The dubious power of the ex-militant
It seems like common sense - enlist disillusioned extremists as credible voices against terrorism and put them to work persuading others to rethink their flirtation with political violence.
Richard Barrett, a former counter-terrorism chief in Britain, told the Guardian: "Many of the people who have been most successful in undermining the terrorist narrative are themselves ex-extremists." And in a recent report summarizing the stories of 58 Islamic State defectors, scholar Peter Neumann concluded that their narratives "can be important in helping to prevent young people from being radicalized and
