodies of babies and women, " Gupta said. "Clear pictures of injustice, then people are inspired to become violent."
Gupta says the Mostafa case highlights the need for constant monitoring of contact between citizens and terrorist groups.
