A delicate jihadist

A very interesting profile and partial interview by Bevan Hurley on Mark Taylor. Some extracts:

Despite all of the derision he copped over the years, Mark John Taylor hated being mocked.

He couldn’t stand being referred to as the “bumbling jihadi”, and would complain about being mercilessly teased by Stuff commenters.

Oh dear. Poor petal.

During his first few months Taylor tells me in Facebook messages that he is committed to waging jihad and will die a martyr. He spouts against the NZ Security Intelligence Service (“What does NZSIS stand for? Nonsense Zionist Staff internet stalking”) and makes anti-semitic jokes about John Key’s parentage.

What a surprise – he is a racist.

I email back: “Can you tell me a bit about how you’re getting on over there? Everyone here in New Zealand is keen to know more about your life over there.”

Taylor responds: “5 requests as follows:

“1. I only talk in person, not online.

“2. You need to get a letter of protection from the lslamic State officials. Example: The German Writer was able to come here.

“3. I require a fee of no less then 500,000USD about my story here

“4. All confidential information remains confidential or classified.

“5. I check the final editing and make the final decision on the story.”

Totally delusional.

Taylor was getting grief in the comments section of the Stuff story about his exploits teaching with puppets: and he wasn’t happy. Example: “Good ole New Zilind. Every other western country is dealing with the problem of their own hardcore extremists going over to IS, and we give them Frank Spencer”.

Frank Spencer – what a great comparison. Well done that commenter.

“Remember if you make any more stories about me or your work coworkers from Fairfax.

“It won’t be 5 million dollars US, it’ll be 20 million dollars US I be wanting !

“Remove all the articles about me. That includes all other articles written by Stuff.co.nz in the past 7 years.

“And I forget this email, but if you don’t do it, I see you in a Court of Law in New Zealand with your Fairfax CEO and your lawyers INC!

He’s almost a parody of himself.

Paul Buchanan, of 36th Parallel Assessments, is in no doubt that Taylor was a naive stooge. If his time isn’t up already, the end is nigh.

“He might try to reach out to western intelligence agencies and try to secure safe passage. But I doubt that because he seems rather thick.”

An astute analysis!