Poor Shamima, exploited by fundamentalists and abandoned by the country that should have prevented this or at least tried to rescue her afterwards. I abhor terrorism, but I abhor those who fail to comprehend how it works just as much, and, as I can attest, the British establishment's understanding of child abuse and grooming is appalling at the best of times.
Unpalatable though it may be, the truth, encapsulated in yet another dismissal of a child's tragedy, is this:
Britain really doesn't care about child abuse.
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@pianoman1 saidI learned that during the time when Shamina and her 2 friends were travelling through various countries a western ? national, an agent for ISIS, became involved in helping with the girls ‘safe’ transportation and confiscate their passports etc. Not long after this radicalised agent was captured. He was persuaded to provided information that COULD have enabled these underage girls to possibly have been rescued but the Americans chose not to, preferring that they continue their journey and thus lead them to where they could find more ISIS men. The ISIS agent eventually earned his reward which was to receive a Canadian passport and is thought to now safely reside there, having escaped imprisonment in the USA.
Poor Shamima, exploited by fundamentalists and abandoned by the country that should have prevented this or at least tried to rescue her afterwards. I abhor terrorism, but I abhor those who fail to comprehend how it works just as much, and, as I can attest, the British establishment's understanding of child abuse and grooming is appalling at the best of times.
Unpalatabl ...[text shortened]... et another dismissal of a child's tragedy, is this:
Britain really doesn't care about child abuse.
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@drewnogal saidShe tries to pretend she has changed. And then someone asks her a question, and... nah. Still a member of Daesh.
I get what you're saying, she’s continued to live among the wives and families who were a part of ISIS so could her ideology have changed that much? She did look very westernised in her BBC documentaries; dressed in jeans, sun glasses, long flowing hair and a floppy sun hat, as if trying to look like she had changed.
@shallow-blue saidWhat would happen to her and the children and families still held at the camp if the aid ran out? The population there is also bound to grow?
She tries to pretend she has changed. And then someone asks her a question, and... nah. Still a member of Daesh.
@drewnogal saidAn awkward case all around, and by no means the only one. Shamima was naive, she was lied to by recruiters, and probably abused by people on the ground when she fell into the hands of ISIS. That's why there were barriers put up, to stop teenagers from leaving the UK and traveling across multiple borders to join ISIS. Bear in mind that she took active measures to circumvent those barriers; she was not kidnapped.
It’s been 9 years, should she come home now?
I can understand the UK govt.'s position: they're not responsible for rehabilitating a stupid girl who repudiated everything her former country offered her. She may indeed regret the pass she has come to, but I have seen no sign from her that she respects the rule of law or the secular values of the UK. So why should the UK govt. make any further effort on her part? I can't think of a good reason which would scale to an indefinite number of similar cases in the future. To rescue this one wayward girl would set an awkward precedent: 'go fight against everything we stand for, and if it doesn't work out for you, we'll take you back and put you on welfare indefinitely' --this is hardly sound policy.
She made her decision and she can live out the consequences, as far as I'm concerned. Heartless, but fair. The govt.'s prime responsibility is to take care of the ones who stayed, not the ones who defected.
Too bad for her kids; that just shows what a desolate worldview ISIS represents, that they didn't think about providing a future for the kids of their warriors.
My 2 cents.
@earl-of-trumps saidShe did. She was pregnant with her third child when the BBC first caught up with her. At that time she said she needed to return to the UK as she was fearful that her baby would not survive.
@Moonbus and @Drenogal, I believe Shamima had 3 kids and all died in Syria.
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@the-gravedigger saidIs Edward Snowden’s father complaining that the US govt isn’t looking after him, or his Russian-born kids (if he has any)?
Her father complained that the UK government didn't look after her.