US homeland security chief: Terror groups recruiting Western Europeans

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Terrorist groups are believed to be actively recruiting Western Europeans for possible attacks in Europe, or to use the continent as a springboard for strikes in the United States, the US Homeland Security chief said Tuesday. "Europe is a place where we have seen attacks carried out. It's a place where we know they are recruiting operatives who can pass freely in Western Europe," Michael Chertoff told reporters. "Whether the attack is aimed at Western Europe or aimed at coming to the US from Western Europe, that's one of the things we have to be focused on." Chertoff, in Warsaw for ceremonies marking the 65th anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising against the Nazis, said terrorists are looking to recruit people who do not fit the "stereotype of what a terrorist looks like ... (people) who are Western in appearance, Western in experience, can mingle freely in the West without attracting attention, who will be easier to slip into the stream of travel."