Brig. Gen. Prince Faisal bin Mohammed bin Nasser Al-Saud

Brig. Gen. Prince Faisal bin Mohammed bin Nasser Al-Saud, lecturer at Al-Imam University in Riyadh, said that terrorists’ material capabilities are not equal to those of states and terrorists, whether individually or within organizations, can never eliminate states.

His statements were made in a lecture delivered on Thursday at King Faisal Conference Center at King Abdulaziz University.

Prince Faisal stressed that “the effect of terrorism on the political dimension of national security lies in weakening the confidence of citizens in their country and endangering its independence and sovereignty.”

He also brought attention to the dangerous trend of terrorists resorting to the Internet to brainwash susceptible people.

Brainwashing has two elements: Targeting and instigating, the prince pointed out.

Terrorist groups choose young people, usually in the 15-to-25-age range, to recruit them to carry out terrorist operations.

The targeted groups are most often socially marginalized, the poor and the less educated who harbor hostility toward the state. Also targeted are people with mental problems.

The traditional brainwashing process consists of four stages, the prince said.

The first is isolating the targeted people with whom terrorists start forging ties and whom they teach hatred toward the West, in addition to instilling false patriotism.

During the second stage, the instigators works to change the ideology of the targeted people through the use of images and videos that charge the ruler with infidelity.

The third stage targets individuals and accuses the state and other citizens of being infidels and in which they are required to swear allegiance to the “emir” of the terrorist group.

The last stage of the process is that of confirmation of affiliation, and it includes taking the targeted persons to the areas under the influence of the group and forcing them to undergo military training.

“Some terrorist organizations resort to lone wolves, fearing lack of seriousness on the part of the targeted persons or to avoid having many people caught by security officers. A would-be member is assigned a limited terrorist act that he usually carries out alone, but these operations often fail,” Prince Faisal said.