Radical leaders and their followers were dismissed for years as small bands of crazies unworthy of serious study or scholarship. Most of these groups belonged to the non-state actor class and were viewed as largely inconsequential until radical, Islamic fundamentalists seized power in Iran and the micro became macro with global implications. They quickly set up shop by dispatching operatives in Lebanon. The “Party of God” engineered their Hezbollah homicide bombings in Beirut which claimed the lives of 220 U.S. marines and 21 other members of a multinational force. Indoctrination for the purpose of producing radicalized agents now made strategic sense. Al Qaeda, Palestinian networks, the Tamil Tigers and several other groups, secular and religious, realized that they could create lethal minds and wage war against the state and the trend continues. Mexican cartels are utilizing the benefits of radicalized faith in their war with the state and each other. They are seeking to implement ritualized devotion to a Higher Power and create social cohesion within their networks. Currently Santa Muerte is the deity of choice for most cartels, but La Familia Michoacana is turning to the Bible and cleverly preaching a different Gospel to further its strategic and political aims. Continue Reading