The reporter’s name is Jurgen Todenhofer.. Al Jazeera interviewed him about his experiences doing embed reporting with ISIS..
Among the points that amazed me: How it all began. Todenhofer wrote to all of the Jihadists that he could find on Facebook..eventually his social networking prowling worked. He told Al Jazeera during the interview that he got a response from someone who told him that someone from the ‘media department’ of ISIL would be in touch with him.. Todenhofer said, “Maybe this was their way to open a door to the West, or to show that they took the first step, because killing journalists is not a very intelligent strategy.”
Todenhofer was made aware that they knew he had met with Syria’s Assad.. they even said they were not concerned with his opinions, but wanted to showcase their story to the West..
Todenhofer said,
Everything was uncomfortable. Sometimes there was no food or water, like on the last day when we had nothing to eat. It was very simple because they chose houses where nobody thinks they are or may be. They have to hide because there are American bombs out there.
One of the most difficult situations was in Mosul when a drone identified some who were with us, and the bomb came down.
The thorny issues of meeting and greeting ISIS only grew from that point..
A few days before we were to cross, there was some shooting and at the end, close to the border, you have to run about 1,000m to cross the border with all your bags and equipment in order to get to safety. Running 1,000m is very far when you’re running for your life and there are gun towers with armed men inside.
And more:
These were very difficult discussions, especially when they were talking about the number of people who they are willing to kill. They were talking about hundreds of millions. They were enthusiastic about it, and I just cannot understand that
And that may be the highlight for the West–and world–to see.
The perplexing thoughts of wondering why a group of human beings wanted to murder hundreds of millions of other human beings–so long after the 20th century of brutality is over, and we are still talking about the same types of issues. Mass rapings.. mass killings.. mass beheadings.. mass murders..
Todenhofer offered food for thought during his Al Jazeera interview.. when probed about what information he could pass on to the rest of the world after his encounter with ISIS, he responded with a chilling series of thoughts:
I had three strong impressions of ISIL. The first one was that ISIL is much stronger than we think. They have conquered an area which is bigger than Great Britain. Every day, hundreds of new enthusiastic fighters are arriving. There is an incredible enthusiasm that I have never seen in any other war zones that I have been to.
Secondly, the brutality of their intended religious cleansing is on another level. And thirdly, I think the strategy of the western countries regarding the Muslim world is completely wrong. With our bombardment, we have never been successful. We have not been successful in Afghanistan; we have not been successful in Iraq. The bombardments are a terror-breeding program. We had much fewer terrorists before 2001 and these bombardments, which killed hundreds of thousands of people have created terrorists and increased terrorism.
He is correct. The amount of territory that the group has conquered is large, even after President Obama had tried to downplay their early successes, achievements obviously from ISIS could not by undone by the bombardment of air strikes led by the United States. ISIS has set up a governmental system.. they run roadways and sewer systems. As mentioned early, they have a media department.. They are beginning to phase in their brand of Sharia law in each and ever crevice of the Middle East they take over..
And with that takeover comes global implications.. With each and every airstrike from the West, another potential band of terrorists is created.
The 9/11 generation has matured. They are now ages 18 through 25 and they are joining ISIS–sometimes, perhaps, for their own safety..
The world is changing by the moment–and hundreds of fighters are adding to that change, joining with ISIS for a new rebellion against the West. If they win, it will be filled with the bodies of lifeless corpses along the way, millions of them..
And with their race to hundreds of millions of deaths, they are also busy using technology to their highest caliber.. The UK INDEPENDENT is among the media outlets reporting this today: ISIS is going to launch its own 24 hours news network.. Author Adam Withnall writes,
Social media accounts linked to the group have begun sharing a so-called “teaser” video, which claimed the channel would broadcast 24 hours a day and be named “The Islamic Caliphate Broadcast”.
There are photographs being seen as well on Ben Swann’s website .. those photos show the brutal nature of the law being imposed by ISIS. One image taken for the record of time: An accused homosexual man being thrown to his death from a tall balcony. He is blindfolded and alive. Before death, he is falling towards a ground already littered with corpses. A large group of people seem to be gathered to watch the murder take place.
This is the world we now live in.