Sunday, March 18, 2007
Seeking a new life, Iraqi finds jihad - L.A. Times (registration required; free)
A Kurd looking for escape joins an extremist group, but it doesn't offer the sanctuary he expected.
The young blacksmith with an easy laugh and the looks of a Kurdish Sean Penn wasn't particularly devout or angry at the West. He didn't aspire to "martyrdom." But five years ago, Karzan Rasool made a decision that haunts him still: He became a holy warrior in the army of Islam.He joined Ansar al Islam, an extremist group with links to Al Qaeda, almost on a whim. Unlike true believers, he just wanted an escape from his desperate life.
...
But when Rasool's father died, Iranian authorities deported the 19-year-old back to Iraq, where he ended up with an abusive uncle. He was regularly beaten, he and relatives said, and he wanted to run away.As Rasool approached the checkpoint that day in April 2002, he said, the only thing he wanted was to be embraced by someone.
...
In a strange prison near the Kurdish town of Qala Chwaran, he was locked in a 3-foot-square cage, he said. "They lowered you in and covered the top," he recalled. "The lid would go down and make you crouch."There were English-speaking interrogators who Rasool assumes were Americans."They were nice," he said. "They offered me tea and coffee and Pepsi — and then suddenly in the middle of the interview pinch my finger with pliers." ...
A Kurd looking for escape joins an extremist group, but it doesn't offer the sanctuary he expected.
The young blacksmith with an easy laugh and the looks of a Kurdish Sean Penn wasn't particularly devout or angry at the West. He didn't aspire to "martyrdom." But five years ago, Karzan Rasool made a decision that haunts him still: He became a holy warrior in the army of Islam.He joined Ansar al Islam, an extremist group with links to Al Qaeda, almost on a whim. Unlike true believers, he just wanted an escape from his desperate life.
...
But when Rasool's father died, Iranian authorities deported the 19-year-old back to Iraq, where he ended up with an abusive uncle. He was regularly beaten, he and relatives said, and he wanted to run away.As Rasool approached the checkpoint that day in April 2002, he said, the only thing he wanted was to be embraced by someone.
...
In a strange prison near the Kurdish town of Qala Chwaran, he was locked in a 3-foot-square cage, he said. "They lowered you in and covered the top," he recalled. "The lid would go down and make you crouch."There were English-speaking interrogators who Rasool assumes were Americans."They were nice," he said. "They offered me tea and coffee and Pepsi — and then suddenly in the middle of the interview pinch my finger with pliers." ...
Labels: war
Comments:
Post a Comment
| Get a hit counter here. |
