Shamima Begum wants to come ‘home’. To Britain. Where she was born. Where she was raised. Where she lived until she was 15. At which point, along with 2 mates, she took the very long and winding road to Syria, via Turkey, to join ISIS. And although as we all know, a 15 year old girl is nothing to be toyed with, they have opinions, normally very strong ones, they have ideas and they are fiercely independent, legally, at 15, they are ‘minors’ and therefore their actions are not considered their own. Thus Shamima, and her mates, were ‘groomed’, which doubtless they were. By evil men and women of ISIS ideology intent on building up the number of foot soldiers for their cause. Or, where women are concerned, its more ‘bed soldiers’. Painting some kind of glamorous and exciting lifestyle all ‘for the cause’.
Shamima went, she was married a couple weeks later, still 15 years old (ISIS make their own rules, in case you missed that) and has had 3 children with a 4th on the way, in 4 years, though sadly 2 died. And because of that, she’s worried about the new one. And therefore wants him to be born back ‘home’ in the Britain she left for better things. Or worse things. Certainly more ‘beheady’ type things, which apparently didn’t faze her at all. Does she have remorse? Regrets?? No, she regrets rien. As the song almost goes. But health care is better in Bethnal Green than on a sand dune on the Syria/Iraq war-torn border so this is where she wants to be.
And that’s a big problem. Because instinctively: WE DON’T FUCKING WANT HER! Because she’s dangerous, she’s been ‘poisoned’, she’s been ‘brainwashed’ and she’s spent 4 years in the midst of horrendous violence which she has normalised. Her babies were raised as jihadis-from-birth, so God help them. And remember, ISIS did not exist in the isolation of the Levant. Its ‘messages of love’ spread to Manchester and Nice and London Bridge and Westminster Bridge and Belgium and all over the Western world. So when Shamima joined ISIS, or married ISIS, or even just shagged ISIS, she became part of something sworn to the destruction of the homeland and value system to which she now wants to come running in order to protect her children.
Being a hypocrite is not a crime. Unfortunately. Being a British citizen means we almost have to let her back. And its not her children’s fault. None of it. Can you ‘de-radicalise’? I’m not sure. The ‘de-briefing’ will be useful in the ongoing battle against terrorism, but if she ends up in prison she could do way more harm than good.
Its a tricky one.
Happy Friday
A xxxx
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