"Don't be afraid, we've come to liberate you with the Americans"

Since the death of Delta Force Master Sergeant Joshua Wheeler, the admission by Defense Secretary Carter that Wheeler died in combat, and President Obama's deployment of 50 military advisors to Syria, America has been debating the wisdom of putting a larger force on the ground in Iraq and Syria. Yesterday, Reuters released a report about the rescued prisoners that lends moral support to those wanting to stamp out ISIS. Reuters interviewed three of the prisoners at a Kurdish security facility in Erbil, but could not independently verify their accounts. ~~~~~ "The last thing that came to Saad Khalaf Ali's mind as his ISIS interrogators smothered him with a plastic bag was his two wives and children. Then everything went dark. He was jolted back to life by an electric current and came round soaked in water and gasping for breath on the floor of a prison in northern Iraq." This is how the former Iraqi policeman described his treatment at the hands of ISIS, which tortures, executes or beheads anyone deemed immoral or an opponent of its ideology and goal of creating a caliphate across the Moslem world. Saad told Reuters he withstood physically but broke psychologically when ISIS threatened to slaughter his entire family. He confessed to giving ISIS positions to Kurdish and Iraqi forces, an act punishable by beheading or shooting. “I confessed to everything,” Saad said. He was then taken blindfolded to a judge who sentenced him to death. His execution was set for October 23. BUT, a daring rescue mission the night before by Kurdish and US Special Forces saved Saad and 68 other hostages. ~~~~~ Many of those rescued were former Iraqi security force members who had fought the same insurgents before ISIS overran 1/3 of Iraq. Another prisoner, 31-year old Ahmed Mahmoud Mustafa, told Reuters he was held in a windowless room just big enough for him and 38 others when they lay down to sleep. They were forced to remain silent, pray five times a day and read Islamic lessons provided by ISIS. Meals were potatoes, lentils and tomato. When one of the men would recite a verse of poetry, the others would weep. Surveillance cameras monitored them. They were forced to watch beheading videos shown on a large screen. One man turned away from a grisly scene and was beaten on the head, according to Ahmed and Mohammed Abd Ahmed, another prisoner. Both men had already crossed ISIS. Some months earlier, Mohammed received fifty lashes for criticizing ISIS. He was warned his tongue would be cut off next time. Ahmed had been detained on four prior occasions because a person he had a dispute with had connections with ISIS. But, this time, both men faced the capital charge of spying. Their interrogators - fellow Iraqis - had a file for each prisoner detailing crimes and corroborated by two witnesses. One of the two men who testified against Ahmed was his own cousin. When the interrogators finished, they would give the prisoner’s file to a judge, who ordered execution or more interrogation. Finally, like Saad, Mohammed gave in to torture and put his fingerprint on a list of charges, knowing that denial would only prolong his suffering and that death was inevitable. The interrogators asked whether he would prefer to be decapitated from in front or behind. Later, Saad, hearing the sound of heavy machinery outside, climbed onto the back of another prisoner to look through an opening in the wall. He saw a bulldozer digging a trench. The next day, October 22, four prisoners were taken and then the remaining prisoners heard four gunshots. Saad was told his turn was the next day. He used a nail to etch his last wishes onto a Moslem prayer timetable. The message to his nephew was short : look after his family. Saad also named his two informers, so his death could be avenged. Saad then prayed, weeping, until he heard helicopter sounds in the night. After intense firefighting, the door of the room was smashed open by a Kurdish commando, who said : "Don’t be afraid, we have come to liberate you with the Americans." ~~~~~ Dear readers, what more need be said.