It’s better to be locked up, than lying dead on a battlefield

Six Minnesota men, between the ages of 19 and 21, and all from Somalian families have been charged with providing support for a terrorist organization by making plans to join the fighters in Syria.

The US Attorney for Minnesota sounded more like a doctor trying to stop a contagious disease.

“Because these six men, were prevented from going, they will not be the next wave of recruiters, they cannot reach out to more friends and relatives to join their cause.”

Cases like this have re-kindled the social media debate over whether it was a good idea to allow so many Somalian refugees into this country, but the charging documents tell a story of Somalian parents who typically have no idea what their sons are up to, or who discover their plans and desperately try to stop them.

In one case, as the FBI watched, a father dropped his son off at school, and once Dad was gone, the son walked right past the school to a nearby mosque to meet his recruiter instead.

The question is: Why would anyone want to go to the Syrian killing fields to join ISIS?

“There’s nothing for me in this world, bro,” one of the suspects was heard to say. “The American identity is dead. Even if I get caught, I’m through with America. Burn my ID.”

Another said, “This shows Allah I’m not about this life.”

The Somali Community in Minnesota has tried to re-channel this religious fervor. They monitor the more than 200 websites that try to recruit their children, but they have also cooperated with the FBI, probably concluding that it’s better for a kid to be locked up in a US jail, than lying dead on a Syrian battlefield.