To tackle jihadis, French activist says, ditch reason

PARIS (Reuters) - Anthropologist Dounia Bouzar used to try religious arguments to turn young people away from militant Islam – and failed. So the 51-year-old grandmother developed her own techniques along the lines of Alcoholics Anonymous. Her main rule: Don't try to reason with people.

"Characteristically, a young person who has been recruited ... thinks that he is chosen and that he knows the truth," said the bleach-blond, discreetly watched by three police bodyguards as she sat in a Parisian café. "As soon as you use reason – knowledge – to tackle this type of young person, you are failing."