American IS fighter: I made a bad decision

[Rapid]

American ISIS fighter captured by Kurds: ‘I found it hard’

The 26-year-old Virginia man who was taken into custody in Iraq after he purportedly deserted the Islamic State told a Kurdish TV station Thursday that he decided to escape after he grew dissatisfied during intensive religious training in Mosul.

Mohamad Khweis told Kurdistan 24 that his life under the Islamic State in Mosul was a “very strict” regimen of prayer, eating and eight hours of daily instruction in religion and sharia law. He said he soon came to realize that “I didn’t really support their ideology.”

Khweis said he stayed only about a month, then reached out to someone who could help him make his way toward Turkey. He said he planned eventually to return to the United States.

“It was pretty hard to live in Mosul,” he said. “It’s not like the Western countries, you know, it’s very strict. There’s no smoking. I found it hard for everyone there.”

[Watch: Mohamad Khweis speaking on Kurdistan 24]

Khweis spoke haltingly but in fluent English in the roughly 17-minute video, which was edited and showed him sitting against a backdrop that included a Kurdish flag. Kurdish peshmerga forces took him into custody Monday near the town of Sinjar, about 80 miles west of Mosul. What will happen to him next remains unclear, although the FBI — which did not previously have Khweis on its radar — is investigating the matter.

In the video, Khweis said he is the son of two Palestinians who came to the United States more than 25 years ago and was born and raised in Virginia. Friends have said he is a 2007 graduate of Fairfax County’s Edison High School. Khweis said he attended college in Virginia and studied criminal justice.

Khweis said he attended American mosques only infrequently, and his friends from high school have said that he showed no signs of religious fanaticism.

[Purported American Islamic State fighter wasn’t on FBI radar]

It was unclear from the video why Khweis decided to travel to Islamic State territory in the first place. He said he left the United States in December, traveling to Turkey via London and Amsterdam. He said he met an “Iraqi girl” in Turkey who said she knew someone who could take them into Syria.

“So I decided to go with her,” Khweis said.

Khweis said he took a bus from Istanbul to Gaziantep in southern Turkey, then took a taxi from there toward the Syria border. He said the sister of a woman he met had previously been married to an Islamic State fighter, and she made some arrangements for the trip.


At some point after crossing into Syria, Khweis said, he and his female companion were split up, and he was eventually driven to a house where foreigners seemed to stay. He said he turned over his identification papers to those in charge and soon headed to other houses for foreigners in Raqqa, the Islamic State’s de facto capital in north-central Syria.

Khweis said he was surrounded by people from countries such as Russia, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan but did not encounter any other Americans. Each person, he said, was given a nickname.

"Light treason."

"I've made a huge mistake..."

 

[AWP]

 

[Marine0311]

Firing squad.

 

[DA SWO]

Publish his photo's home address and let nature take it's course.

Of course we could always try to exploit him to discourage others from joining ISIS, or just return him and let them pronounce judgement upon him.

 

[Grunt]

He got caught up in the I wanna be a terrorist fad and when he got there and realized they were serious...he thought....

My bad, I was just funning! I really don't want to play and I am ready to go home now.

Nope...play in the real world...play by the real world's rules!

 

[Red Flag 1]

He dosen't seem to have been of much value to the other side. If he were, he'd be dead, or still there. The difference now is that he suffered over there. Now he comes home, and will suffer here too.

I agree, stupid move. Wish I could say, "have a nice day"; but don't think there will be very many nice days:blkeye:.

 

[Diamondback 2/2]

Kurds caught him, he is a EPW, its up to the Kurds on what they want to with him...or at least it should be. Firing squad would fit the bill.

 

[AWP]

I'd have him killed in an airstrike by our Turkish allies upon our Kurdish allies or Kurdish partners or....whatever they are this week.

 

[Frank S.]

As "sorry" is found between shit and syphilis, so is "apology" between ankle-grabber and asshole.

 

[8654Maine]

Exploit him. Execute him.

 

[racing_kitty]

Part of me thinks he's lying about his ignorance. But he is a born American citizen, so he might very well be that fucking stupid.

Either way, he deserves to have his ass handed to him.

 

[DocIllinois]

Working for what is equivalent to a barbaric horde spilling out of a time portal from the 14th Century, representing a religion whose aim is conquest by death or subjugation turned out to be difficult. Who knew?

From the article:
"Khweis said he attended American mosques only infrequently, and his friends from high school have said that he showed no signs of religious fanaticism."

I'm with @racing_kitty ; the root of his belief that joining the IS was "right" is to be found in his developmental years somewhere. Nothing done or said is ever really out of character.

 

[Scubadew]

Took me a sec to realize this wasn't about Bergdahl.

 

[Muppet]

Fuck him. Kill him.....

M.

 

[TLDR20]

Publish his photo's home address and let nature take it's course.

Of course we could always try to exploit him to discourage others from joining ISIS, or just return him and let them pronounce judgement upon him.

Or you know utilize our criminal justice system.
If they extradite him.

 

[racing_kitty]

Or you know utilize our criminal justice system.
If they extradite him.

Let the Kurds keep him. EPW gets treated closer to what he deserves than spoiled, upper class bitch whose parents bonded him out of pre-trial confinement.

As far as I'm concerned, he embraced Sharia law, which in its very nature claims to be above and exempt from the laws of man. Leave him there, don't extradite shit. CAIR would probably protest if we charged him with a misdemeanor, much less the treason he committed.

 

[pardus]

POS. Leave him where he is. I'd prefer the cunt was executed but rotting for life in a 3rd world prison wont be a joke either.

 

[Marauder06]

If he's one of our citizens, the Kurds would do well to turn him over to us. And we would do well to prosecute the crap out of him and throw him into prison. One of OUR prisons.

 

[DA SWO]

If he's one of our citizens, the Kurds would do well to turn him over to us. And we would do well to prosecute the crap out of him and throw him into prison. One of OUR prisons.

Slightly disagree; we've crapped on the Kurds for 20 plus years.
They'd do well to trade him for some Military equipment, then we can prosecute him for giving material aid to a terrorist organization.

 

[Marauder06]

We're already giving them plenty.