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Fascinating transcript of @thetimes Shamima Begum interview. When read in full her naivety, and her lack of care and compassion shine through. thetimes.co.uk/article/isis-j…
Some countries - Russia, Kazakhstan and the US - have repatriated some or all of their women and children from Syria. They do this because they don’t belong there, they are unwanted by the Kurds who don’t have the resources to bring them to justice. Or care for their kids.
These women didn’t fight for the Islamic State, they didn’t do battle; but they did serve its cause and further its misery. They added to the myth of a religious paradise. They were a propaganda tool which helped recruitment.
But it’s important to remember that unlike British male IS suspects who have been stripped of their passports, these family members are still British citizens. The Kurds say they should go home. The American-led mission says they should go home. But Britain has no plan.
And that’s coming to a head. The caliphate is worn down to nub in Syria and that will soon be erased. And more British families will be found, trapped in Syria. We know of dozens of people already. So this is a more pressing problem.
Some of these people are wicked and dangerous. Most of the kids are, well, just kids. Britain needs proper safeguards for dealing with them. The problem can’t be ignored. How will it deal with its citizens which caused so much harm overseas?
When faced with the prospect of male fighters being handed over to the Assad regime, Brit officials have told me, “that’s not over problem, they are no longer citizens”. But the women and kids are, does Britain really want to give Assad that leverage?
Previously, the govt line was that the bad guys would all die on the battlefield. Well, they didn’t. That was unrealistic from the beginning. And killing or abandoning their families was never a goal.
There is about to be a great and splendid victory over the caliphate. Thousands died for it, mostly Iraqis and Syrians. IS won’t disappear though. It is still a threat.
IS always exploited division, it told people they didn’t belong, it attempted to destroy states and communities with this message. And in these final days we risk handing them a recruitment bonus by forgetting our humanity, our morals and our laws.
