Helium Diplomacy and the Jamaican Menace

More cables you missed from the WikiLeaks deluge.

BY DAVID KENNER | SEPTEMBER 2, 2011

Does Jamaica belong in the Axis of Evil?

When policymakers are asked to name the terrorist breeding grounds that keep them up at night, they're likely to mention Pakistan's tribal areas, southern Afghanistan, or Yemen. Sunny Jamaica doesn't usually make the list. But one 2010 cable sent from the U.S. embassy in Kingston warned that the country "potentially presents fertile ground for those who might commit acts of violence in the name of Islamist extremism."

That's a strange conclusion, as the State Department estimates there are no more than 5,000 Muslims on the island of 3 million people. Even the cable admits that the small population has been "largely peaceful" -- but sees worrying trends in the country's future. It notes that a number of terrorists -- including shoe bomber Richard Reid, Beltway sniper Lee Boyd Malvo, and a 19-year-old man who participated in the 2005 London bombings -- were converts to Islam of Jamaican descent.

What is it about Jamaican Muslims that makes them so potentially lethal? The cable speculates that it is because the country "has a significant penchant for violence," and that the attackers may be motivated to "fill the void of an absent father figure in a society in which the family structure is fluid."

FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images

 SUBJECTS:
 

David Kenner is an associate editor for Foreign Policy.

JOHN DAVID SPENCER

1:05 PM ET

September 3, 2011

The Ganja Conspiracy

This is complete news to me, this fact that Richard Reid (the shoe man) and Lee Boyd Malvo, were converts from a branch of Jamaican Islam.

But it does make sense. Sitting in Kingston, reefer in hand, thinking "some day, this man is gonna blow a shoe!".

Funny enough, that's the kind of conversation I could see Reid having.

 

AABUDARA

7:52 PM ET

September 4, 2011

Jamaica?

Well, this is incredible. Jamaica a fertile ground for terrorists? I can't believe people we pay to be in the US embassy in jamaica can arrive to that conclusion. It seems only a way to justify the big checks they receive monthly. Only someone who hasn't slept for several days (or following a sleep apnea treatment) may arrive to such a conclusion.
Maybe there are also cables from Feroe Islands, Surinam, or other countries like telling that those countries are also a fertile ground for terrorists. Unbelievable!

 

EVAJET

11:05 PM ET

September 4, 2011

this is all fake.

Yes this is all fake. They have no respect for any one.. no bingo and i think this is ridicolous.. I can believe that they can do like this..!!

Please leave every thing.. Dont destroy. :(

 

LSLA34

9:35 AM ET

September 5, 2011

http://www.madeshopping.net

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DISPLEASED

7:04 AM ET

September 6, 2011

Slander

Mr. DAVID KENNER

Are you not ashamed to report on something that is so vile and baseless? Do you not have a sense of social responsibility concerning the things you write? Or is it your intention, under the pretense of protecting the United States from terrorists, to create more fear and xenophobic attitudes?

Have you ever been to Jamaica by the way? Have you ever studied the anthropology and psychology of the Jamaican psyche?

If you have not done so, how in the world can you allow yourself to reproduce something like this? This is truly disgraceful and it is unfortunate that irresponsible writers like you get to hide behind freedom of speech because what you truly deserve is to be sued for slander!

 

GRANT

4:38 PM ET

September 6, 2011

Statistically, were the

Statistically, were the numbers of terrorists and would-be terrorists from Jamaica within a natural percentage? If not then there's something about Jamaica.

 

EGISTUBAGUS

12:57 AM ET

September 7, 2011

Islamist extremism

would you please explain me more about this statement , 2010 cable sent from the U.S. embassy in Kingston warned that the country taht potentially presents fertile ground for those who might commit acts of violence in the name of Islamist extremism.
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RUDDERMANN

6:15 PM ET

September 22, 2011

Removing the Jamaican Menace

It would appear that just about all crimes committed in the united kingdom is anticipated to possess a Jamaican connection, it's the very first thing the authorities search for. The British media is continually reporting about Jamaican drug gangs, Jamaican criminals and yardie violence. It would appear that yardies are destroying Her Majesties perfect society. Jamaicans are now being blamed for everything except the terror attack about the World Trade Center and when the house Office announces a Jamaican connection I'd 't be too surprise. If a person follows the British media, you might believe that every Tom, Dick and Harry who commits a criminal offense and who just is actually black, is really a yardie, thus developing a negative perceptions of Jamaicans within the minds from the British public.

 

TAYFA34

1:42 AM ET

September 29, 2011

flash again

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