Haruna Yukawa with an AK while in either Syria or Iraq. War is Boring/Yukawa
War is Boring has the story of Haruna Yukawa, a Japanese man who had dreams of being a mercenary and was captured, and possibly executed, by ISIS. Yukawa was the head of his own private military contractor company and the only employee of said company. Yukawa had no military training other then running a military surplus store. The loss of his store, along with a botched suicide attempt, self castration, the debt incurred in the suicide attempt, and the death of his wife seems to be the motivation for his actions. Yukawa claimed to be a journalist and was selling pictures he took to various wire services, but several pictures show him with rifles and military equipment. When ISIS captured him they accused him of being a spy and of fighting with the Free Syrian Army. For its sake Japan is treating the issue as a national embarrassment and are debating if they should even try to get him back, if he is even still alive.
My Comment:
"Transgender Japanese Mercenary" is not a phrase I ever expected to write... Anyways, this whole story is insane, read it all. As usual, very good reporting by War is Boring. It's pretty clear that Yukawa needed some help long before he went to Syria. I'm not sure what could have been done but his story should have ended in a different way. If he turns up to be alive, Japan should try and get him back. Nobody deserves to be held or executed by ISIS, even if what Yukawa did was a crime. He's still a citizen of Japan though and they should try and help him, even if they end up charging him later.
This of course brings up the question if any other foreigners are fighting in Syria and Iraq. I know that plenty are fighting for ISIS, including an American that just got killed, but I wonder how many are fighting for the FSA or any of the other non-ISIS factions in both Syria and Iraq? And are any real PMC's being contracted to fight as well?
No comments:
Post a Comment