b9AcE #NoEdits on Nostr: ───── Once, they were heroes. From 2014 on, hundreds of U.S. and ...
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Once, they were heroes. From 2014 on, hundreds of U.S. and international volunteers traveled to Syrian Kurdistan to join Kurdish-led forces battling the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS. As they helped turn the tide and drive ISIS out of their one-time capital Raqqa — backed by U.S. airstrikes and limited ground support — young Leftists and U.S. military veterans were martyred side-by-side under the antifascist flag.
[...]
A decade later, Syria’s Kurdish-led forces have been abandoned by their one-time Western allies, and the global press no longer cares about the “heroes” of the ISIS war. The “Anarchists vs. ISIS” film never materialized. Instead, the volunteers returned home to face struggles familiar to veterans of other conflicts, including depression, PTSD and suicide. Instead of offering institutional support, the U.S., U.K. and European governments surveil and harass the returning volunteers at Turkey’s behest.
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https://www.truthdig.com/articles/from-heroes-to-suspects-the-betrayal-of-the-anti-isis-international-brigade/
Once, they were heroes. From 2014 on, hundreds of U.S. and international volunteers traveled to Syrian Kurdistan to join Kurdish-led forces battling the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS. As they helped turn the tide and drive ISIS out of their one-time capital Raqqa — backed by U.S. airstrikes and limited ground support — young Leftists and U.S. military veterans were martyred side-by-side under the antifascist flag.
[...]
A decade later, Syria’s Kurdish-led forces have been abandoned by their one-time Western allies, and the global press no longer cares about the “heroes” of the ISIS war. The “Anarchists vs. ISIS” film never materialized. Instead, the volunteers returned home to face struggles familiar to veterans of other conflicts, including depression, PTSD and suicide. Instead of offering institutional support, the U.S., U.K. and European governments surveil and harass the returning volunteers at Turkey’s behest.
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https://www.truthdig.com/articles/from-heroes-to-suspects-the-betrayal-of-the-anti-isis-international-brigade/