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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAmerican Douglas McAuthur McCain Dies Fighting for ISIS in Syria
American Douglas McAuthur McCain Dies Fighting for ISIS in Syria
The battle in itself seemed tragically normal. Two Syrian opposition groups fought and there were heavy casualties on both sides. Then victorious rebels rifled through the pockets of the dead. One contained about $800 in cash -- and an American passport.
Douglas McAuthur McCain, of San Diego, California, was killed over the weekend fighting for the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), according to the Free Syrian Army. Photos of McCain's passport and of his body -- which feature a distinctive neck tattoo -- have been seen by NBC News. According to an activist linked to the Free Syrian Army who also saw the body and travel document, McCain was among three foreign jihadis fighting with ISIS who died during the battle. The State Department was not immediately able to comment on the report.
NBC News has contacted several members of McCains family and dozens of friends including his mother, sister, aunts and cousins. A woman who said she was McCain's aunt confirmed that he had "passed" and referred calls to McCains mother.
McCain, 33, called himself "Duale ThaslaveofAllah" on Facebook and his Twitter bio reads: "It's Islam over everything." But how did this would-be rapper go from shooting hoops in a blue-collar area of Minnesota to dying in the civil war thousands of miles from home? This is his story -- one shared in part by only a "small handful" of Americans believed to be fighting in Syria with ISIS.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/american-douglas-mcauthur-mccain-dies-fighting-isis-syria-n189081
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts)psychologically speaking, but we had damned well better try to figure out the whys and wherefores.
CJCRANE
(18,184 posts)In the 70s it was nationalists etc.
This is just the latest iteration of mindless rebellion.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)but joining up with a bunch of stone-age cretins that saw people's heads off seems to be several steps further.
CJCRANE
(18,184 posts)Someone gave them money, training and a gun and set them loose.
In fact some of the ISIS memes on facebook compare it to playing a videogame. There was an article in the Guardian UK about this.
(There's probably some kind of NLP hypnosis techniques involved too).
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)Good-hearted but ultimately directionless youth struggling to find their place in the world have always been the most susceptible to political extremism, especially when they start running with the wrong crowd...
I've known a few friends from college days just like McCain -- Although none of them to my knowledge have gone so far to fly to the ME and take up arms...
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)CJCRANE
(18,184 posts)I was thinking of "McDonnell Douglas" McCain.
Historic NY
(37,449 posts)ChisolmTrailDem
(9,463 posts)LeftyMom
(49,212 posts)Google says they are. Weird.
Vogon_Glory
(9,085 posts)Young McAuthur McCain chose the way of violence and violence took him. I may sympathies with his grieving relatives and stateside friends, but I don't have any for him.