PBS Frontline- Return from ISIS
This documentary was one of the most surprising things I had ever watched. To start off the
video, you can see a young child who is now in Syria attempting to assemble a suicide bomb in
order to appease his stepfather. This story covers how a reporter is following a woman whose
sister and son had been forced into Syria. It is terrifying how the women explains that everyday
bombs are dropped, shrapnel is thrown, and their lives are in danger every day. I think one of
the most surprising things about this video is how the child seems to take to the idea of being a
suicide bomber for ISIS.
I was unaware how limited communication is in Syria and how that makes it much more
dangerous for Americans to be there at all. I was also interested in how some of these young
children are forced into these situations and either ‘run with it’ or decide to go against it. When
the documenter was talking with the young boy Ahem, it is interesting to see how saw his
country as normal, and the American child was aware that this was not normal. I was not also
pretty confused on how this American family ended up in ISIS. However, as this video goes on,
you can see how the family was quickly manipulated into thinking that this life was a good one
for them, all because of Mousa, her husband. The wife seems to think she was tricked into
thinking she was moving to Morocco but instead they ended up Syria. However, her father
thinks she knew what they were getting into. T
I think the language barrier really hurt the family. Her husband takes hold of all their belongings
and pretty much takes them as prisoners. She is unable to communicate with anyone else but
her husband. I was very shocked at the statistic that said 400,000 ISIS fighters were from
European countries or North America. The videos of Matthew loading guns, grenades, and pipe
bombs are shocking especially because he seems interested in actually participating in ISIS. This
is nuts, he is 8. I could never imagine being 8 and dissembling a gun and putting it back
together. This video was extremely eye-opening because it shows how ‘smart’ people can
tricked into falling into a terrorist group which is apparently more rampant than most people
believe It to be.