THURSDAY | 08.28.2014 | EXPRESS | 15
nation+world
One man’s radical departure
How did an American citizen end up dying on the battlefield as an Islamic State militant?
Developments Hostage’s mother makes emotional plea to captors
RAQQA MEDIA CENTER OF THE ISLAMIC STATE GROUP VIA AP
MINNEAPOLIS Douglas McAuthur McCain, an American killed in Syria while fighting alongside the Islamic State, was part of a growing number of foreign fighters recruited to fight alongside terror groups. White House press secretary Josh Earnest confirmed Wednesday that McCain was fighting for the militants in Syria in a conflict that now includes thousands of foreign fighters from around 50 countries. A masked Islamic State militant stands watch over captured Syrian army members, following a battle in Raqqa.
How do the fighters get to Syria? Syria is easy to get to, said Evan Kohlmann, chief information officer at Flashpoint Global Partners. Turkey gets direct flights from the United States and Europe. From there, it’s a short drive or taxi ride to the porous Syrian border, he said. Once in Syria, they may start with minor groups, but quickly seek to join the al-Qaeda-linked
About McCain
HENNEPIN COUNTY, MINN., SHERIFF’S OFFICE VIA AP
Who are these travelers? FBI Director James Comey said in June that roughly 100 people had left the United States to join the conflict in Syria. His estimate came during a visit to Minnesota, where several young Somali-Americans had lived before traveling to Somalia to help expel Ethiopian troops seen as invaders. But Comey said the new wave of travelers to Syria was not coming from any particular part of the United States. In May, for example, a Florida man named Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha was identified as carrying out a suicide truck bombing against Syrian government troops in the city of Idlib.
al-Nusra Front or Islamic State. What are the American authorities doing to stop them? The U.S. is using “every tool we possess” to stop citizens from going abroad for violent jihad and to track those who return, National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said. The no-fly list is one of those tools, but it’s far from perfect. “If someone is determined to travel overseas, it’s a challenge for law enforcement to prevent
Douglas McAuthur McCain, left, was born in the Chicago area and moved to Minnesota as a boy. Court records show McCain had some minor traffic offenses in Minnesota, including two instances in which he was convicted of giving police a false name or ID. An old friend, Isaac Chase, said McCain did not really know what he wanted to do with his life. He attended two high schools in Minnesota, but school records don’t show he graduated. “I don’t know if he was just lost or what,” Chase said.” (AP)
that travel,” said Minneapolis FBI spokesman Kyle Loven. Minnesota authorities are trying to prevent radicalization by reaching out to local communities, building trust and working to identify young people at risk of recruitment. What motivates the travelers? Those who are lured to the fighting tend to be young men aged 18 to 30 who are disenfranchised from society and withdrawn, Loven
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said. They can include people who have been born into the Muslim faith and converts to Islam. “These are individuals that are seeking a sense of belonging. They are seeking a higher purpose,” said Colin Clarke, a political scientist at the RAND Corporation. What makes the Islamic State attractive to them? The IS appeals to jihadists around the globe because it’s seen as a successful movement, and unlike al-Qaeda, it is operating aboveground, said Jeffrey Addicott, director of the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary’s University School of Law. Kohlmann said the fighters are sympathetic to the forces opposing the Bashar Assad regime, and have embraced the anti-American message. “They want to become Batman,” he said. “I hate to say it like that, but they have this illusion they’re going to become a superhero — defend the rights of the innocent and oppressed. It sounds really good.” AMY FORLITI (AP)
The mother of Steven J. Sotloff, an American journalist who was captured last year by the Islamic State, has made a video plea to the head of the terrorist organization asking for her son’s release. In a video obtained by The Washington Post, Shirley Sotloff asks Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to “please release my child. And as a mother, I ask your justice to be merciful and not punish my son for matters he has no control over.”
U.S. won’t coordinate airstrikes with Assad The Obama administration has ruled out the possibility of coordinating U.S. airstrikes in Syria with President Bashar Assad’s government, forcing U.S. officials to design a campaign that would evade Syrian air defenses or coordinate it with Assad through a third party. Despite the shared U.S. and Syrian interest in defeating the Islamic State militant group in the region, there will be no cooperation with Assad, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Tuesday. “We’re not going to ask for permission from the Syrian regime,” she said.
Journalist thanks those who helped to free him U.S. journalist Peter Theo Curtis spoke publicly for the first time since his release from a Syrian extremist group after 22 months in captivity. Curtis, who was freed Sunday, declined to talk about his ordeal and said he was overwhelmed to learn that so many “brave, determined and big-hearted” people helped secure his release. “I had no idea when I was in prison,” he told reporters in Cambridge, Mass. “I had no idea that so much effort was being expended on my behalf.” (TWP/AP)
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