Men and women without countries and for whom there is little empathy, and children being raised in circumstances that only breed more personal cynicism, this is what we have now at the collapse of a caliphate that was nothing more than a collection of thugs and hustlers who convinced the naive to follow them for a religious fantasy and fanaticism. Knowing as I do that such people must be dealt with, I have a bitterness about their stupidity, cruelty and malevolence that does not let me feel any empathy or sympathy for them and theirs. It is for this that we require political and moral leaders to counsel us appropriately and they are few and far between.
12
@NL2061DC There is a reason the expression "take no prisoners" was invented, and this guy seems like a very good case for applying it literally.
24
Which one of those deaths would he like?
14
" “I was just the voice,” Mr. Khalifa said, insisting that his work was confined to the studio."
In the context of everything that ISIS represents and has done, and its use of social media as a weapon, what a staggeringly ignorant comment on Mr. Khalifa's part. It's like saying, "I only pulled the trigger. Blame the bullet for the murder, not me."
Who in their right mind wants this guy back on Canadian soil, ever?
The Canadian government needs to revisit its policies on what it takes for a person to lose their naturalized Canadian citizenship.
36
To all those crying out about those in society that are marginalized or alienated or somehow treated unfairly - this man had all the opportunities in the world. Went to college, had a job. His family brought him from Saudi - the center of the Wahhabi sect. I'd like to know more about them and their ties to any Imam in the area where they live. Regardless, the sympathy and 'it's our fault' nonsense in some comments lead me to believe that too many in the west are illiterate when it comes to ISIS, Islam, and the Imams and clerics that are driving this insanity. Nothing to do with marginalization!
28
We can't go wobbly when dealing with these men. Every last one of them, including their wives, must be handed over to the Iraqis and Syrian government forces for final judgement.
32
There should be a years-long moratorium on all immigration to and from all nations on this planet. Each nation should straighten out its own immigration and citizenship mess. Anyone who is not native born in any given nation should be sent back, i.e. deported, to the land of their birth. If people want to make trouble, let them make it in their own country -- the land of their birth. We do not want or need troublemakers from other nations in our native lands.
15
“I was just the voice,”
A Saudi immigrant, given an education and the chance to start a civilized life in Canada (probably the reason his family emigrated in the first place). Yet he becomes a jihadist and an accomplice to murder. Why should Canada (or any Western country) take him back?
There should be a mechanism for stripping citizenship from those who join terrorist organizations.
40
The "simple " solution of course is to take this guy out back and put a 45 caliber re-education packet into his brain, therby curing the problem and guaranteeing that there will be no recidivism! This is not the intelligent solution however. It does achieve revenge; an eye for an eye etc but as others have commented , it does not allow us to understand the "WHY" that brought this man to this place and to this dead end. If this is the result of a deeply held religious conviction then, short of his God coming to earth and directly telling him to re-think his religious point of view there is no redemption for this man and no re-integration into society unless ISIS re-appears. The man is a pariah in Canada. I shudder to think what the Syrians would/will do to him. He might have been better off if he had died with his Kalashnikov in his hand and saved us the trouble of coming to terms with his personal life choices!! I hate to quote Spock, but the needs of the many etc. Some things are not fixable, even IF we understand violent, intolerable religious fervor! Religious fervor almost always cloaked political, secular purposes ! Look at history!
11
He surrendered his weapon - he didn't change his beliefs. And he doesn't regret his role - he merely got tired. This man should never be free again.
41
Inquiry while reading this article. I suppose it is obvious that a ‘terror-related’ criminal charge would be applicable. However, what exact charge and what exact evidence would actually be called upon to make a case for court that would be highly prosecutable in Canada ?
4
I’m a Canadian citizen by choice so I firmly believe Khalifa made his choice pretty clear as well. He’s no Canadian, he ceased to be one when he decided on following the jihad as a place where he belongs, a choice he made on the decision to be the one of the Caliphate’s propaganda mouthpieces and when he decided to pick up an AK47 to defend it. Among the personal fundamental human rights I unconditionally support, is the right to choose who you are as a person and as a human being, while understanding the responsibilities stemming from such a choice. He’s no Canadian by his own choice, one that he is not regretting. I fail to see why our government would spend any time or money defending or prosecuting him.
29
It is hard to be sympathetic to these ISIS fighters and supporters regardless of their national origin. Barbarism and treason should be sufficient to revoke the citizenship of these participants in the worst massacres since the killing fields of Cambodia. If these laws do not exist in places like Canada and Belgium, they should be enacted.
16
Who ever said Canadian are extremely nice people?
Seems there's good and bad everywhere.
3
@Ichigo: Seems that this guy isn't really a Canadian.
8
The background to this article is more significant than the vague story it tells: people who are originally intelligent and even sensitive are led because of arcane religious beliefs to show disdain and contempt for human life. Like witch-hunters in a not-so-distant European and American past, a passionate conviction of their own rectitude leads human beings to forget their own moral values in the belief that they are doing "God's" will. While we may be morally right to understand and forgive such people, they and their companions in crime (for crime it remains) will see us as weak and foolish for doing so. Christians must imagine a religious base which remains mired in the Old Testament, with "an eye for an eye" rather than "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" being their credo.
I see no way out of this dilemma - no morally acceptable solution, only gritting our teeth and fighting our enemies (for that is what they are) on their terms. The alternative means betrayal of our own culture and of our children's future.
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@Bill George
Right, but don't you see that that is exactly what they are doing? Gritting their teeth and fighting enemies filled with a passionate conviction of their own rectitude that invade their countries, bomb their wedding parties, etc., etc. on their terms?
Enough with the old testament.
2
Do we have a duty to preserve our own culture? I believe so in some sense, but nowadays people believe importing a range of cultures is a good thing and won't result in small isolated communities that feel left out and become radicalized in one way or another.
7
The way out is to repudiate ALL belief that insists it is the one true faith. So that would include Christianity, which cannot deny its bloody history (which still continues) or that its very core is the torture and murder of a human imagined by primitive minds to be God incarnate.
Christianity is no better than Islam, neither is "true" or the "path to eternal life". Those are dangerous ideas which have spawned great evil over the past 2000 years.
12
This article reveals the identity of an ISIS operative who is also a North American citizen. He was critical to their media and recruitment campaign and may have taken part in unspeakable atrocities. Fortunately he has been captured. Why is this man’s face not shown in any of the pictures that accompany the article?
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@Brian G
Under the Geneva III convention photos of prisoners of war are prohibited and they are shielded from "public curiosity".
https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/assets/files/other/amic_kevin_studds_final.pdf
A photo would add nothing to the article.
2
Please refer to British press: they showed his photograph today.
2
Found a link, hope it works!
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/world/meeting-the-canadian-voice-ofislamic-state-7xvqzd55q
2
35 years old. A young man in age. An old man in a life’s future.
We wonder about choices. Are they ever worth it?
10
I find this article to be disappointingly short of insight into Mr. Khalifa's motivation to fight jihad. Was he dissatisfied with his life in Canada? Why did he feel the need to give up a professional career in computers to become a terrorist? We're told that he became convinced of the "necessity of jihad," but WHY? What did he respond to in Mr. Al-Awlaki's videos? I want to know what this guy was (and possibly still is) thinking.
82
Kelly services typically provides two year contracts with no benefits and no future. Gruellingly, workers aim to be made a “regular”. But to become a “regular” from Kelly services is almost impossible because companies like IBM would have to pay a finders’ fee to Kelly (while in contrast IBM would not pay a finder’s fee to an individual contractor who came to the company through their own efforts — of whom there are many).
Seneca is a lower tier community college (although very good educating people, for what it is). Typically this type of college grad, in my experience, would not really be having a “career” in IT.
Perhaps this person should not be seen as a failure of Canadian assimilation. Lots of white, locally-born Canadians struggle with these futureless contract jobs, too.
His decision to join a murderous group for glory and excitement is disgusting, though, and his alone. I hope we in Canada never take him back. He deserves to suffer like all the victims whose deaths he contributed to — innocent people, living in their own homeland, who wanted to go about their daily lives and live to see another day, but instead were shot, drowned, and burned alive.
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@C The problem with not taking him back is that he may end up free to join the next terror group. Once a person is a Canadian we are responsible for him. The challenge is that our judicial system was not designed to deal with war criminals that are at high risk of reoffending. There are no easy answers here, but as Canadians we should see ourselves as accountable.
23
@SteveR, I highly recommend the New York Times-produced, multi-episode podcast “Caliphate” to better understand the complexity of the radicalization process. It focuses on a young westernized immigrant man in Canada and his decision to abandon his family and take up arms in Syria. It’s excellent and dives much deeper into the psychological profile and process of radicalization. It doesn’t help us understand this man in particular (and, like you, I wanted more “why” in this article), but it does help us understand the awful power of his work on another man. Highly recommended.
19
A troubling piece to read because it took me down paths it seems we are not ready to tackle. Take for instance, the assertion that Canada is one of many countries who are reluctant to take their own citizens because they are worried that battlefield evidence won't hold up in regular court and thus could render any prosecution toothless. The admission that many a judiciary has no set of jurisprudence standards capable of dealing with terrorism stems most probably from the reluctance to create a standard allowing for a lower threshold than that afforded in the civil and criminal codes that normally govern society. Another troubling assertion arises from the observation of what happens when western societies fail to assimilate and give meaning to the lives of those within their borders. Marginalization or alienation can manifest itself in ways most hostile to the mission of integration. It is a mistake for societies to think they can just let the vine of humanity grow without cultivating and nourishing it with education, opportunity and hope. But alas, we are far removed from a political will to address this because of our cynical and incompetent governance culture.
44
I believe this is why many people try to assimilate immigrants to the countrys parricular culture. Nothing to do with racism or xenophobia, but immigrants trying to preserve their own culture in small isolated groups does noone any good. Why create small countries within a country that will only lead to feelings of otherness?
8
@NL2061DC You are splitting hairs. When immgrants come to western nations it is not up to those of us who are "native" to accommodate the newcomers so much as it is up to the newcomers to fit in -- not necessarily to asssimilate -- but at least to fit in. An earlier generation of immigrants, my own ancestors included, came to a new land determined to work hard and make decent lives for themselves, and they did. Those who are "marginalized" are always free to return "home."
16
@NL2061DC
Re: "It is a mistake for societies to think they can just let the vine of humanity grow without cultivating and nourishing it with education, opportunity and hope."
Mr. Khalifa was in fact educated and successfully employed. We're living in a time of diminishing hope, but that doesn't turn us all to terrorism. More needs to be known about the background and experiences of such individuals.
5
But at least we can all celebrate the inclusivity of western world. Keep telling ourselves that the state comes before religion, any religion, and that our values will always trump whatever ideology younger generations might have.
“I don’t regret it” - that’s the answer if you believe in the above.
18
@Tamer Labib and when all is said and done and the world is picking up the pieces, who can resist a little celebration and a recital of "in god we trust"... especially when it is written on every single piece of paper money with the US$ sign on it. And used and abused in thousands of western courthouses every working day.
Does separation actually mean conjoinment I wonder?
7
@Tamer Labib For every man like the one in this article, there are thousands of Muslims in Canada who would not dream of doing what he has done and live harmoniously with people from other religions and walks of life. While we need to understand why he felt the need to do what he did (and why he says now he doesn't regret it), he is the exception, not the rule. There is no need to give up on the dream of inclusivity.
6