By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
Kurdish Democratic Forces in Syria report the arrest of two Americans allegedly fighting with or aiding the Islamic State terrorist organization in Syria. The two men are identified as Warren Christopher Clark, 34, of Texas and Zaid Abed al-Hamed, 35.
They were captured by the Kurds during a counter-terrorism raid near the Iraq border in the vicinity of one of the few remaining holds of ISIS in Syria. Prior to their capture, the two, along with a Pakistani National and a male reportedly from Ireland, were preparing an attack against civilians fleeing the battlefields.
The Kurds made the announcement last Sunday and U.S. Army Colonel Scott Rawlinson reports the incident is under investigation.
Military.com provided the following information:
Under the alias Abu Muhammad al-Ameriki, Clark had submitted an application seeking to join ISIS as an English teacher in Mosul, which had served as the Iraqi capital of ISIS’s physical caliphate from summer 2014 until it was liberated by U.S.-backed and trained Iraqi forces in summer 2017. Using the application’s resume and sources in Texas, researchers identified Clark as a University of Houston graduate who had converted to Islam in 2004 and was radicalized after viewing jihadist videos online, NBC News reported earlier this year. He had worked as a substitute teacher in Texas before traveling to Saudi Arabia to teach English for two years and then going to Turkey.
By Darren Smith
The views expressed in this posting are the author’s alone and not those of the blog, the host, or other weekend bloggers. As an open forum, weekend bloggers post independently without pre-approval or review. Content and any displays or art are solely their decision and responsibility.
Marker, apologies.
I don’t know what all this tech junk means. Folks are usually getting information and perhaps comment. I guess I need to go back to older comments.
“Marker, apologies.”
Sandra, I don’t know either but there was an appology by David Benson so the only thing I can think of is when David peed in his pants the wetness marked the spot, thus marker apologies.
Allan, your latest renders but one character wide so is unreadable.
David, Copy whatever you see on your screen and put it in quotes. Then I can find the comment you are looking for. Alternatively copy the first comment before mine that is readable with the appropriate explanation so I can find the comment you are looking for.
Essentially in order to satisfy this request I would have to figure out which of my comments was the one you are looking for.
Allan, on this hand-held device on this site replys to replys to replys … are set in ever narrower widths, called gutters from the old hot type days. When the gutter width is only a few characters wide, say one, the text is unreadable.
If you want me to read, start over with a new comment.
David, I don’t care if you read or not because you use the narrow width as an excuse not as a real problem. You have used this complaint when the postings were full width. You use this excuse as a way of not answering when you are called out. That is fine with me as your lack of an answer probably tells more than any answer you can contrive.
Allan, the narrow width is an actual problem. When comments are set wide enough to read I still might not notice as the link has dropped off the end of the recent comments stack.
Sometimes I don’t think that a reply would serve any purpose.
If a reply is desired make that plain and persist. Thank you.
David on several occasions I purposely made sure the response was wide and on at least one occasion copied what I wrote and responded anew so it would be written wide as well. I believe that sometimes the width has created the problem you complain of but not always. If you wish to play word games that is your choice but then recognize that doesn’t do much good for your reputation.
I don’t play word games.
But often enough if the blog is busy I may not see the link to a comment because it no longer appears in the Recent Comments stack.
In such a case try again when the blog isn’t busy and I am in evidence.
David, you may think you don’t play word games, but you do. If can’t see it that is fine but most people do. Are you better than that? You decide.
Be so good as to inform me if I do. Cite.
David, you are a big boy. You can figure out when you are doing it. No one should be doing this for you.
David – it is ironic that you demand a citation when, as far as I’ve seen, you have never once provided one when asked.
Perhaps this has become some bone of contention for you, a battle of wills for you to never provide a link. However, the end result is that readers dismiss your comments as opinion with no facts to back them up. No scientific paper or humanities essay could pass without proper references. The fields have their own style books that are the standard in publishing.
That is all I will say on the matter. Carry on.
David – do you not have access to a computer?
I sometimes have trouble with narrowing comments if I check the blog on my phone. Rotating to landscape mode usually helps. Otherwise, I just don’t read the comments section on the phone and wait until I’m at a computer or tablet.
I also don’t understand why you will not post a reference link. Typing a comment on your phone with the small screen keyboard is much harder than copying and pasting a link. It is also harder for you to type the title and author than to simply copy and past a link. You could probably use Siri to do it if you have an iPhone.
Your statements don’t carry much weight if you won’t post a link to back them up. Most of your audience is not going to take the time to do a Google search for you to find your references. They should be annotated with a link. Otherwise, your statements will just be taken as opinion. You are a stranger so your word is insufficient. You don’t have to post a link if you don’t want to, but it will be considered purely opinion. When I don’t provide a link and someone asks for one, I try to post it.