Western volunteers rally to Iraq Christian militia
AL-QOSH, Iraq — Decked out in his US army-issued fatigues and a lip stud shining from his mouth, the young American fighter cuts an unusual figure in the northern Iraqi town of Al-Qosh.
He served in the US army in Baghdad in 2006-2007 and has now returned to fight the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group with Dwekh Nawsha, a Christian militia whose name is an Assyrian-language phrase conveying self-sacrifice.
The 28-year-old, who goes by the pseudonym Brett, has become the figurehead of an emerging movement of foreigners coming to Iraq to support Christian groups.
Bearing a tattoo of a machinegun on his left arm and another of Jesus in a crown of thorns on his right, Brett jokingly refers to himself as a “crusader.”
IS never captured Al-Qosh - but it came close enough for its mostly Christian population to flee to the neighboring Kurdistan.
“One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter,” Brett says, speaking from a Dwekh Nawsha base in the Kurdish city of Dohuk.
People’s freedom
“But here we’re actually fighting for the freedom of the people to be able to live peaceably, to be able to live without persecution, to keep the church bells ringing.”
Also acting as a recruiter, Brett says he wants to establish a “foreign fighters’ battalion.”
In his first week in charge, he brought in five volunteers from the United States, Britain and Canada, all of whom he says have military or contracting experience.
The foreign contingent is tiny compared to the thousands of foreigners who have joined IS, but interest is growing and Brett says he has 20 more volunteers already lined up to join.
Brett’s first recruit was Louis Park, a mild-mannered Texan who retired from the Marines in December.
“I did not adjust well at peace time,” he said with dipping tobacco tucked in his lip. “I wanted to get back out here.”
The growing contingent of foreign recruits have a variety of reasons for joining Dwekh Nawsha.
Andrew, an older man from Ontario, Canada, came because he heard about “slaughterhouses” where IS allegedly cuts people up for organ trafficking.
There is no evidence that such places exist but the rumor has been widely circulated by evan- gelical and anti-Islam organisations, especially in North America.
A video showing the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians by IS in Libya released on Sunday and entitled “A message signed with blood to the nation of the cross” sparked a fresh surge of calls on social media for tougher Western action.
Young American fighters are among the Western recruits who have returned to Iraq to fight the Islamist State jihadist group alongside Dwekh Nawsha, a Christian militia.