Citizens from Western countries visiting terrorist areas                    

Many countries have a common problem with some of its citizens visiting areas where terrorist groups are operating. Quite frankly, I couldn’t care less if these wannabe terrorists are killed in the name of Allah after they joined ISIS or other terrorist groups who want to kill human beings. Most of these fools are killed by armed forces fighting ISIS. As the militants with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) push further into Iraq, new scrutiny in Western countries is being given to the threat posed by the growing number of Western fighters after they have returned home—fools who had joined the ranks of that Sunni militant group previously and fought alongside of ISIS fighters.

What kinds of people join these terrorist groups?  Some join ISIS with the belief that they will simply be part of a caliphate and live in that area as a dedicated Muslims. If they want to live as Muslims, that is their right but they can do that in Canada and other developed countries without having to go into an area controlled by terrorists. Some of the women go into these areas in hopes of meeting and marrying a Muslim. They can marry Muslim men in their own countries. However, I believe that for the most part, young men who go into these areas are immature or mentally disturbed and want to fight with ISIS against the so-called infidels. Their desire to do this is an extension of their childhood games when they played cops and robbers or cowboys and Indians. They simply haven’t grown out of their childhood fantasies.

Although precise figures are hard to verify, the number of Westerners now fighting alongside militants in Iraq and Syria  has by all accounts surged.  The Soufan Group (provides strategic security intelligence services to governments and multinational organizations) .described in June 2014 the regions of Syria and Iraq that has transformed into an “incubator for a new generation of terrorists,” with more than 12,000 foreign fighters from at least 81 countries stationed in Syria alone. Of that number, approximately 2,500 who have entered Syria are from Western nations, including Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain and the United States,.

The emergence of thousands of Western fighters who hold legitimate passports and require no visas to enter the United States and Canada and have joined ISIS fighters; reflects an array of various purposes for joining. Some security experts call it the result of an increasing generational divide between Al Qaeda and ISIS, while others attribute the expanding lure to the group’s stunning battlefield success, brought about by a savvy online recruitment strategy and the promise of life inside an Islamic caliphate.

My real concern is that many of these immature wannabe male terrorists are returning back to the countries of their birth especially when they had no qualms of killing other human beings while serving ISIS. And worse yet, the young women who joined ISIS may also have no qualms about being suicide bombers after they return to their home countries as home grown wannabe terrorists. While the potential threat from these stupid people is clear, what security experts continue to debate is; “How much of an immediate danger do these wannabee terrorists pose to Canada, the United States and other Western nations?”

Mohamed Elomar, an Islamic terrorist from Sydney, Australia who was photographed with the decapitated heads of his enemies in Iraq has sent a chilling message to Australians that they should be more worried about what’s coming. If he slips into Australia unnoticed, he will really be a danger to the people of that nation. The former boxer, who claims to be recovering from a gunshot wound to his knee sustained while fighting with the terror group ISIS, regularly posts gory photographs of him holding decapitated heads in his hands, He also has access to an al-Qaeda terrorist manual.

Elomar’s friend, Khaled Sharrouf who is a convicted criminal is also an ISIS terrorist from Sidney who posted similar violent photographs and is also wanted by the Australian Federal Police. Sharrouf, who slipped out of Australia using his brother’s passport, is a prime example of terrorists using fake passports to escape detection by the authorities. He could also slip back into Australia with another forged Australian passport.

On July 19, 2014, a follower of Abu Hafs (a terrorist group which claims to be associated with the Islamic fundamentalist organisation al-Qaida) posted a link to a 179-page al-Qaeda “training manual”, encouraging its followers to “get radicalised”. He followed up with a message about downloading terrorism material from an Internet café. The terrorist manual reads; how to “hide ur (your) identity.” The Jihadist Declaration of a Jihad manual includes criteria on who is eligible to be a jihadi, how to assassinate enemies, how to gather intelligence and forge documents and how to communicate secretly. It also says, “This secrecy should be used even with the closest people for deceiving the enemies is not easy,” It offers advice about concealing passports and other strategies, used by some young Australians who have left the country to join ISIS to whom al-Qaeda praises. The manual was located by Manchester Metropolitan Police in the UK during a search of an al-Qaeda member’s home.

On September 18, 2014, the police in Australia foiled a terrorist plot to capture and behead Australian citizens for the purpose of making propaganda videos. Fifteen people were arrested in an operation which included more than 800 policemen. A few of the arrested persons had initially been charged and about nine others were later charged. According to the news reports, these people had joined ISIS. I don’t know if they had fought alongside of ISIS in Syria or Iraq but these wanabe terrorists were a real danger to the people of Australia.

Some of the deluded Americans who fought with the murderous Islamic ISIS group in Syria and Iraq have now returned to the US. They are a real threat to the United States. There have been no exact figures, but the National Counterterrorism Center estimates that more than 100 Americans enlisted in ISIS or with the al-Nusra Front, which claims ties to Al Qaeda. The FBI is looking at them, but surely they can’t watch them 24/7. Further, how do the American authorities really know that these misfits really fought with these terrorist organizations unless they foolishly admitted doing so on websites? The NYPD’s anti-terror chief said the department is on top of any threat that foreign-trained terrorists might pose to New York City, but so far none of the suspects on their radar have been tied to ISIS.

President Obama has sought cooperation from other countries requesting that they toughen laws to stop their citizens from traveling abroad to join terrorist groups. 

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced recently that if anyone in Canada goes to a country or region where there is terrorism, such persons would on their return; be arrested and charged criminally; their crime—having gone into a country or region where terrorism is being committed.

I see problems with that. For example, I have always wanted to visit the historic Turkish city of Istanbul. If I visited that city, would I be suspected of wanting to enter Syria to join ISIS?  How would I prove to the Canadian authorities that I never entered Syria to join ISIS?  Keep in mind that wannabe terrorists don’t cross the borders between Turkey and Syria at official border crossings. Now if the authorities discovered that I had extolled ISIS on Facebook—which I never done, that would be different. But every country has some fool working in homeland security and/or immigration who would foolishly come to a wrongful conclusion which could be a real problem, especially to a Canadian citizen who has an Arabic name.

Further, Harper wants to ignore Section 6. (1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that states that; “every citizen of Canada has the right to enter, remain in and leave Canada.” There is nothing in the Charter that specifically denies anyone from visiting their families in such countries were terrorism exists. For him to punish such persons wishing to visit their families in dangerous countries flies in the face of the Charter.

Harper maintains that such persons will have the opportunities to prove that they had a legitimate purpose for entering countries where terrorism exists. How does a person visiting relatives do that? A statement from relatives in writing isn’t real proof. That is because in all likelihood, most of their relatives won’t have the birth certificates of the Canadian visitors or themselves that they can photocopy for added proof.  Photographs with the Canadian citizens standing with their relatives are not really proof since any group photo can be staged by the terrorists. Even written communications by their relatives can be staged by ISIS.  As far as the Canadian authorities are concerned,  the statements and photos can be fakes. 

This is a real dilemma for honest citizens wishing to visit relatives in countries or regions wracked with terrorism. There are also some Canadians in Canada who are wannabe terrorists who instead of visiting real relatives, they actually wish to train how to kill people by attending ISIS training camps. How does the government make the distinction when determining who can go to those countries and who cannot?   

Will Harper (if he is re-elected) also include Nigeria, Cameroon, Kenya, Somalia and Yemen—countries that are wracked with terrorism, state that they too will be off limits for all Canadians?  How far does this man’s stupidity go?  Consider this. Not every area of these countries are controlled by terrorists. As an example, the people in the southern part of Nigeria are not having problems with the terrorist group called the Boko Harum. 

Punishing people who visited family members in the aforementioned  countries is an affront to our sense of justice. Now if it can be proved that persons returning from countries where terrorists thrive and were training with ISIS and/or other terrorist groups, then they should be punished with imprisonment and have their passports taken from them and never re-issued to them again.

I know some will say that such a manner of treatment to these particular travellers conflicts with the Charter. It does but section 24 of the Charter permits exceptions when government actions conducted against some people are in the best interests of society in general.

 The government will permit journalists, persons working for Aid organizations or other non-governmental organizations and legitimate relatives who wish to visit their families still trapped in areas controlled by terrorists.

Here is a tricky question. Should Canadians be permitted to enter Syria or Iraq to fight alongside of Kurdish fighters? One could argue that the more people who join the Kurdish fighters, the quicker ISIS will crumble. That may be so but Turkey is now faced with many Kurdish fighters who are members of the PKK—a terrorist group who are crossing into Turkey and fighting the Turkish armed forces. That being so, I strongly believe that no person living in Canada should get involved with the Kurdish battles no matter whom the Kurds are fighting. As to the Kurds fighting ISIS, they are doing quite well fighting ISIS without Canadian people slipping into Syria, or Iraq to help them.

You can be sure that some of the Hells Angels bikers want to join the Kurds and fight ISIS. Three of them are already in Iraq fighting alongside of the Kurds. Will they also fight Turkish armed forces later? If they do, will be fighting a country (Turkey) that is friendly to the west and Canada.

I believe that the countries that should not be entered into by anyone unless they are there for legitimate purposes are; Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, Yemen and Afghanistan.   

The trouble with banning people from Canada from entering terrorist controlled areas of the countries I named in this article (other than Turkey) it will be very difficult to control. There are so many ways that wannabe terrorists can slip across those borders unknown.

I believe that a great emphasis should be placed in the schools in which the students are taught about the inherent dangers that awaits anyone stupid enough to venture into a terrorist controlled country. The girls should also be especially warned that when they join a terrorist group, and marry a terrorist, their lives will be as slaves and could end up dead as suicide bombers. There are better ways to get into heaven that killing oneself in the name of Allah. 

Here something that will tickle you. If the male terrorists die in battle and supposedly there are 72 virgins in heaven waiting for them, who will be waiting for the women who have chosen to be suicide bombers?          


Why isn’t there anything in their holy book that answers that question? Their deaths will have been in vain.