Fiction: A pdf/txt file about how to recruit for terrorist organizations
March 1, 2014 3:47 PM Subscribe
About five years ago, I remember skimming through what purported to be an internal document for how to recruit for an unnamed/generic terrorist organization. It was very fanciful/dime-novel-like in nature. Does this sound familiar?
1. It was either a pdf or a txt because I remember reading it at a computer screen. I believe it was stored at a depository (scribd, etc.) of some kind.
2. The writing was over-the-top and in different voices. Parts were neatly written while others had typos/grammar problems.
3. I remember there was a part about screening/interviewing potential suicide bombers and selecting the right volunteer.
4. There was a part about developing "assets" on the fly. The author described visiting a shopping mall and being able to persuade perfect strangers to shoplift for him.
5. Some parts actually seemed like well-reasoned explanation for why someone might join a terrorist organization, but other parts were cliche' secret agent stuff that seemed very dated.
Zero percent chance it was an actual document for any real terrorist group. More like an attempted hybrid of Report from Iron Mountain, How To Be Invisible, and Hitman: A Technical Manual.
Can you suggest anything that might match this description? I know it is a bit of a longshot.
1. It was either a pdf or a txt because I remember reading it at a computer screen. I believe it was stored at a depository (scribd, etc.) of some kind.
2. The writing was over-the-top and in different voices. Parts were neatly written while others had typos/grammar problems.
3. I remember there was a part about screening/interviewing potential suicide bombers and selecting the right volunteer.
4. There was a part about developing "assets" on the fly. The author described visiting a shopping mall and being able to persuade perfect strangers to shoplift for him.
5. Some parts actually seemed like well-reasoned explanation for why someone might join a terrorist organization, but other parts were cliche' secret agent stuff that seemed very dated.
Zero percent chance it was an actual document for any real terrorist group. More like an attempted hybrid of Report from Iron Mountain, How To Be Invisible, and Hitman: A Technical Manual.
Can you suggest anything that might match this description? I know it is a bit of a longshot.
Response by poster: Thanks for the suggestion, but it was not what I was thinking of.
So...I'm going to mark this one "stumped" and I'll check in periodically.
posted by 99percentfake at 8:15 PM on March 4, 2014
So...I'm going to mark this one "stumped" and I'll check in periodically.
posted by 99percentfake at 8:15 PM on March 4, 2014
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posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 5:17 PM on March 3, 2014 [1 favorite]