ISIS releases video showing yet another execution using children as the murders.

ISIS children about to execute Kurds. Video Screencap via The Daily Beast. 

ISIS has released another video which includes, among other atrocities, another example of using children as executioners. The Daily Beast. The video shows five children executing five Kurdish prisoners using handguns. One of the children was a white child from the United Kingdom. The rest were a Kurd, an Egyptian, a Tunisian and an Uzbeck, and all of them are presumed to be children of adults that joined ISIS. The video was released during a time of turmoil for ISIS as they are being pushed out of the border region with Turkey. The video is also meant to show ISIS still has many supporters from across the world.

My Comment:

I watched the video online. I won't link to it because it is extremely graphic and horrifying, and I kind of wish I hadn't watched it. The article left out quite a bit. There was a lot more two the video that they didn't talk about. The children weren't the only executions shown in the video. There was also a more standard mass beheading using normal ISIS fighters, who inexplicably killed the last guy by shooting him in the head. In another scene, several old unmasked men also shoot prisoners in the head. Finally, there was some more general "war porn" scenes of dead bodies, including children, presumably killed by airstrikes or artillery as well as another execution video where a bunch of men were killed in a trench using rifles. Bizarrely enough none of the violence was censored by ISIS made sure to blur out the men in the trench because it looked like they weren't wearing shirts. 

As horrifying as all that was, the children committing the execution was by far the worse. You could tell that at least a couple of kids were scared shitless and none of them really looked all that happy to be there. Both the white kid and the one on the center left looked like they were barely able to keep themselves from crying. In the end though, all of them went through with it. One of them seemed to enjoy it though, since he could be seen smacking one of the prisoners in the back of the head as a final humiliation. 

I can't imagine the psychological toll this has on kids these age. If any of these kids were over the age of 13 I would be amazed. Being forced to murder someone at such a young age must have a huge impact, and I wouldn't be surprised if these kids end up with PTSD or other psychological ailments. If by some miracle these boys are rescued from ISIS and aren't killed in the war, they will need years of therapy and deprogramming just to have a chance. It's more likely if they survive they will be true believers until they die. They may very well believe that they have crossed a line and will never be allowed into regular society again. And they might be correct about that. 

I wonder what the parents of these kids think of this. I wonder if they would have flown to Syria in search of a more spiritual life if they new that their religion would be used as a justification to make their children execute unarmed men. I know that if I was those kids parents there is no way that I would let ISIS do this. But perhaps these kids weren't volunteered. It's very possible that their parents were threatened as well, assuming that they are even still alive. I am hoping that some of them at least realize what they have done. 

ISIS hasn't been as steady at releasing these kinds of execution videos. It probably has a lot to do with their propaganda wing being hit hard by US airstrikes. Some of their more famous executioners have been killed by these airstrikes. I noticed that the normal ISIS wore masks while the children and old men did not. Even that is calculated. The US would have no problem attempting to kill the normal ISIS fighters if they could identify them. But that won't happen with children and probably won't happen with a bunch of old men. 

I still don't understand why anyone ever surrenders to ISIS. The best case scenario is that you get ransomed. You have a decent chance of that, but there is also a very good chance of ISIS executing you in a brutal and creative way. I know if I had a choice of being drugged and having my head cut off on video to be seen by thousands or even millions of people or dying in a pool of blood and a pile of empty brass, I would choose the latter. I'd keep one grenade with me at all times to blow myself up and take one of them with me. I'm just glad that I don't have to make that call... 

There is some speculation about the identity of the white child that was in the execution video. I don't really want to contribute to that speculation. The fact that he is a white Brit doesn't change the fact that he was just as horribly abused as the other children. I do have to say that it is inconceivable that a white family could be so easily radicalized that they would travel to ISIS lands and then allow their child to be used this way, especially if they weren't long time Muslims. It doesn't make much sense for the children from Muslim countries, but they at least have the excuse of there being radical networks in those countries. 

These are the kinds of posts I hate to write the most, and I have had to do them too frequently lately. I really don't like seeing images of children coming to harm. But I also think it is very important to spread the word about what ISIS is doing to their "cubs" and "pearls". Far from cherishing their children, they are abusing them horribly. I consider it among their worst crimes and I hope that someday the people responsible for these executions are brought to justice, one way or another.