ISIS threatens to kill British jihadis wanting to return home

a reply to: TDawgRex

That is life. My parents explained it to me pretty bluntly when they raised me. Nowadays, some would say that I grew up in a unloving house, but I disagree, my family has always been pragmatic and about common sense.

I learned many a "Life Lesson" from others mistakes and never once thought it couldn't happen to me as well. That view has served me well over the time I've had on this world.

Well, I knew what I was getting into when I got into this thread

Your answer is what most people are thinking, what they believe - that much is clear

Compassion is only for those that deserve it

:-)

a reply to: Spiramirabilis

The thing I have a problem here in this thread is that some are asking for compassion for people who didn't display any when they went to the ME to kill and rape. And when they have had their fill, want to come home.

Kind of a oxymoron there, don't you think?

a reply to: TDawgRex

The thing I have a problem here in this thread is that some are asking for compassion for people who didn't display any when they went to the ME to kill and rape. And when they have had their fill, want to come home.

Kind of a oxymoron there, don't you think?

Your view on this only makes sense if you ignore some of the facts. I don't know if you'll read any of this or not - there's plenty more out there to read too. I think people believe what they want to believe - and aren't really interested in the details. That's not meant to be a criticism - it's just the way it is with people

I also think that so many are prejudiced against Islam that they don't really care about the whys of some of this, but what's interesting to me is that many Muslims feel that a war has been declared on them. Based on how people talk about them here in the west, I can see how a young person might identify with so much of this and buy into the propaganda

What's doubly interesting to me is that there are many Christians that feel persecuted as well. They're listening to their own echo chamber, same as many of these Muslims, and gearing up for a kind of war themselves

Not all of them went over to rape and kill - they were sold on an idea that they could believe in and promised things that weren't true. As I mentioned in an earlier post - ISIS has to get their people from somewhere. They recruit pretty much the same way as any group recruits

A seriously interesting article - no matter what you believe:

The Isis propaganda war: a hi-tech media jihad

Isis is using techniques plundered from movies, video games and news channels to spread its message. Who is masterminding the operation – and what is the best way to counter it?

In 1941, Hollywood director Frank Capra was commissioned to make a series of propaganda films for the US war effort. He knew he had his work cut out: he had seen Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph Of The Will – a staggering, state-of-the-art display of both film-making expertise and Nazi military might. “It scared the hell out of me,” Capra later said. “It fired no gun, dropped no bombs, but as a psychological weapon aimed at destroying the will to resist, it was just as lethal.” How could the Americans possibly compete? Capra’s solution was to turn the enemies’ weapons against them. His resulting seven-film documentary series, Why We Fight, repurposed footage from Triumph Of The Will and other propaganda films to show “our boys” what they were up against. He even copied Riefenstahl’s editing rhythms and rousing use of music. “Let their own films kill them,” Capra said. “Let the enemy prove to our soldiers the enormity of his cause – and the justness of ours.”

Schoolgirl jihadis: the female Islamists leaving home to join Isis fighters

Mia Bloom, a security studies professor at Massachusetts University and author of Bombshell: Women and Terrorism, said the recruitment campaign painted a “Disney-like” picture of life in the caliphate. Some young women were offered financial incentives, such as travel expenses or compensation for bearing children.

Women already living amid Isis fighters used social media adeptly to portray Syria as a utopia and to attract foreign women to join their “sisterhood in the caliphate”, she said. “The idea of living in the caliphate is a very positive and powerful one that these women hold dear to their heart.”

But the reality was very different, she said. Both Bloom and Rolf Tophoven, director of Germany’s Institute for Terrorism Research and Security Policy, said reports indicated that women had been raped, abused, sold into slavery or forced to marry. “[Isis] is a strictly Islamist, brutal movement ... the power, the leadership structure, are clearly a male domain,” said Tophoven.

Aqsa Mahmood – also known as Umm Layth – left Glasgow for Syria last November and has married an Isis fighter. She is a prolific social-media user and writes a blog in which she advises other young women about the best way to travel to Syria and marry a fighter.

Mahmood, 20, has described the difficulty of telephoning her parents from the Turkish border to tell them she wanted to become a martyr and would see them again on judgment day.

In her blog she wrote: “The first phone call you make once you cross the borders is one of the most difficult things you will ever have to do. Your parents are already worried enough over where you are, wether [sic] you are okay and what’s happened.

“How does a parent who has little Islamic knowledge and understanding comprehend why their son or daughter has left their well-off life, education and a bright future behind to go live in a war-torn country.”

In a post earlier this month she described the type of young women who, like her, had joined Isis from all over the world.

“Most sisters I have come across have been in university studying courses with many promising paths, with big, happy families and friends, and everything in the Dunyah [material world] to persuade one to stay behind and enjoy the luxury. If we had stayed behind, we could have been blessed with it all from a relaxing and comfortable life and lots of money. Wallahi [I swear] that’s not what we want.”

She made a direct appeal on 11 September this year for others to join her. “To those who are able and can still make your way, hasten hasten to our lands ... This is a war against Islam and it is known that either ‘you’re with them or with us’. So pick a side.”

a reply to: Spiramirabilis

I'm not religious, though I would say that I am spiritual. Really have no use for religion so I myself don't feel prosecuted in that respect. (Though I think that people do look down upon us short folk. LOL)

I've worked in the ME for quite a few years as PSYOP and have made many acquaintances while there. The military said we were not to talk religion with the locals and try to steer the conversation away from that topic.

I, myself embraced it. How else are you supposed to learn about the people you are supposed to be supporting if you don't learn their culture?

But every one who I talked too while there, regardless of Sunni or Shia, told me that it was their mission to bring Islam into the world as a leading power, whether it be by hook or crook. I actually felt a bit scared, yet honored that they would tell me this to my face, in a courteous manner at that. (Of course, I was armed at all times and they did know that as well. LOL)

a reply to: TDawgRex

I'm not religious, though I would say that I am spiritual. Really have no use for religion so I myself don't feel prosecuted in that respect. (Though I think that people do look down upon us short folk. LOL)

:-)

I'm not religious either TDawg - but, like you - that doesn't mean I can't or don't respect other people's beliefs

I, myself embraced it. How else are you supposed to learn about the people you are supposed to be supporting if you don't learn their culture?

Exactly. I've never been to the Middle East, but I've had a few very close friends who are Muslim. It's a different thing when you actually know people - as opposed to what you just hear about in the media or in an email

But every one who I talked too while there, regardless of Sunni or Shia, told me that it was their mission to bring Islam into the world as a leading power, whether it be by hook or crook. I actually felt a bit scared, yet honored that they would tell me this to my face, in a courteous manner at that. (Of course, I was armed at all times and they did know that as well. LOL)

All religions mean to bring religion to the entire world. An there's more than one group at any given time trying to become a major power. I have a relative (or two) in my own family that will happily tell you about his (their) plans for world domination - and he's a Christian :-)

It just comes down to us or them. All this concerns me as well, but the truth of the matter is, most people just want to get on with their lives and live in peace an harmony - no matter what their religion or culture

Unhappy or threatened people can and do turn to religion or use it as a political tool - or weapon. When we feel threatened, we band together like nobody's business - and believe the most outrageous things

It's no secret I'm pretty much what you would call a seriously bleeding heart - but, I'm also not completely unintelligent :-)

I'll never end the wars - nobody will ever end the wars. But that doesn't mean we can't try to work for the greatest amount of humanity and compassion possible, from moment to moment, here in our own lives - while we can

a reply to: Spiramirabilis

Since they were being honest with me, I always told them that I hoped it didn't come down to a Islamic state. I told them that I would hate to shoot them over something so trivial, because I liked them and didn't want it to come down to that.

The looks I received were always priceless. And maybe I got them to thinking and questioning about their beliefs as well.

Ohhh bless their little cotton socks. Obviously, upon their return to the UK (should they make it back alive, of course) they deserve full welfare benefits, after all they are combat veterans. Also they probably will need housing and retraining for new careers, all at the taxpayer's expense. Their parents must be so proud.

It's the least we can do for these brave boys and girls. No, really. Makes me swell with pride to be British, I tell you.

a reply to: maddy21

And this is an issue because...?

Hopefully, the Aussie IS fighters will share the same fate if they try to leave.

Would only make the news that Australia's top Jihadist in IS was killed this week (hopefully by allied bombs), so much more delightful.

Having IS do our dirty work for us would make things so much easier on taxpayers having to fork out $$ to keep these scumbags alve in prison if they were to return home.

They gave up their "home" the second they boarded the plane. They gave up their right to live in the UK (or any other country) when they picked a side.

How could they possibly return to a country they have clearly no respect for? How could they ever be trusted when they have clearly shown how much they detest non Muslims despite all the benefits they have reaped from living in the West? How can a person be trusted whose very religion states its quite acceptable to lie? They don't like the West or the country of their birth that that their parents & grandparents adopted as their own. When and if push comes to shove and Europe explodes, they will happily exterminate their neighbours "friends" and colleagues for the wonderfully peaceful Islamic cause.

Treason plain and simple

a reply to: phyllida

They'll get an easy ride on their return. You see, it wasn't their fault. They' were 'impressionable', 'misled', etc. Makes me seethe but you know that's what's going to happen. Glad I left England. It's a becoming a third world dump.

I fell out with an Asian friend of 16 yrs after he introduced me to some of his Taliban friends in London. One of who called me a kaffra. I said I am not from South Africa and I am white not black. Thinking he had called me a kaffer my friend did not say any thing. The next morning I asked him what kaffra meant and his reply was some one who was not a muslim and it really means lower than the chit you scrape off your foot. I said and you let him call me that? He said but you are one, by this time the hair was standing up on my head. If we had been some where else an some one had called him a paki scumbag then I would and have defended him.
Why do these people want too come back and live among the kaffra? Why cant they find a nice muslim country to go and live in? Because there are no muslim countries were if you dont work, you get your rent paid, free hospital treatment free education and money to live on. No we dont want them back here in the UK they made their choice now they have to stand by it.

What I will say is if Brits who have gone out there want to return home Il say ok................................BUT.......they have to work for it. Id make them them stay out there as a MI6/CIA asset. Use them as cheap expendable field agents. If they survive, let them home but chances are they will get caught and tortured to death, o well boo hoo least they may help take ISIS down.

Why is it that some on this thread are calling them "kids" - a good many of them are in their 20's, like the Portsmouth lads who are all in their mid 20's. How is this a "kid"?

Many are grown men who should have known what they were letting themselves in for, so as a result I am not going to lose any sleep over them finding out the hard way that war is hell and IS is worse.

But I do reckon they have intelligence value should they make it home - the UK does have plans to "de radicalise" any who do come home, rather than simply throwing them in jail and forgetting about them..

And for the poster who thinks this is all some media ploy to get us to support troops deployments to "rescue them", don't be daft. We didn't deploy troops to rescue the actual British men who were taken hostage, so we're certainly not going to put the Army on the ground for a bunch of idiots who would probably come home and go straight back to marching in Luton calling for the "Death of the UK"...

a reply to: stumason

I'd say they have intelligence value out there.

I'm sure MI6 have made a good note of those who want to come home and have approached them with some sort of "deal" to provide Intel in exchange for a ticket home and no prison if they survive a few months.

It's cheap Intel from high risk assets and no one cares or will shed a tear if those high risk asets get captured, to tortured or killed and they certainly don't have to worry about rescue missions ect

Next news. ISIS threatens to commit mass suicide if demands not met.