ISIS/DAESH isn't the only religious militia recruiting foreign fighters - Westerners are signing up
31 replies, posted
[quote](Reuters) - Saint Michael, the archangel of battle, is tattooed across the back of a U.S. army veteran who recently returned to Iraq and joined a Christian militia fighting Islamic State in what he sees as a biblical war between good and evil.
Brett, 28, carries the same thumb-worn pocket Bible he did whilst deployed to Iraq in 2006 – a picture of the Virgin Mary tucked inside its pages and his favorite verses highlighted.
“It's very different," he said, asked how the experiences compared. "Here I’m fighting for a people and for a faith, and the enemy is much bigger and more brutal."
Thousands of foreigners have flocked to Iraq and Syria in the past two years, mostly to join Islamic State, [B]but a handful of idealistic Westerners are enlisting as well, citing frustration their governments are not doing more to combat the ultra-radical Islamists or prevent the suffering of innocents.[/B]
[B]The militia they joined is called Dwekh Nawsha – meaning self-sacrifice in the ancient Aramaic language spoken by Christ and still used by Assyrian Christians, who consider themselves the indigenous people of Iraq.[/B]
A map on the wall in the office of the Assyrian political party affiliated with Dwekh Nawsha marks the Christian towns in northern Iraq, fanning out around the city of Mosul.
The majority are now under control of Islamic State, which overran Mosul last summer and issued am ultimatum to Christians: pay a tax, convert to Islam, or die by the sword. Most fled.
[B]Dwekh Nawsha operates alongside Kurdish peshmerga forces[/B] to protect Christian villages on the frontline in Nineveh province.
“These are some of the only towns in Nineveh where church bells ring. In every other town the bells have gone silent, and that’s unacceptable,” said Brett, who has "The King of Nineveh" written in Arabic on the front of his army vest.
Brett, who like other foreign volunteers withheld his last name out of concern for his family's safety, is the only one to have engaged in fighting so far.
The others, who arrived just last week, were turned back from the frontline on Friday by Kurdish security services who said they needed official authorization.[/quote]
[url]http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/15/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-foreignfighters-idUSKBN0LJ0LI20150215[/url]
I would be really interesting to see the outcome of having so much foreign influx in the region many, many years into the future. This is going to really change the culture of the countries involved down the line.
Possibly it could lead to opening up the middle east to the rest of the world. That would be a great sight.
It's like the crusades all over again
uhmmmm can we not?
[QUOTE=Adeptus;47210060]It's like the crusades all over again[/QUOTE]
my thought exactly
What's funny is that I see one of my friends in a few of the photos in the article. They are accepting donations so they have money to purchase ammunition and amenities. They just want to protect people from ISIS, with no ulterior motives. They are good people.
New crusade now!
deus vult!
[T]http://i.imgur.com/1m9o2fA.jpg[/T]
What a truly awful idea. Fighting religiously-motivated military groups with [I]more[/I] religiously-motivated military groups is only going to worsen the situation.
[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;47210313]What a truly awful idea. Fighting religiously-motivated military groups with [I]more[/I] religiously-motivated military groups is only going to worsen the situation.[/QUOTE]
Exactly. This isn't some grand story of supreme evil versus supreme benevolence. It's turning into a story of religious zeal versus a different brand of religious zeal.
I'm all for protecting people against aggressors but we shouldn't make the mistake of falling into the "us good, them bad" trap. Simply protecting civilians and restoring order to prevent bloodshed is a noble goal by itself, without any sort of religious motivation necessary.
Taking up arms in the name of religion is a slippery slope. I mean, if their only goal is to combat DAESH, fine I guess, but who is to say that if they gained enough influence these 'indigenous' Iraqis won't try to remove any old Muslim by force? I'd hope that isn't the case.
[QUOTE=A Beaver;47210341]Taking up arms in the name of religion is a slippery slope. I mean, if their only goal is to combat DAESH, fine I guess, but who is to say that if they gained enough influence these 'indigenous' Iraqis won't try to remove any old Muslim by force? I'd hope that isn't the case.[/QUOTE]
Considering Christians are a small minority in the Middle East I don't that would happen
[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;47210313]What a truly awful idea. Fighting religiously-motivated military groups with [I]more[/I] religiously-motivated military groups is only going to worsen the situation.[/QUOTE]
Too late, majority of the Iraqi army combating DAESH is Shia Muslims from the Shia dominated Iraqi government, which is why Anbar, Iraq's Sunni region, fell so easily to DAESH when they rolled into the country.
What is up with that "DAESH" name now? Since when is that a thing?
[QUOTE=Baazul;47212047]What is up with that "DAESH" name now? Since when is that a thing?[/QUOTE]
ISIS fucking HATES it when people call them that, so people have naturally decided to start calling them that instead :v:
ad-[B]Da[/B]wlah al-[B]Is[/B]lāmīyah fī al-‘Irāq wash-Shām.
In Arabic this acronym is pronounced Da'esh.
Due to its similarity with the Arabic word Daes (meaning "one who crushes something underfoot"), these daeshbags hate the name with a passion and harshly punishes anyone using the name in their territory.
[QUOTE=Baazul;47212047]What is up with that "DAESH" name now? Since when is that a thing?[/QUOTE]
People think it makes ISIS mad somehow even though they're posting on an internet gaming forum.
[QUOTE=Baazul;47212047]What is up with that "DAESH" name now? Since when is that a thing?[/QUOTE]
It's what ISIS call themselves. And now that they threatened to cut off the tongue of anybody who calls them by any other name, we're going with it too.
Feels shitty giving into terrorists like that, but if it stops them from mutilating random civilians in retaliation it's worth it.
[QUOTE=Phil5991;47212239]It's what ISIS call themselves. And now that they threatened to cut off the tongue of anybody who calls them by any other name, we're going with it too.
Feels shitty giving into terrorists like that, but if it stops them from mutilating random civilians in retaliation it's worth it.[/QUOTE]
It's exactly the opposite, they've threatened to cut out the tongue of anyone who calls them DAESH. Which is why people are calling them that.
[QUOTE=l337k1ll4;47212268]It's exactly the opposite, they've threatened to cut out the tongue of anyone who calls them DAESH. Which is why people are calling them that.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I read the thread a second time and I got it right this time. Sorry.
This can only end badly. Pushing a Christian agenda in an Islamic territory is just ASKING for more resistance.
[QUOTE=Explosions;47212205]People think it makes ISIS mad somehow even though they're posting on an internet gaming forum.[/QUOTE]
Well the more people that use it, the more it spreads. I'm sure by getting everyone to use it here, it'll spread a little bit more in the real world.
[QUOTE=soccerskyman;47212584]This can only end badly. Pushing a Christian agenda in an Islamic territory is just ASKING for more resistance.[/QUOTE]
And it begs the question of what these militias will do if and when we put paid to ISIL.
[QUOTE=soccerskyman;47212584]This can only end badly. Pushing a Christian agenda in an Islamic territory is just ASKING for more resistance.[/QUOTE]
All they want to do is protect the Christian towns from persecution and execution by ISIS. They don't have some grand agenda. This militia is tiny and for protection purposes.
Yeah, I guess if it's just for the protection of Christian towns and regions it's not much of an issue. But is it becoming borderline when Westerners are also signing up to protect the Iraqi Christians? It's interesting to think about. If Dwekh Nawsha goes around chanting "God is great!" when they take a person's life or use their religion solely as a means to oppress others and murder innocent people then that's not okay.
Sooo, are we gonna get all riled up when some wannabe Christian jihadis get themselves burnt alive by ISIS?
"JESUS AKBAR! JESUS AKBAR!"
[QUOTE=EdvardSchnitz;47210196]New crusade now!
deus vult!
[T]http://i.imgur.com/1m9o2fA.jpg[/T][/QUOTE]
God that Anime was fucked up any more like it.
[QUOTE=Used Car Salesman;47215069]Sooo, are we gonna get all riled up when some wannabe Christian jihadis get themselves burnt alive by ISIS?[/QUOTE]
These guys are made of war hardened people. My friend who joined them was a Marine infantryman, and he had been in the shit before. Many of them are war hardened. Surrender isn't in their vocabulary. Also, they aren't wannabe jihadis, like I have stated before, they are only trying to defend existing Christian towns. Shit, my friend joined them because he couldn't stand to see no one doing anything about Isis and the atrocities that they were doing, so he joined this militia to do something. That's the reason a lot of people use. I wish people like you would stop just reading the damn headline and actually read the article.
[QUOTE=SKEEA;47215748]These guys are made of war hardened people. My friend who joined them was a Marine infantryman, and he had been in the shit before. Many of them are war hardened. Surrender isn't in their vocabulary. Also, they aren't wannabe jihadis, like I have stated before, they are only trying to defend existing Christian towns. Shit, my friend joined them because he couldn't stand to see no one doing anything about Isis and the atrocities that they were doing, so he joined this militia to do something. That's the reason a lot of people use. I wish people like you would stop just reading the damn headline and actually read the article.[/QUOTE]
Hope that (A) the good folks stay in charge and (B) we don't get a case of 'he who fights monsters then.
Not surprised this is happening... You persecute a group of people, they'll retort.
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