Child Holding Severed Head ‘Grotesque, Disturbing’
Recently, the social media world was appalled and shocked at a picture posted of a 7 year-old boy holding the severed head of a Syrian soldier. The picture was taken by the boy’s father, an Australian citizen who had joined the forces of the Islamic State in Syria. Australia and many other nations are now concerned that their citizens could return from Iraq and Syria with homegrown terrorist aims. The Islamic State has been merciless in its targeting of Christians and other religious minorities throughout Iraq and Syria, and recently commented in a video interview that it hopes to one day raise its flag over the White House.
8/12/2014 Syria (Charisma) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says a photo of a 7-year-old boy proudly holding the severed head of a Syrian soldier shows why the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, poses a threat not just to Syria and Iraq, but to the world.
The Australian boy’s terrorist father, Khaled Sharrouf, posted the image to Twitter and captioned it, “That’s my boy.”
“This image, perhaps even an iconic photograph … is really one of the most disturbing, stomach-turning, grotesque photographs ever displayed,” Kerry told reporters.
“That child should be in school. That child should be out learning about a future. That child should be playing with other kids—not holding a severed head and out in the field of combat,” he said.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says the image is “truly shocking.”
“A 7-year-old child is involved in this barbarous display of ideology, and they’re Australian citizens. Our fear is that they will return home to Australia as hardened, homegrown terrorists and seek to continue their work in Australia—and it’s not a concern just of this country,” Bishop said.
Bishop noted that “a significant number” of convicted terrorists soon would be released from Indonesian prisons.
“It’s a shared issue across Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Europe, in Pakistan, in Great Britain, Canada—there are a number of countries across the globe reporting instances of citizens becoming extremist fighters in the Middle East,” Bishop said.
Kerry has proposed that the U.S. and Australia take the issue to the U.N. so countries can protect themselves from fighters coming back from Syria and Iraq. The secretary of state limited his remarks to ISIS, not mentioning other Islamic terror groups, such as Hamas, which sponsors summer training camps, where children are taught how to carry out terror attacks against Israelis.
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