Keith Broomfield. Via Facebook.
Keith Broomfield, an American citizen who died fighting ISIS in Syria, will have his body returned to his family. NBC News. The State Department confirmed that the 36 year old from Massachusetts died in combat against the terrorist organization. Kurdish fighters confirmed the death via Facebook and Twitter calling Broomfield a "martyr". Broomfield left for Syria about 4 months ago claiming that it was God's will that he fight in Syria. He joined up with the Kurdish YPG and fought near Kobani. The Kurdish facebook group, The Lions of Rojava hailed Broomfield as a hero.
My Comment:
The above video came from the YPG's facebook page. The Lions of Rojava facebook page can be found here.
What's my take on this? As I said with the other foreigners who have died fighting ISIS, I admire their courage. Fighting against ISIS is of course a noble goal, and given how badly ISIS wants to kill westerners, they are taking a huge risk in doing so. It is a very good thing that Broomfield was killed in combat and not captured, because if he had been his fate would have been much more tragic then it was already.
But I have to wonder if it was really worth it. I haven't been able to find any information on if Broomfield had any combat experience at all. The NBC article said that he was a production manager at a manufacturing firm. That doesn't seem like a job that screams combat experience to me. I guess he could have had some military or paramilitary experience at some point, but if he did, why haven't any of the articles I have read said anything like that?
If Broomfield really didn't have any combat experience then what was he doing on the front lines? I know that he was in Syria for four months, but that isn't enough time to train a solider to be effective. It is possible that he was in a non-combat role but as it stands right now it seems like he was just tossed to the front lines. I can't see him getting much more then a little bit of marksmanship and small unit training in the short time he was in Syria.
If so, that really rubs me the wrong way. I don't like the idea of the Kurds just taking foreigners and convincing them to fight if they don't know how to do so. I mean, it is one thing if ex-soldiers and maybe even cops serve, but this seems like it was just a guy without any experience at all. I don't like civilians being used as cannon fodder against ISIS, and it almost seems like this is what happened here...
This is yet another argument why people probably shouldn't be fighting for the Kurds in Syria. It makes me wonder if they just take anyone who shows up? I mean I could go, but I have no military experience whatsoever, and have only even fired a gun a few times. I'm not a good shot, I'm out of shape and I don't like taking orders. If I were to show up would they turn me away, or would they give me a rifle and throw me into the meat grinder against ISIS? I'm 32 and I already feel like I am too old to be running around in the desert. Nobody thought that Broomfield, at 36, might be better away from combat?
I mentioned awhile ago that I was more then a little uncomfortable with the political beliefs of some of the Kurdish groups as well. Some of the Kurds are actual communists and that is a total non-starter for me. And it seems unusual to me that so many Americans, often motivated by religious beliefs, are comfortable working these people. Yes, they are unquestionably better then ISIS, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are the good guys either. Of course the standards of being "good guys" in the Middle East are so low that they probably qualify.
All that being said, I still think that Broomfield did a noble, if not foolish, thing. Dying for a cause isn't the worst way to go, especially when that cause is fighting an organization as evil as ISIS. I don't know if I am comfortable labeling him a hero, but I am comfortable saying that he had better reasons to fight then anyone on the other side.
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