Get ‘Em While They’re Young
Posted by Michelle Moquin on September 4th, 2014
This is just sickening.
Good morning.
CNN Exclusive: A 13-year-old witness to ISIS’ beheadings, crucifixion in Syria
(CNN) – The little boy looks barely old enough to walk, let alone understand the dark world he’s now inhabiting.
He should be toddling around a playground with his friends. But instead, he wears a black balaclava, crouched down in a desolate street with his tiny hands clenched around an AK-47.
He pulls the trigger and the recoil of the shot knocks him back, his limbs unable to control the rifle. An adult takes the weapon from the boy’s hands as he stands up and steps away, casting a blank glance into the camera.
It’s just one of the many videos that ISIS – the Sunni terror group that has declared an independent Islamic state stretching from northern Syria to central Iraq — has produced to boast of its youngest “recruits.”
And as the radical Islamist group strengthens its hold on this huge swath of land in the heart of the Middle East, it is cramming its warped ideas into minds that are often too young to understand.
Mohammed, whose name has been changed out of fears for his safety, was one of them. He has now fled to safety in Turkey, but was just 13 when ISIS said he should attend one of their children’s camps in northern Syria.
“My friends and I were studying at the mosque, and they taught us that we should enrol in jihad with the [Islamic State],” Mohammed told CNN. “I wanted to go, but my father did not allow me to.”
When ISIS found out that Mohammed’s father had prevented him from attending, the militants sent a patrol to their house.
“[They told me] ‘if you prevent Mohammed from coming to the camp, we will cut off your head,’” his father, who declined to be named for this story, told CNN.
So off Mohammed went to the camp.
“For 30 days we woke up and jogged, had breakfast, then learned the Quran and the Hadith of the Prophet,” Mohammed says. “Then we took courses on weapons, Kalashnikovs and other light military stuff.”
Some of the militants at the camp were kind, joking and laughing with the younger recruits. Others made the boys watch hideous things.
“They used to bring young [kids] to the camp to lash them,” Mohammed says. “When we go to the mosque, they order us to come the next day at a specific time and place to [watch] heads cut off, lashings or stonings.”
“We saw a young man who did not fast for Ramadan, so they crucified him for three days, and we saw a woman being stoned [to death] because she committed adultery.”
Mohammed says he understood some of the lessons taught at the camp — like the importance of prayer and fasting — but didn’t understand words like “infidels,” and why he should fight them.
The boys would take oaths of allegiance to ISIS’ leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and were considered ready to fight once they completed the religious and military courses taught at the camp.
Mohammed’s father, terrified for his son, tried to visit him several times, but was turned back by guards who told him that the boy wasn’t there, or on patrol somewhere else.
“He is only a child, they might make him a suicide bomber and [convince him] that will be in paradise and stuff like that,” he said. Despite his fears, Mohammed’s father expressed doubt that the militants’ lessons would truly stick in his son’s mind.
“How can a child like that be convinced? Where is the conviction in that? He is a child, it’s not possible,” he said. “He just saw his friends and kids his age went to the camp, so he wanted to go with them for entertainment. They thought war and guns were entertainment.”
Mohammed’s father was eventually able to pull him out of the camp, and the family fled to Turkey.
Now Mohammed doesn’t know what to do. He doesn’t want to go back to school — he thinks he’s too old for that now — and thinks he might like to learn the trade his father practiced before they were forced to flee their home, fearful of what ISIS militants would make him do.
Mohammed says one of his friends at the camp has been killed on the front lines of ISIS’ war with more moderate rebel groups fighting to topple the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“He was martyred in Deir Ezzor when he fought the Free Syrian Army with ISIS,” Mohammed says. “He was my age, 13 or 14 years old.”
ISIS may preach absolute fealty to Islam, but Mohammed doesn’t recognize the militants’ message in his own understanding of his religion.
“I love my religion because I am a Muslim,” he said. “And I used to go with my father for the prayers before ISIS came. But my father has taught me that religion is not about fighting, but it is about love and forgiveness.”
Mohammed and his family are safe now. But as ISIS spreads its tentacles across the region, an increasing number of Syrians have nowhere to hide — and the group’s murderous drive to convert everyone they encounter knows no age limits.
*****
Readers: I’m with Obama. ISIS needs to be punished for what they did, and degraded and destroyed to limit their reach, before they further warp the minds of their young and anyone else they come across, enabling them to spread their evil even further.
My heart goes out to the family and friends of Steven Sotloff.
Peace & Love:”Live it, Give it.”
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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September 4th, 2014 at 1:15 pm
The Middle East is exploding because of the illegal invasion of Iraq and the subsequent leaving that country without anyone or anything to replace the leadership gap and infrastructure that it left.
September 4th, 2014 at 1:18 pm
How can America expect the Arab people who have had their families killed, maimed or dislocated because of the removal of Saddam without a plan to replace him to forgive them?
We want revenge.
September 4th, 2014 at 1:22 pm
I want america to suffer as my family has suffered. We are Sunnis. America came into Iraq and put the shiites in control of my country. They killed, raped, tortured, and ousted us.
We are left to support those extremist like ISIS or be killed by shiites. You get what you deserve for placing us in this situation. What do we care about a few beheadings? Thousands of us have lost our lives and livelihoods to murdering shiites.
Your turn. Thank your bush.
September 4th, 2014 at 9:35 pm
I saw a lot of dead bodies when I was in Iraq, but this is just disgusting.
September 4th, 2014 at 9:51 pm
I feel great empathy, but the visuals we see in the media and online do not phase me as much as it does others.. It has become too common place. I get angry or sad but not the revulsion that I might have as a young adult.
Too many years of living through the war, trying to forget, getting involved online as an activist to now. I just am not that “shocked” by the blood and gore, but I won’t watch horror or scary movies, I also won’t go to fireworks shows.
September 4th, 2014 at 9:54 pm
Howie, Israel is now taking your advice. They are gearing up to defend against ISIS.
September 5th, 2014 at 5:20 am
A former District attorney of South Carolina, Joe Freeman Britt, no relation to the current DA, was listed in Guinness World Records as the “deadliest prosecutor,” responsible for the most death sentences in the United States.
The rules of ethics that governs prosecutors says: “A prosecutor has the responsibility of a minister of justice and not simply that of an advocate,” Britt said. “The prosecutor’s duty is to seek justice, not merely to convict.”
Joe Freeman Britt was a racist that used his office to send innocent black men to their deaths. He set Guinness World Records for it.
Yesterday another of his intended victims were exonerated by DNA evidence and the discovery of the real murderer. http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/09/02/5145584/convictions-of-robeson-men-in.html#.VAml-igkdJ1
The white boy justice system is the single most dangerous thing to the health, freedom and life of the American black male.
The system is devoted to allowing the police to gun them down with impunity, sending innocent blacks to death, or incarcerating them innocent or not to unconscionable lengthy prison terms.
The main evidence against the brothers was two detailed confessions, written in longhand by law enforcement and signed by each brother.
September 5th, 2014 at 5:56 am
The only thing that these executions have done, is make the American people want these barbarians wiped off the face of the earth. The sooner, the better. We will have no mercy on any of them and will not rest until every one is dead. Not injured. Not captured. Dead. In the words of an American patriot hero from 9/11, “Lets Go!”
September 5th, 2014 at 6:11 am
If you want to prove how truly uncivilized and barbaric you are, all you have to do is behead someone. Any sympathy objective minds may have had for your cause will instantly vaporize. Such barbarism does not intimidate people, it only motivates them to destroy the vermin who perpetrate such primitive acts.
September 5th, 2014 at 6:11 am
The Reagan admin. created
Al QUEDA.
The Bush admin. created IsIs.
…. The world suffers.
September 5th, 2014 at 6:12 am
As I recall the Nazis weren’t Islamic. I believe they were predominately Lutheran with a handful of Catholics thrown in. Any religious war, be it in Ireland or Iraq is a mockery of religion. Going to war over a religion is a joke and simply a smokescreen for a power grab.
September 5th, 2014 at 6:14 am
There seems to be one common denominator amongst ALL these horrific groups. They are ALL MEN. I can’t help wonder how different the world would be if women were in charge.
I’m not claiming that there aren’t violent women, but let’s be honest. Women are not as violent or as self-centered as men, so they would likely look for diplomatic options over war.
September 5th, 2014 at 6:15 am
Peterson#10,No matter who you decide to foolishly blame for their existence, the problem is that they exist. The question is, what can be done about them?
September 5th, 2014 at 6:16 am
Ameri#12,French Revolution involved a lot of women cheering as the heads came off.
September 5th, 2014 at 6:16 am
Ameir#12, Unless the leader of the Nation they were negotiating with was also a female……well then they would nuke each other especially if it was that time of the month.
September 5th, 2014 at 6:18 am
Ameri#12, Have you seen some of the Muslim women? they are okay with how they are treated..I have seen them be suicide bombers as well..They are proud to raise their sons to be suicide bombers as well..They can me and are just as extremist, you just don’t see them
September 5th, 2014 at 6:18 am
Oops…I thought that was a picture of the police in Missouri.
Never mind.
September 5th, 2014 at 6:19 am
Brian#13, first thing that can be done is to listen to the people who warned decades ago that foolish policies would lead to this situation. There is no need to apologise, just see if they have any ideas about how to clean up the mess without causing even more trouble.
September 5th, 2014 at 6:21 am
Nigel#14, you tiny penis wonders need to find another outlet for your misogyny.
September 5th, 2014 at 6:23 am
WTF is the matter with you women hatting men? Merritt, you can’t honestly believe that women forced to accept that islamic shit like it.
Get a fucking grip you idiot.
September 5th, 2014 at 6:24 am
Howie, I can see why you want Israel to take these barbarians seriously.
I hope Israel kills them all.
September 5th, 2014 at 6:27 am
Salvador#15, even a woman on her period would be as horrific as you men have over the ages.
But it takes the kind of flippancy that you expressed to show why the leadership of most men is so fucked up.
Most of you can see pass your 3 inch dicks.
September 5th, 2014 at 6:29 am
They are really no different than the old regime which I recall was dominated by the Sunnis. Despots are despots no matter how you cut it. The Kurds have got it right. Help them with additional arms, ammunition and some air support and they will handle it themselves.
The Iraqis and the Kurds have one thing in common, an enemy. When this settles out, I hope more national unity will result. Whether its an alliance between two sovereign states or from a state to a federal/central government.
September 5th, 2014 at 6:34 am
Thomas#23,
Prior to the Bush invasion it was impolite in middle class Iraq to ask if you were Sunni or Shia. There was NO violence between the Iraqi Sunnis and Shias. It was Bush who pitted the sects against each other.