There is a very good reason why no one will possibly ever be able to stop violent Islamist extremism: terrorists do not follow set stereotypes, molds, personalities or any other defining factor. MI5 has produced a report that shows tendencies of individuals likely to be involved in extremism but that the reality is anyone can.
The most interesting point is that the majority of them are in fact religious novices. They are not religious zealots, rather they are lukewarm Muslims with only a loose grasp on Islam. In a way, this makes more sense to me because if you are new to something you are often more – shall we say – gung ho about it. That’s not to say Muslims aren’t passionate about their religion but if they fully understand it and practice it regularly then they are more likely to relate to its peaceful messages rather than to the violent ones so often quoted by Islamists.
The moral of this story is you cannot pigeon-hole terrorists as ‘evil-doers’ and expect to eradicate terrorism. You can try to communicate and interact with Muslim communities across Britain and the US but there is no fool-proof plan nor any perfect litmus test to which you can hold up individuals and say with any certainty ‘yes, he/she will be a terrorist.’