British citizen killed fighting against ISIS with Syrian Kurds. BBC.

British citizen Konstandios Erik Scurfield in Syria. BBC/AP.

A former Royal Marine and British citizen has died fighting with the Kurds in Syria against the forces of ISIS. BBC. Kostandios Erik Scurfield was declared dead by the Kurdish YPG group. He died in a battle against ISIS in the area of Qamishli. The YPG considers Scurfield to be a martyr and have asked his family if they can bury him as one. The British Foreign Office is aware of the report but is having trouble confirming the death. Over 100 British citizens are believed to be fighting with the Kurds in Syria. To contrast that, over 500 are fighting for ISIS. Some are accusing the British government of double standards of allowing fighters to go to the Kurds while not allowing them to fight for ISIS. 

My Comment:

No idea why fighting for the Kurds would be considered as bad as fighting for ISIS. The British have a different way of seeing things that, often times, I just don't understand. As far as I am concerned there is no double standard here and the suggestion that there is one is just crazy. I know that these western fighters are in a strange situation legally and there are rather strong arguments about them not going. This case, where the government is having difficulty determining if Scurfield is even dead, is one of them. Not only that, but the question now becomes what do they do with his body? His family probably wants him buried back in England, but there is little chance of that happening. 

Back to my point though, why on earth would fighting for the Kurds be equivalent to fighting with ISIS? These men aren't fighting for the same reasons that ISIS is. And if they return there is almost no chance of them blowing themselves up or cutting someones head off. You can't say that for the people going to fight for ISIS, and other Islamic groups like the Al-Nusra front. There could be something I am missing here but I can't for the life of me understand what it is. ISIS is evil. Fighting against them is a noble, but somewhat foolish, act. Fighting for them is an evil act. The two situations are very different. People going to fight for an evil organization should be stopped, the ones that aren't shouldn't have the same level of scrutiny leveled at them. 

Still, the question of foreign fighters volunteering to fight ISIS in Syria is still controversial, for reasons beyond what the BBC is talking about. No doubt the Kurds are happy about it but what happens if one of these fighters gets captured? Rather how will the U.S. or U.K. or whoever respond when yet another of their citizens gets executed? I also worry what will happen if the Kurds go off the rail and commit some atrocity. Given the circumstances, that is possible, and quite frankly, understandable. But what happens if they do something wrong and a western fighter is implicated in it? 

I've got mixed feelings on the whole issue. I want ISIS to be defeated and these fighters are helping. And it is certainly noble to fight for a just cause, and fighting ISIS is about as just as you can get. But it just seems like a very bad way to go about it. Foreign people fight for other governments all the time, but most of the time they are enlisted in an army. These people aren't because the Kurds aren't really a government. They are just an independent organization, albeit one with historical claims to the area and a government that isn't really doing much for them. That makes me more then a little uncomfortable.