What could go wrong?
by digby
Gosh what a great idea. If there’s one thing the Middle East needs it’s some American mercenary yahoos running around:
A U.S. veteran is putting out a call to other veterans to come together to fight the Islamic State on their turf.
“There has been strong support and numerous veterans who are interested in going.”
According to Gannett affiliate, WTLV, eight-year military veteran Sean Rowe launched the website, Veterans against ISIS. He’s recruiting veterans to fight the terror group in places like Iraq, and he’s asking for four years of military experience.
“So, I will be talking with them and screening them. I want to keep it small and simple,” said Rowe.
From kidnappings to beheadings, the violence unleashed by ISIL continues, and Rowe says he’s had enough.
“I’m not scared of these guys. They can come for me if they want but I am going to take the fight to them,” said Rowe.
There are no federal laws prohibiting people from flying to other countries and acting as mercenaries, but former FBI special Agent Ron Wirth says there are other laws to keep in mind.
“If you are training with automatic weapons or weapons or explosives or rocket launches you may exposing yourself to criminal prosecution,” said Wirth.
Wirth also says he’s not guaranteed medical treatment if he’s injured, and he’s not protected under the Geneva Convention.
“It’s going to be dangerous but that’s a risk that anyone who signs up for this is going to be taking,” said Wirth.
When Rowe was asked if he had a strategy or where he even plans to go, he said, “We just need to be in an area…just to leave it to us. Don’t worry about it.”
He’s also not concerned about being a terror target.
“Do they care about Jacksonville? I don’t think they care about Jacksonville. They are going to come for me,” said Rowe.
Just leave it to them. Don’t worry about it.
I can only imagine the shrieking right wing outcry if one of these heroes got captured by ISIS. Somehow, I don’t think they’d have the same thing to say about them as they said about ISIS victim Kayla Mueller:
In a piece titled “Kayla Mueller: Dead ISIS Hostage Was Jew-Hating, Anti-Israel Bitch,” conservative blogger Debbie Schlussel wrote, “No tears for the newly-departed Kayla Mueller, the ISIS hostage whose parents confirmed today that she is dead.”
“Mueller was a Jew-hating, anti-Israel piece of crap who worked with HAMAS and helped Palestinians harass Israeli soldiers and block them from doing their job of keeping Islamic terrorists out of Israel,” Schlussel wrote.
“I have no sympathy for any of these ‘American’ (in name only!) hostages of ISIS,” she went on. “And my attitude when I hear they’ve been snuffed out is, so sad, too bad.”
One conservative website urged readers to pause before they mourn Mueller’s death and ask whether her support of Palestine was ultimately what killed her.
“People should be asking is why this young American girl was in Syria in the first place,” said Conservative-Headlines.com. “The fact is that Kayla Mueller was a Cultural Marxist who talked about her ‘privilege.’”
The website Shoebat.com’s Lee Kaplan said, “(T)he press tries to paint Kayla as a selfless volunteer helping poor Arab refugees. She may have even helped some injured Arabs in refugee camps. But don’t be fooled where her sympathies laid; she was working to support the goals of Palestinian irredentist/terrorists and to interfere with the IDF on behalf of terrorist groups. As an ISM activist she was a tool for the worldwide jihad.”
And Jim Hoft, also known as the Gateway Pundit, called Mueller “pro-terrorist” for opposing Israel’s ongoing occupation of Gaza.
That’s just so awful …
.