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JIHAD WATCH
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The Woman Who Escaped the Islamic State
Admin Sat 27 Sep 2014, 4:28 pm
The Woman Who Escaped the Islamic State
BY EMILY FELDMANSEP 10, 2014
GAZIANTEP, Turkey— When Islamic State fighters took over the largest hospital in the Syrian city of Raqqa — the capital of their recently declared caliphate — many of the female doctors stopped showing up for work for fear of the radicals.
SEE ALSO: The Terror Organization Taking on the Islamic State
This was a problem for the “emirs” who now ran the hospital and wanted to ban interaction between male doctors and female patients.
Yet, one day in April, a woman named Raheb, a 26-year-old recent medical school graduate, arrived at Raqqa National Hospital. Though she was horrified by the brutality of the Islamic State militants, who had made life in her hometown “worse than anything I could have imagined,” she wanted to practice as a doctor and help the people of her war-torn city.
Over the next four months, she worked as the only full-time female doctor at the hospital, becoming a witness to the increasing brutality of life under the Islamic State.
Children-in-Raqqa
A child looks at stand selling military fatigue in the northern rebel-held Syrian city of Raqqa on October 1, 2013
Raheb, who spoke on condition her last name not be used for security reasons, both saw and experienced endless harassment at the hands of the radicals, who were obsessed with women's appearance. “The most important thing for them was Sharia," Raheb said, referring to Islamic law. “Not medicine, not health.”
By the time she began working at the hospital, the Islamic State had already infiltrated the city's schools, eliminating classes they didn't approve of — including philosophy and chemistry as well as courses in Arab nationalism and Islam, which wasn't taught, in the radicals' opinion, in a pure enough fashion. Girls as young as nine were told they had to cover their hair under veils.
Some people in Raqqa resisted the transformation of their city, and even tried to protest against the Islamic State. But over time they were silenced through terror and fear. The jihadi militants had controlled the city for months, enforcing public whippings and leaving decapitated bodies in the street as warnings.
Raheb — like everyone in Raqqa — understood the risk of disobeying their brutal rule.
“Everyone refuses these laws, but nothing is in their hands,” she said.
When the radicals demanded she trade her scrubs for an abaya — the long black cloak covering the entire body, paired with a niqab, or face veil — she obliged, despite concerns about hygiene and ease of movement.
Still, she found herself under constant scrutiny by the armed men she found herself under constant scrutiny by the armed men — many of them foreign fighters — who patrolled the hospital and regularly inspected the length and thickness of her niqab to be sure her features were completely covered.
One day, a fighter, whom she believed to be Chechen, burst into the emergency room where she was filling out a patient's file, and began shouting in broken Arabic about gloves.
“Gloves, need! Gloves need!” he shouted, sending Raheb into a panic.
“I thought there must have been an emergency and someone needed gloves,” she said. “I tried to hand medical gloves to him, until I realized that he was telling me to cover my own hands.” She didn't have the required black gloves and so she tucked her hands into the sleeves of her abaya and awkwardly tried to continue filling out the patient's form.
he guards at the hospital made no exceptions to the dress-code, even in life-or-death situations.
One day, a woman, who appeared to be in her 60s, was brought to the hospital suffering from cardiac arrest possibly triggered by one of the many bombings that had rattled the city. As a nurse hurriedly wheeled her down the hallway toward the room where she could be given CPR, the woman's face was momentarily exposed, drawing the attention of one of the Islamic State guards.
“Cover her face!” he shouted, chasing them down the hall. “Cover her face!” he shouted, chasing them down the hall.
“She's dying!” the nurse protested.
The fighter, infuriated, grabbed the sheet from the patient's bed and threw it over the the woman's face, to the horror of the medical staff who witnessed the scene.
“It was so dangerous,” Raheb said. “She's in cardiac arrest. She needed oxygen and he covered her face with a sheet.”
Despite attempts to save her life, the woman died.
In addition to enforcing strict Sharia law, the guards also hoarded precious resources, leaving the civilians with expired medicine and whatever scraps the fighters didn't want. And like the rest of the residents in the city, she became increasingly inured to the cruelty around her.
One day, Raheb's parents saw how an Islamic State fighter became enraged as he caught sight of a woman lifting her face veil to smell a bottle of perfume at a shop. He dragged her into the street as other fighters rounded up other people so they could witness what would happen to women who exposed their faces in public. One of the fighters then whipped the woman for several minutes, before releasing her and allowing the crowd to disperse.
Raheb's mother, a retired school teacher, was terrified and implored her daughters to abide by any Islamic State demands. When the radicals banned women from going out in public without a male relative, her father began escorting Raheb to and from the hospital.
When Raheb began hearing stories of rape, abductions, and women being forced to marry Islamic State emirs in neighboring Iraq, she thought about buying herself a wedding band to guard against a similar fate.
Raheb finally decided to flee when an Islamic State guard at the hospital tipped her off that she was about to be reported to the religious police. He didn't tell her the reason, though she suspected the militants had discovered that she and a colleague — without the Islamic State's permission — were trying to get additional medicine to the hospital since it was running dangerously low on supplies for civilian patients.
Raheb decided to make a run for it, ducking out an emergency exit in the back of the building. With the help of her father, she managed to make it to her sister's house where she hid for days. Eventually, in early August, she fled to Turkey, settling in Gaziantep where many other Syrians also live. Her sister and her sister's two children joined her a few weeks later. Their parents, who are still in Raqqa, are expected to join them soon.
Though Raheb is relived to have escaped life under Islamic State rule, she still mourns what has happened to her hometown of Raqqa. “One of my biggest fears is that my city will never go back to the way it was,” she said.
BY EMILY FELDMANSEP 10, 2014
GAZIANTEP, Turkey— When Islamic State fighters took over the largest hospital in the Syrian city of Raqqa — the capital of their recently declared caliphate — many of the female doctors stopped showing up for work for fear of the radicals.
SEE ALSO: The Terror Organization Taking on the Islamic State
This was a problem for the “emirs” who now ran the hospital and wanted to ban interaction between male doctors and female patients.
Yet, one day in April, a woman named Raheb, a 26-year-old recent medical school graduate, arrived at Raqqa National Hospital. Though she was horrified by the brutality of the Islamic State militants, who had made life in her hometown “worse than anything I could have imagined,” she wanted to practice as a doctor and help the people of her war-torn city.
Over the next four months, she worked as the only full-time female doctor at the hospital, becoming a witness to the increasing brutality of life under the Islamic State.
Children-in-Raqqa
A child looks at stand selling military fatigue in the northern rebel-held Syrian city of Raqqa on October 1, 2013
Raheb, who spoke on condition her last name not be used for security reasons, both saw and experienced endless harassment at the hands of the radicals, who were obsessed with women's appearance. “The most important thing for them was Sharia," Raheb said, referring to Islamic law. “Not medicine, not health.”
By the time she began working at the hospital, the Islamic State had already infiltrated the city's schools, eliminating classes they didn't approve of — including philosophy and chemistry as well as courses in Arab nationalism and Islam, which wasn't taught, in the radicals' opinion, in a pure enough fashion. Girls as young as nine were told they had to cover their hair under veils.
Some people in Raqqa resisted the transformation of their city, and even tried to protest against the Islamic State. But over time they were silenced through terror and fear. The jihadi militants had controlled the city for months, enforcing public whippings and leaving decapitated bodies in the street as warnings.
Raheb — like everyone in Raqqa — understood the risk of disobeying their brutal rule.
“Everyone refuses these laws, but nothing is in their hands,” she said.
When the radicals demanded she trade her scrubs for an abaya — the long black cloak covering the entire body, paired with a niqab, or face veil — she obliged, despite concerns about hygiene and ease of movement.
Still, she found herself under constant scrutiny by the armed men she found herself under constant scrutiny by the armed men — many of them foreign fighters — who patrolled the hospital and regularly inspected the length and thickness of her niqab to be sure her features were completely covered.
One day, a fighter, whom she believed to be Chechen, burst into the emergency room where she was filling out a patient's file, and began shouting in broken Arabic about gloves.
“Gloves, need! Gloves need!” he shouted, sending Raheb into a panic.
“I thought there must have been an emergency and someone needed gloves,” she said. “I tried to hand medical gloves to him, until I realized that he was telling me to cover my own hands.” She didn't have the required black gloves and so she tucked her hands into the sleeves of her abaya and awkwardly tried to continue filling out the patient's form.
he guards at the hospital made no exceptions to the dress-code, even in life-or-death situations.
One day, a woman, who appeared to be in her 60s, was brought to the hospital suffering from cardiac arrest possibly triggered by one of the many bombings that had rattled the city. As a nurse hurriedly wheeled her down the hallway toward the room where she could be given CPR, the woman's face was momentarily exposed, drawing the attention of one of the Islamic State guards.
“Cover her face!” he shouted, chasing them down the hall. “Cover her face!” he shouted, chasing them down the hall.
“She's dying!” the nurse protested.
The fighter, infuriated, grabbed the sheet from the patient's bed and threw it over the the woman's face, to the horror of the medical staff who witnessed the scene.
“It was so dangerous,” Raheb said. “She's in cardiac arrest. She needed oxygen and he covered her face with a sheet.”
Despite attempts to save her life, the woman died.
In addition to enforcing strict Sharia law, the guards also hoarded precious resources, leaving the civilians with expired medicine and whatever scraps the fighters didn't want. And like the rest of the residents in the city, she became increasingly inured to the cruelty around her.
One day, Raheb's parents saw how an Islamic State fighter became enraged as he caught sight of a woman lifting her face veil to smell a bottle of perfume at a shop. He dragged her into the street as other fighters rounded up other people so they could witness what would happen to women who exposed their faces in public. One of the fighters then whipped the woman for several minutes, before releasing her and allowing the crowd to disperse.
Raheb's mother, a retired school teacher, was terrified and implored her daughters to abide by any Islamic State demands. When the radicals banned women from going out in public without a male relative, her father began escorting Raheb to and from the hospital.
When Raheb began hearing stories of rape, abductions, and women being forced to marry Islamic State emirs in neighboring Iraq, she thought about buying herself a wedding band to guard against a similar fate.
Raheb finally decided to flee when an Islamic State guard at the hospital tipped her off that she was about to be reported to the religious police. He didn't tell her the reason, though she suspected the militants had discovered that she and a colleague — without the Islamic State's permission — were trying to get additional medicine to the hospital since it was running dangerously low on supplies for civilian patients.
Raheb decided to make a run for it, ducking out an emergency exit in the back of the building. With the help of her father, she managed to make it to her sister's house where she hid for days. Eventually, in early August, she fled to Turkey, settling in Gaziantep where many other Syrians also live. Her sister and her sister's two children joined her a few weeks later. Their parents, who are still in Raqqa, are expected to join them soon.
Though Raheb is relived to have escaped life under Islamic State rule, she still mourns what has happened to her hometown of Raqqa. “One of my biggest fears is that my city will never go back to the way it was,” she said.
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Re: JIHAD WATCH
Admin Mon 15 Sep 2014, 10:01 am
Newsweek: ISIS Openly Recruiting in Turkey
by TheTower.org Staff | 09.12.14 4:04 pm
Newsweek magazine reported today on the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s (ISIS) “organised recruiting network,” which is “operating online and through religious study groups” in and around Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city.
Although a government official quoted in the report claims that “all necessary actions and precautions are being taken” to fight ISIS’ influence within Turkey’s borders, Newsweek cites residents of Istanbul who paint a different picture:
That claim is disputed by the family of Ahmet Beyaztas, a 25-year-old Kurdish car mechanic, who joined the group last month. Speaking at home in the bleak factory town of Dilovasi, a polluted and poverty-stricken community on the fringe of Istanbul, his brother Kenan tells of how local Isis supporters openly displayed its flag in the windows of their cars and homes. …
“There are many, many more who are joining. And the police are doing nothing,” says Kenan, 30, a schoolteacher. “I’m Kurdish and a leftist. If four Kurds get together the state will break them apart. Of course they can stop them if they choose to.”
The young man, Ahmet, was one of “19 young men from the neighbourhood who boarded two minibuses and headed to Syria to join the fighters.” A Turkish newspaper reported in June that some 3,000 Turks had joined the ranks of ISIS.
Turkey has expressed an unwillingness to allow the United States to launch air strikes from its territory against ISIS. Turkey’s lax border controls have allowed ISIS to make millions by selling black market oil to finance its operations.
In Where the Shadiest Players Find a Home, published in the September 2014 issue of The Tower Magazine, Jonathan Schanzer wrote:
As Human Rights Watch noted in an October report, “Many foreign fighters operating in northern Syria gain access to Syria via Turkey, from which they also smuggle their weapons, obtain money and other supplies, and sometimes retreat to for medical treatment.”
Now it isn’t just ISIS recruits from other countries who are taking advantage of Turkey’s porous borders.
by TheTower.org Staff | 09.12.14 4:04 pm
Newsweek magazine reported today on the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria’s (ISIS) “organised recruiting network,” which is “operating online and through religious study groups” in and around Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city.
Although a government official quoted in the report claims that “all necessary actions and precautions are being taken” to fight ISIS’ influence within Turkey’s borders, Newsweek cites residents of Istanbul who paint a different picture:
That claim is disputed by the family of Ahmet Beyaztas, a 25-year-old Kurdish car mechanic, who joined the group last month. Speaking at home in the bleak factory town of Dilovasi, a polluted and poverty-stricken community on the fringe of Istanbul, his brother Kenan tells of how local Isis supporters openly displayed its flag in the windows of their cars and homes. …
“There are many, many more who are joining. And the police are doing nothing,” says Kenan, 30, a schoolteacher. “I’m Kurdish and a leftist. If four Kurds get together the state will break them apart. Of course they can stop them if they choose to.”
The young man, Ahmet, was one of “19 young men from the neighbourhood who boarded two minibuses and headed to Syria to join the fighters.” A Turkish newspaper reported in June that some 3,000 Turks had joined the ranks of ISIS.
Turkey has expressed an unwillingness to allow the United States to launch air strikes from its territory against ISIS. Turkey’s lax border controls have allowed ISIS to make millions by selling black market oil to finance its operations.
In Where the Shadiest Players Find a Home, published in the September 2014 issue of The Tower Magazine, Jonathan Schanzer wrote:
As Human Rights Watch noted in an October report, “Many foreign fighters operating in northern Syria gain access to Syria via Turkey, from which they also smuggle their weapons, obtain money and other supplies, and sometimes retreat to for medical treatment.”
Now it isn’t just ISIS recruits from other countries who are taking advantage of Turkey’s porous borders.
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Re: JIHAD WATCH
Admin Mon 15 Sep 2014, 9:41 am
15th Sept
ALGERIA: Former al-Qaeda members form new splinter ISIS group
A new armed group calling itself the ‘Soldiers of the Caliphate in Algeria’ has split from al-Qaeda’s North African branch and sworn loyalty to the group calling itself the Islamic State (ISIS), fighting in Syria and Iraq.
20149517044770734_20
Al-Jazeera In a communique released on Sunday, a regional commander of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) said he broke away from the group, accusing it of “deviating from the true path”. Gouri Abdelmalek, nom de guerre Khaled Abu Suleimane, claimed leadership of the splinter group, and was joined by a AQIM commander of an eastern region in Algeria.
“You have in the Islamic Maghreb men if you order them they will obey you,” Suleimane said in reference to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-professed “caliph” of the IS group. Algerian officials did not immediately comment on the statement.
The “Soldiers of the Caliphate in Algeria” is the latest group to break with AQIM and side with Baghdadi, after veteran Algerian jihadist, Mokhtar Belmokhtar’s group, “Those who sign in Blood” pledged allegiance to the IS group.
teaserbreit
But experts say the announcement will not have a major operational impact on the ground as AQIM has been focused on the Sahel region rather than OPEC member Algeria. “The new group will try hard to make some noise, but it will be very difficult to execute big terrorist actions as Algerian security forces have knocked out most of the armed groups in Algeria,” security analyst Anis Rahmani told the Reuters news agency.
AQIM is a mostly Algerian and Mauritanian group that has been present in northern Mali since 2003, and a source of thousands of young fighters travelling to Syria and Iraq. Tuaregs and Arabs joined AQIM in Mali, and youths from Senegal, Niger, and other countries have also reportedly joined the group’s fight.
Baghdadi, who has declared himself the “leader of Muslims everywhere”, fell out with al-Qaeda in 2013 over his decision to expand into Syria, where his followers carried out beheadings, crucifixions, and mass executions.
isis-4
Share
By BareNakedIslam • Posted in EnemyWithin-foreign, Muslims vs Muslims
ALGERIA: Former al-Qaeda members form new splinter ISIS group
A new armed group calling itself the ‘Soldiers of the Caliphate in Algeria’ has split from al-Qaeda’s North African branch and sworn loyalty to the group calling itself the Islamic State (ISIS), fighting in Syria and Iraq.
20149517044770734_20
Al-Jazeera In a communique released on Sunday, a regional commander of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) said he broke away from the group, accusing it of “deviating from the true path”. Gouri Abdelmalek, nom de guerre Khaled Abu Suleimane, claimed leadership of the splinter group, and was joined by a AQIM commander of an eastern region in Algeria.
“You have in the Islamic Maghreb men if you order them they will obey you,” Suleimane said in reference to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-professed “caliph” of the IS group. Algerian officials did not immediately comment on the statement.
The “Soldiers of the Caliphate in Algeria” is the latest group to break with AQIM and side with Baghdadi, after veteran Algerian jihadist, Mokhtar Belmokhtar’s group, “Those who sign in Blood” pledged allegiance to the IS group.
teaserbreit
But experts say the announcement will not have a major operational impact on the ground as AQIM has been focused on the Sahel region rather than OPEC member Algeria. “The new group will try hard to make some noise, but it will be very difficult to execute big terrorist actions as Algerian security forces have knocked out most of the armed groups in Algeria,” security analyst Anis Rahmani told the Reuters news agency.
AQIM is a mostly Algerian and Mauritanian group that has been present in northern Mali since 2003, and a source of thousands of young fighters travelling to Syria and Iraq. Tuaregs and Arabs joined AQIM in Mali, and youths from Senegal, Niger, and other countries have also reportedly joined the group’s fight.
Baghdadi, who has declared himself the “leader of Muslims everywhere”, fell out with al-Qaeda in 2013 over his decision to expand into Syria, where his followers carried out beheadings, crucifixions, and mass executions.
isis-4
Share
By BareNakedIslam • Posted in EnemyWithin-foreign, Muslims vs Muslims
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Re: JIHAD WATCH
Admin Mon 15 Sep 2014, 9:27 am
JIHAD WATCH
Canadian jihadi’s non-Muslim mom launches de-radicalization effort
Robert Spencer Sep 9, 2014 at 11:29am Canada, converts to Islam
christianne-boudreau
“What did I do wrong? How could the child I raised be hurting or killing people?” She didn’t do anything wrong. Her son converted to Islam, and became convinced that hurting and killing people was the best way to serve his god. That is what needs to be addressed. The capacity of Islamic texts and teachings needs to be discussed publicly, not waved away with “There’s violence in the Bible, too.” Muslim communities in the West that ostensibly reject violence need to formulate programs to teach Muslims (especially converts) against this understanding of Islam — and if they cannot and will not do so, there needs to be a public discussion about that as well.
In other words, why does it fall to a non-Muslim to start a “de-radicalization effort”? Why aren’t there such efforts in every mosque in the West?
Instead, these important questions are buried under cries of “Islamophobia.”
“Mother of fallen Canadian jihadi launches de-radicalization effort,” by Adrienne Arsenault, CBC News, September 9, 2014:
The mother of Damian Clairmont, a Calgary man who in January died fighting with ISIS in Syria, says she’s tired of waiting for Canada to take action on de-radicalization. She is starting her own program for families of Canadian jihadis so other mothers don’t lose their sons to the clutches of extremism.
“It’s a lot to take on, but I don’t know what else to do,” Christianne Boudreau said.
“I have no choice at this point, because I can’t just let Damian die in vain and that’s the end of it, and just walk away from it and let it happen to another family … I can’t.”
In her Calgary basement office, Boudreau’s computer fights for space on her small desk with copies of letters that were sent over the past year and rarely answered; to the Prime Minister, to the chief of the Calgary police, to the head of CSIS.
Her questions were broad and pained; How is it that even though CSIS was apparently watching and worrying about her son’s growing extremism, no one informed her until it was too late and he was already in Syria?
In one letter she asks, “If my son was under surveillance for two years in respect to the suspicion of his participation in a potential terrorist organization, how was he able to obtain a passport two months prior to his leaving Canada?”
She has also been desperate for emotional support for both herself and her other children, who are still trying to fathom how their big brother Damian could transform so profoundly and become a fighter with ISIS.
Not much help has been forthcoming.
“I had no one to reach out to, there was nobody who understood what I was going through,” Boudreau says. “It was like I was in a bad movie and I couldn’t make it stop.”
Boudreau tried connecting with other parents in Canada, looking for just one person she could talk with about the horrible guilt and fear and questions that swirl around her constantly: “What did I do wrong? How could the child I raised be hurting or killing people?”
She knows she’s not alone in this. There are dozens of family members of other Canadian jihadis out there who are just as mystified and horrified. But almost all are staying silent, coping far away from the public spotlight.
With no-one in the government or her community answering Boudreau’s calls for help, this summer she went searching in Europe for programs to bring home to Canada. She also found someone who understood her angst, a woman named Domnique Bons in Toulouse, France.
Like Boudreau, Bons’ politically astute son Nicholas converted to Islam and started changing fundamentally. He became obsessed with the plight of the Syrians and vowed to act, not just talk.
By early 2012 he was talking of feeling uncomfortable living amongst non-Muslims in France, and soon after that he was in Syria, along with his younger half-brother Jean Daniel. Both ended up joining ISIS. And both died – Nicholas as a suicide bomber.
Like Boudreau, Bons took the bold and lonely step of speaking out publicly. And like Boudreau, she found that few families were willing to connect with her.
Now, the two women have a plan.
After sitting for hours and sharing lovingly built photo albums of their sons as little boys, parsing their lives and deaths and constantly replaying the questions about signs they saw or missed, they got to work.
Canadian-born Muslim convert Damian Clairmont left Calgary in 2012 for Syria, where he was killed while fighting with ISIS.
The pair decided to form an international mothers group, determined that there must be a way to intervene and stop the radicalization process before it’s too late. They are sharing best practices as they find them and are both poking at their respective governments to step up.
Boudreau has also set her sights on establishing the Canadian chapter of a German group called Hayat. That means “life” in Arabic, and its aim is to work with families to help de-radicalize young men and women.
Hayat is an offshoot of a German organization called “Exit,” which has had good success in deprogramming neo-Nazis as if plucking them from a cult. Hayat adopts similar methodology and applies it to dealing with militant Islamists.
After meeting with its organizers in Berlin, Boudreau came away convinced that with the right funding and staff, a Hayat chapter could make a difference in Canada.
“It’s a sense of reining them [radicals] back in so they are closer to the family again,” she said. “They work with them closely after they’ve taken a step back and decided ‘maybe this is not for me,’ and help them get reintegrated within the community, finding a job, so they focus on the normalities.”
Boudreau wasn’t the only one intrigued by Hayat. CBC News has learned that Canadian law enforcement officials visited the group a few months ago. And sources also tell CBC that a Canadian enforcement agency has been studying programs in a number of countries, including The Netherlands and Denmark, that use returning and reformed jihadists to help turn people off the path to radicalization.
Additionally, the RCMP are in contact with British police who, besides wielding a heavy legislative stick, employ splashy public outreach campaigns to steer young men and women away from extremism.
All this is leading towards a strategy the RCMP will reportedly soon unveil. But for Boudreau, “soon” is too slow, so she and Bons are forging ahead with their own plans.
Germany’s Hayat is giving Boudreau logistical support to set up her group, which would be called Hayat Foundation Canada.
Her task may be huge, but she is starting at the grassroots level, building ties with her Calgary community. She has already been speaking with youth workers and mosques to offer herself as a resource to families struggling with this issue.
And the community is also reaching out to her. This Thursday she will be speaking at Own It, a four-day conference in Calgary that brings together police, community leaders and families to discuss ways to stop radicalization.
There are signs others are taking notice as well. In the middle of a recent CBC interview, Boudreau received a phone call from an Ontario woman who is keen to join forces with her to seek federal grant money.
Boudreau has a long way to go to heal the pain of losing her son to radicalism, but vows that she and others like her will no longer have to go it alone.
Canadian jihadi’s non-Muslim mom launches de-radicalization effort
Robert Spencer Sep 9, 2014 at 11:29am Canada, converts to Islam
christianne-boudreau
“What did I do wrong? How could the child I raised be hurting or killing people?” She didn’t do anything wrong. Her son converted to Islam, and became convinced that hurting and killing people was the best way to serve his god. That is what needs to be addressed. The capacity of Islamic texts and teachings needs to be discussed publicly, not waved away with “There’s violence in the Bible, too.” Muslim communities in the West that ostensibly reject violence need to formulate programs to teach Muslims (especially converts) against this understanding of Islam — and if they cannot and will not do so, there needs to be a public discussion about that as well.
In other words, why does it fall to a non-Muslim to start a “de-radicalization effort”? Why aren’t there such efforts in every mosque in the West?
Instead, these important questions are buried under cries of “Islamophobia.”
“Mother of fallen Canadian jihadi launches de-radicalization effort,” by Adrienne Arsenault, CBC News, September 9, 2014:
The mother of Damian Clairmont, a Calgary man who in January died fighting with ISIS in Syria, says she’s tired of waiting for Canada to take action on de-radicalization. She is starting her own program for families of Canadian jihadis so other mothers don’t lose their sons to the clutches of extremism.
“It’s a lot to take on, but I don’t know what else to do,” Christianne Boudreau said.
“I have no choice at this point, because I can’t just let Damian die in vain and that’s the end of it, and just walk away from it and let it happen to another family … I can’t.”
In her Calgary basement office, Boudreau’s computer fights for space on her small desk with copies of letters that were sent over the past year and rarely answered; to the Prime Minister, to the chief of the Calgary police, to the head of CSIS.
Her questions were broad and pained; How is it that even though CSIS was apparently watching and worrying about her son’s growing extremism, no one informed her until it was too late and he was already in Syria?
In one letter she asks, “If my son was under surveillance for two years in respect to the suspicion of his participation in a potential terrorist organization, how was he able to obtain a passport two months prior to his leaving Canada?”
She has also been desperate for emotional support for both herself and her other children, who are still trying to fathom how their big brother Damian could transform so profoundly and become a fighter with ISIS.
Not much help has been forthcoming.
“I had no one to reach out to, there was nobody who understood what I was going through,” Boudreau says. “It was like I was in a bad movie and I couldn’t make it stop.”
Boudreau tried connecting with other parents in Canada, looking for just one person she could talk with about the horrible guilt and fear and questions that swirl around her constantly: “What did I do wrong? How could the child I raised be hurting or killing people?”
She knows she’s not alone in this. There are dozens of family members of other Canadian jihadis out there who are just as mystified and horrified. But almost all are staying silent, coping far away from the public spotlight.
With no-one in the government or her community answering Boudreau’s calls for help, this summer she went searching in Europe for programs to bring home to Canada. She also found someone who understood her angst, a woman named Domnique Bons in Toulouse, France.
Like Boudreau, Bons’ politically astute son Nicholas converted to Islam and started changing fundamentally. He became obsessed with the plight of the Syrians and vowed to act, not just talk.
By early 2012 he was talking of feeling uncomfortable living amongst non-Muslims in France, and soon after that he was in Syria, along with his younger half-brother Jean Daniel. Both ended up joining ISIS. And both died – Nicholas as a suicide bomber.
Like Boudreau, Bons took the bold and lonely step of speaking out publicly. And like Boudreau, she found that few families were willing to connect with her.
Now, the two women have a plan.
After sitting for hours and sharing lovingly built photo albums of their sons as little boys, parsing their lives and deaths and constantly replaying the questions about signs they saw or missed, they got to work.
Canadian-born Muslim convert Damian Clairmont left Calgary in 2012 for Syria, where he was killed while fighting with ISIS.
The pair decided to form an international mothers group, determined that there must be a way to intervene and stop the radicalization process before it’s too late. They are sharing best practices as they find them and are both poking at their respective governments to step up.
Boudreau has also set her sights on establishing the Canadian chapter of a German group called Hayat. That means “life” in Arabic, and its aim is to work with families to help de-radicalize young men and women.
Hayat is an offshoot of a German organization called “Exit,” which has had good success in deprogramming neo-Nazis as if plucking them from a cult. Hayat adopts similar methodology and applies it to dealing with militant Islamists.
After meeting with its organizers in Berlin, Boudreau came away convinced that with the right funding and staff, a Hayat chapter could make a difference in Canada.
“It’s a sense of reining them [radicals] back in so they are closer to the family again,” she said. “They work with them closely after they’ve taken a step back and decided ‘maybe this is not for me,’ and help them get reintegrated within the community, finding a job, so they focus on the normalities.”
Boudreau wasn’t the only one intrigued by Hayat. CBC News has learned that Canadian law enforcement officials visited the group a few months ago. And sources also tell CBC that a Canadian enforcement agency has been studying programs in a number of countries, including The Netherlands and Denmark, that use returning and reformed jihadists to help turn people off the path to radicalization.
Additionally, the RCMP are in contact with British police who, besides wielding a heavy legislative stick, employ splashy public outreach campaigns to steer young men and women away from extremism.
All this is leading towards a strategy the RCMP will reportedly soon unveil. But for Boudreau, “soon” is too slow, so she and Bons are forging ahead with their own plans.
Germany’s Hayat is giving Boudreau logistical support to set up her group, which would be called Hayat Foundation Canada.
Her task may be huge, but she is starting at the grassroots level, building ties with her Calgary community. She has already been speaking with youth workers and mosques to offer herself as a resource to families struggling with this issue.
And the community is also reaching out to her. This Thursday she will be speaking at Own It, a four-day conference in Calgary that brings together police, community leaders and families to discuss ways to stop radicalization.
There are signs others are taking notice as well. In the middle of a recent CBC interview, Boudreau received a phone call from an Ontario woman who is keen to join forces with her to seek federal grant money.
Boudreau has a long way to go to heal the pain of losing her son to radicalism, but vows that she and others like her will no longer have to go it alone.
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Re: JIHAD WATCH
Admin Mon 15 Sep 2014, 9:18 am
ISLAM BEHIND THE VEIL
Hey, Obama, now what? ISIS strikes a deal with “moderate” Syrian rebels
As the United States begins to deepen ties with so-called “moderate” Syrian rebels to combat the extremist group ISIS, also known as the Islamic State, a key component of its coalition appears to have struck a non-aggression pact with ISIS.
aHR0cHM6Ly9wYnMudHdpbWcuY29tL21lZGlhL0J4ZXVYcS1DY0FBeHdqVy5qcGc=
HUFFPO According to Agence France-Presse, ISIS and a number of moderate and hard-line rebel groups have agreed not to fight each other so that they can focus on taking down the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Other sources say the signatories include a major U.S. ally linked to the Free Syrian Army. Moreover, the leader of the Free Syrian Army said Saturday that the group would not take part in U.S. plans for destroying the Islamic State until it got assurances on toppling Assad.
The deal between ISIS and the moderate Syrian groups casts doubt over President Barack Obama’s freshly announced strategy to arm and train the groups against ISIS.
mccain-isis
The AFP report cited information from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based group monitoring the Syrian civil war, which said parties to the agreement “promise not to attack each other because they consider the principal enemy to be the Nussayri regime.” The term Nussayri refers to the Alawite ethnic group that Assad and many of his supporters belong to. AFP said the agreement was signed in a suburb of the Syrian capital, where ISIS has a strong presence.
Charles Lister, a fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Doha Center, cited a report from the anti-regime Orient Net website to suggest on Twitter that the signatories of the ceasefire include a U.S.-backed coalition called the Syrian Revolutionary Front.According to the U.K.-based outlet Middle East Eye, that same Orient Net report says the ceasefire between groups described in the U.S. as “moderate rebels” and the Islamic State was mediated by the al-Nusra Front, al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria.
US-ambassador-Kerry’s-Robert-Ford-with-FSA-and-ISIL-terrrorists.
As recently as March, the Syrian Revolutionary Front and its leader were described in Foreign Policy as “the West’s best fighting chance against Syria’s Islamist armies.” As of that report, the group controlled 25,000 fighters and its leader had close ties with the Western-friendly Syrian National Coalition.
Its leader initially won Western favor by successfully fighting ISIS in northern Syria. “He proved his mettle in a sense and that’s what endeared him to the Americans,” said Joshua Landis, a prominent Syria expert at the University of Oklahoma. “The Americans are looking for people who can actually fight. That’s been their problem: they’ve gone with people who are moderate but they don’t know to fight. This guy appears to be both moderate and he knows how to fight.”
537252_166222576916596_1277273691_n
The Orient Net report on the ceasefire identified the Syrian Revolutionary Front as part of the Free Syrian Army, the loose array of non-jihadist rebel brigades that the U.S. has directly supported since last year. Obama asked Congress to approve $500 million to train and equip “vetted” Syrian rebels this summer. He repeated his request in his address Wednesday about ISIS.
Despite its reputation as a palatable ally, the U.S.-backed Syrian Revolutionary Front has previously said that its chief goal is not to stop the rise of extremists, but to topple Assad. The prospect of a group once supported by the U.S. now sitting down with ISIS raises fundamental questions about U.S. strategy in Syria. Why support Syrians who have a very different, clearly stated goal and who will act as they see fit to achieve it? What assurance does the administration have that fighters it trains and arms in Syria won’t ally with ISIS if it seems like the most effective anti-Assad force?
1013914_407675002682617_1268219281_n
That turns a conflict that the White House hopes is three-sided — with radical Sunnis, moderate Sunnis and Assad all battling each other — into a sectarian, two-sided war of Sunnis against Assad. Reports already suggest that Syrians who entered the civil war opposing Assad are now turning to ISIS as their best bet for a different kind of government.
“We don’t know who the moderates are,” Landis said. Describing a recent interview in which a Free Syrian Army commander told an Arab outlet that the U.S. wanted to make Syrian rebels “slaves,” he added, “These guys are supposed to be our buddies?”
1235473_442623232521127_1034272959_n-630x624
Hey, Obama, now what? ISIS strikes a deal with “moderate” Syrian rebels
As the United States begins to deepen ties with so-called “moderate” Syrian rebels to combat the extremist group ISIS, also known as the Islamic State, a key component of its coalition appears to have struck a non-aggression pact with ISIS.
aHR0cHM6Ly9wYnMudHdpbWcuY29tL21lZGlhL0J4ZXVYcS1DY0FBeHdqVy5qcGc=
HUFFPO According to Agence France-Presse, ISIS and a number of moderate and hard-line rebel groups have agreed not to fight each other so that they can focus on taking down the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Other sources say the signatories include a major U.S. ally linked to the Free Syrian Army. Moreover, the leader of the Free Syrian Army said Saturday that the group would not take part in U.S. plans for destroying the Islamic State until it got assurances on toppling Assad.
The deal between ISIS and the moderate Syrian groups casts doubt over President Barack Obama’s freshly announced strategy to arm and train the groups against ISIS.
mccain-isis
The AFP report cited information from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based group monitoring the Syrian civil war, which said parties to the agreement “promise not to attack each other because they consider the principal enemy to be the Nussayri regime.” The term Nussayri refers to the Alawite ethnic group that Assad and many of his supporters belong to. AFP said the agreement was signed in a suburb of the Syrian capital, where ISIS has a strong presence.
Charles Lister, a fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Doha Center, cited a report from the anti-regime Orient Net website to suggest on Twitter that the signatories of the ceasefire include a U.S.-backed coalition called the Syrian Revolutionary Front.According to the U.K.-based outlet Middle East Eye, that same Orient Net report says the ceasefire between groups described in the U.S. as “moderate rebels” and the Islamic State was mediated by the al-Nusra Front, al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria.
US-ambassador-Kerry’s-Robert-Ford-with-FSA-and-ISIL-terrrorists.
As recently as March, the Syrian Revolutionary Front and its leader were described in Foreign Policy as “the West’s best fighting chance against Syria’s Islamist armies.” As of that report, the group controlled 25,000 fighters and its leader had close ties with the Western-friendly Syrian National Coalition.
Its leader initially won Western favor by successfully fighting ISIS in northern Syria. “He proved his mettle in a sense and that’s what endeared him to the Americans,” said Joshua Landis, a prominent Syria expert at the University of Oklahoma. “The Americans are looking for people who can actually fight. That’s been their problem: they’ve gone with people who are moderate but they don’t know to fight. This guy appears to be both moderate and he knows how to fight.”
537252_166222576916596_1277273691_n
The Orient Net report on the ceasefire identified the Syrian Revolutionary Front as part of the Free Syrian Army, the loose array of non-jihadist rebel brigades that the U.S. has directly supported since last year. Obama asked Congress to approve $500 million to train and equip “vetted” Syrian rebels this summer. He repeated his request in his address Wednesday about ISIS.
Despite its reputation as a palatable ally, the U.S.-backed Syrian Revolutionary Front has previously said that its chief goal is not to stop the rise of extremists, but to topple Assad. The prospect of a group once supported by the U.S. now sitting down with ISIS raises fundamental questions about U.S. strategy in Syria. Why support Syrians who have a very different, clearly stated goal and who will act as they see fit to achieve it? What assurance does the administration have that fighters it trains and arms in Syria won’t ally with ISIS if it seems like the most effective anti-Assad force?
1013914_407675002682617_1268219281_n
That turns a conflict that the White House hopes is three-sided — with radical Sunnis, moderate Sunnis and Assad all battling each other — into a sectarian, two-sided war of Sunnis against Assad. Reports already suggest that Syrians who entered the civil war opposing Assad are now turning to ISIS as their best bet for a different kind of government.
“We don’t know who the moderates are,” Landis said. Describing a recent interview in which a Free Syrian Army commander told an Arab outlet that the U.S. wanted to make Syrian rebels “slaves,” he added, “These guys are supposed to be our buddies?”
1235473_442623232521127_1034272959_n-630x624
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Re: JIHAD WATCH
Admin Mon 15 Sep 2014, 8:28 am
Islamic State releases map of 5-year plan to spread from Spain to China
Robert Spencer Sep 14, 2014 at 5:26pm caliphate, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria 27 Comments
ISIS-MapThe Islamic State will not succeed in advancing this far, of course. But they will murder many people as they try.
“The Structure of the Islamic State (ISIS),” by Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, September 8, 2014 (thanks to Victor):
Much has been written and said about the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham (the Levant) — ISIS. Most of the commentators have looked at ISIS as another terrorist organization, an al-Qaeda off-shoot, waging a guerrilla war with cohorts of unorganized thugs. The Afghani-style gear, the pickup trucks, the all black or army fatigue uniforms which most ISIS fighters wear, the unshaven beards, the turbans, hoods and head “bandanas” with Arabic inscriptions have added to the confusion.
In fact, ISIS is much more than a terrorist organization; it is a terrorist state with almost all governing elements. Over the last three years, since the beginning of the civil war in Syria, the Islamic State developed from an extremist fringe and marginal faction participating in the civil war to become the strongest, most ferocious, best funded and best armed militia in the religious and ethnic war that is waged today in Syria and Iraq.
But first, what is the name of this entity and what are the borders of the Islamic State? From the first days of its appearance in Syria in 2011, the organization was known as ISIS. However, since the declaration in Summer 2014 of the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate headed by Ibrahim ‘Awad Ibrahim Al Badri al Samarra’i, alias Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi — now the self-declared “Caliph Ibrahim” — ISIS has been transformed into the “Islamic State” (Al Dawla Al Islamiya ) in order to stress the fact that the Caliphate is not to be limited to Iraq, Syria, Israel (Palestine), Jordan and the Levant, but its ambitions lie well beyond those limited borders.
According to the maps published by the Islamic State, the Islamic State will include Andalus in the West (Spain) and stretch from North Africa — the Maghreb — (and the whole of West Africa including Nigeria) through Libya and Egypt (considered one geographical unit – Ard Al-Kinana), include what is called in Islamic state terminology, Ard el Habasha (from Cameroon in the west, Central Africa, the Victoria lake states, Ethiopia and Somalia), the Hijaz (Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States), Yemen until Khurasan in the east – defined as the Central Asian Muslim Republics beginning with Azerbaijan and including Pakistan and the South west part of China, land of the Muslims of Turkish origin, the Uyghurs. The Islamic State includes also Iran and Turkey (named Anadol) in their entirety and parts of Europe (mainly the Balkans, more or less conforming to the borders of the defunct Ottoman Empire with the Austro-Hungarian territories)….
Robert Spencer Sep 14, 2014 at 5:26pm caliphate, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria 27 Comments
ISIS-MapThe Islamic State will not succeed in advancing this far, of course. But they will murder many people as they try.
“The Structure of the Islamic State (ISIS),” by Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, September 8, 2014 (thanks to Victor):
Much has been written and said about the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham (the Levant) — ISIS. Most of the commentators have looked at ISIS as another terrorist organization, an al-Qaeda off-shoot, waging a guerrilla war with cohorts of unorganized thugs. The Afghani-style gear, the pickup trucks, the all black or army fatigue uniforms which most ISIS fighters wear, the unshaven beards, the turbans, hoods and head “bandanas” with Arabic inscriptions have added to the confusion.
In fact, ISIS is much more than a terrorist organization; it is a terrorist state with almost all governing elements. Over the last three years, since the beginning of the civil war in Syria, the Islamic State developed from an extremist fringe and marginal faction participating in the civil war to become the strongest, most ferocious, best funded and best armed militia in the religious and ethnic war that is waged today in Syria and Iraq.
But first, what is the name of this entity and what are the borders of the Islamic State? From the first days of its appearance in Syria in 2011, the organization was known as ISIS. However, since the declaration in Summer 2014 of the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate headed by Ibrahim ‘Awad Ibrahim Al Badri al Samarra’i, alias Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi — now the self-declared “Caliph Ibrahim” — ISIS has been transformed into the “Islamic State” (Al Dawla Al Islamiya ) in order to stress the fact that the Caliphate is not to be limited to Iraq, Syria, Israel (Palestine), Jordan and the Levant, but its ambitions lie well beyond those limited borders.
According to the maps published by the Islamic State, the Islamic State will include Andalus in the West (Spain) and stretch from North Africa — the Maghreb — (and the whole of West Africa including Nigeria) through Libya and Egypt (considered one geographical unit – Ard Al-Kinana), include what is called in Islamic state terminology, Ard el Habasha (from Cameroon in the west, Central Africa, the Victoria lake states, Ethiopia and Somalia), the Hijaz (Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States), Yemen until Khurasan in the east – defined as the Central Asian Muslim Republics beginning with Azerbaijan and including Pakistan and the South west part of China, land of the Muslims of Turkish origin, the Uyghurs. The Islamic State includes also Iran and Turkey (named Anadol) in their entirety and parts of Europe (mainly the Balkans, more or less conforming to the borders of the defunct Ottoman Empire with the Austro-Hungarian territories)….
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JIHAD WATCH
Admin Tue 09 Sep 2014, 9:14 am
Jihad Watch
Turkey aided rise of Islamic State, yet NATO promises to defend Turkey from Islamic State
Robert Spencer Sep 8, 2014 at 11:40am Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Turkey 19 Comments
Islamic StateThis ridiculous situation points up again how drastically the U.S. needs to reconfigure its alliances in light of the global jihad. The old Cold War arrangements simply don’t make any sense today, and lead to this: NATO promising to defend Turkey against the Islamic State that exists today in no small degree because of Turkish help.
“Well-Armed Turkey Aided Rise of Islamic State: Yet NATO Promises To Defend Ankara From Extremists,” by Doug Bandow, Forbes, September 8, 2014 (thanks to Twostellas):
…Also targeted by ISIL is Turkey. This led NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen to promise to defend Ankara: “If any of our allies, and in this case of course particularly Turkey, were to be threatened from any source of threat, we won’t hesitate to take all steps necessary to ensure effective defense of Turkey or any other ally.”
As a statement of solidarity Rasmussen’s words might offer comfort. As a guide to Western policy the statement makes no sense.
After all, Ankara is partly to blame for ISIL’s rise. The Erdogan government long ago decided to support the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Ankara allowed opposition fighters from all sides easy access to the battlefield. None were too brutal or radical to bar passage. This included ISIL, which gained strength and resources by conquering Syrian territory. Reported the Washington Post: “eager to aid any and all enemies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Turkey rolled out the red carpet.” The government simply looked the other way as members of the Islamic State and other Islamist groups traveled to Syria.
Indeed, added the Post, Islamic State fighters treated the border town of Reyhanli, Turkey “as their own personal shopping mall.” Local LOCM +1.7% residents acknowledged jihadis purchasing supplies and wounded fighters being treated in local hospitals. One Islamic State commander told the Post: “We used to have some fighters—even high-level members of the Islamic State—getting treated in Turkish hospitals. And also, most of the fighters who joined us in the beginning of the war came via Turkey, and so did our equipment and supplies.” A politician from Reyhanli, Tamer Apis, complained that the government “welcomed anyone against Assad, and now they are killing, spreading their disease, and we are all paying the price.” While there was a lot of blame to go around, “this is a mess of Turkey’s making,” he added.
That Turkey might suffer some unfortunate complications from the bitter civil war next door should not surprise. Blowback is a constant of Middle Eastern policy, irrespective of government. But Ankara knowingly chose to play with fire. The Erdogan government since has changed course, confronting insurgents it once welcomed and attempting to close off what has been called the “jihadist” or “jihadi” highway. But passage for people and materiel through the 565-mile border still is available at a price.
Moreover, the worst damage has been done. Reported Bloomberg’s Mehul Srivastava and Selcan Hacaoglu, ISIL “has already established itself firmly in Turkish society.” The group has gained control of Syrian territory and expanded into Iraq, where it grabbed 49 Turkish diplomats and family members. The Islamic State military leader explained: “Now we are getting enough weapons from Iraq, and there is enough to buy even within Syria. There is no real need to get things from outside anymore.”
In all of this Turkey is paying the price of its own folly. There’s no reason to share the burden with 27 other NATO members. Better to hold Ankara accountable for its actions by leaving it responsible for its self-inflicted wounds….
Turkey aided rise of Islamic State, yet NATO promises to defend Turkey from Islamic State
Robert Spencer Sep 8, 2014 at 11:40am Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Turkey 19 Comments
Islamic StateThis ridiculous situation points up again how drastically the U.S. needs to reconfigure its alliances in light of the global jihad. The old Cold War arrangements simply don’t make any sense today, and lead to this: NATO promising to defend Turkey against the Islamic State that exists today in no small degree because of Turkish help.
“Well-Armed Turkey Aided Rise of Islamic State: Yet NATO Promises To Defend Ankara From Extremists,” by Doug Bandow, Forbes, September 8, 2014 (thanks to Twostellas):
…Also targeted by ISIL is Turkey. This led NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen to promise to defend Ankara: “If any of our allies, and in this case of course particularly Turkey, were to be threatened from any source of threat, we won’t hesitate to take all steps necessary to ensure effective defense of Turkey or any other ally.”
As a statement of solidarity Rasmussen’s words might offer comfort. As a guide to Western policy the statement makes no sense.
After all, Ankara is partly to blame for ISIL’s rise. The Erdogan government long ago decided to support the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Ankara allowed opposition fighters from all sides easy access to the battlefield. None were too brutal or radical to bar passage. This included ISIL, which gained strength and resources by conquering Syrian territory. Reported the Washington Post: “eager to aid any and all enemies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Turkey rolled out the red carpet.” The government simply looked the other way as members of the Islamic State and other Islamist groups traveled to Syria.
Indeed, added the Post, Islamic State fighters treated the border town of Reyhanli, Turkey “as their own personal shopping mall.” Local LOCM +1.7% residents acknowledged jihadis purchasing supplies and wounded fighters being treated in local hospitals. One Islamic State commander told the Post: “We used to have some fighters—even high-level members of the Islamic State—getting treated in Turkish hospitals. And also, most of the fighters who joined us in the beginning of the war came via Turkey, and so did our equipment and supplies.” A politician from Reyhanli, Tamer Apis, complained that the government “welcomed anyone against Assad, and now they are killing, spreading their disease, and we are all paying the price.” While there was a lot of blame to go around, “this is a mess of Turkey’s making,” he added.
That Turkey might suffer some unfortunate complications from the bitter civil war next door should not surprise. Blowback is a constant of Middle Eastern policy, irrespective of government. But Ankara knowingly chose to play with fire. The Erdogan government since has changed course, confronting insurgents it once welcomed and attempting to close off what has been called the “jihadist” or “jihadi” highway. But passage for people and materiel through the 565-mile border still is available at a price.
Moreover, the worst damage has been done. Reported Bloomberg’s Mehul Srivastava and Selcan Hacaoglu, ISIL “has already established itself firmly in Turkish society.” The group has gained control of Syrian territory and expanded into Iraq, where it grabbed 49 Turkish diplomats and family members. The Islamic State military leader explained: “Now we are getting enough weapons from Iraq, and there is enough to buy even within Syria. There is no real need to get things from outside anymore.”
In all of this Turkey is paying the price of its own folly. There’s no reason to share the burden with 27 other NATO members. Better to hold Ankara accountable for its actions by leaving it responsible for its self-inflicted wounds….
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