Soap Box: Danger of reporting overseas becoming more apparent
BY JEFFREY DAHDAH
The Islamic State, also known as ISIS, is an organized and dangerous terrorist group. Its leadership was once involved in Al Qaeda before their tactics were considered too extreme. The Islamic State’s soldiers are in prime shape for war, after spending nearly two years fighting in the Syrian Civil War. Their terror hold spans much of Iraq and Syria, though they have the means and desire to go further.
The Islamic State’s goal is one state, that they control, spanning throughout the Middle East and North Africa. They are organized, violent and dangerous. But how do we know this much about an organization operating halfway across the world? Because of journalists of all nationalities on the ground in war zones across the Middle East.
We know because of journalists like James Foley and Steven Sotloff, who were abducted in Syria by the Islamic State and held captive for over a year, tortured and relocated before finally suffering a horrific and public end.
Those two had my dream job.
People like Foley and Sotloff were the reason I wanted to go into journalism in the first place. I remember being angry that nobody talked about a coup in Egypt, a civil war in Syria or bombings in Gaza. I wanted to provide that information.
They say if you ask any journalist why they got into journalism, they will tell you the same thing: to change the world. I feel slightly embarrassed and naive saying I am no exception. However I would like to point out that I think everyone feels this way to an extent about their life choices, but too often people get shuffled into jobs and become complacent. Foley and Sotloff were not complacent. They believed they were changing the world. In the long run they were right; this world is not the same as it was a month ago.
For weeks after Foley’s crude beheading my family and friends wouldn’t talk to me about it. They knew all too well he held positions I coveted. They didn’t know how I would react to it. I didn’t know how I should react to it. I pondered the U.S. policy on not paying terrorist groups for hostages, the Islamic State’s probable motives and simply whether reporting in the Middle East was still something I wanted to do. It ate at me.
I always knew the dangers of reporting overseas in theory. Hell, my dad would remind me every time we talked about it. Journalists are increasingly being seen as targets. However to see the lives of those I respected and envied publicly taken for scare tactics and propaganda was almost more than I could handle. For the record I didn’t watch the footage, and I urge anyone thinking of looking at them not to watch the violation of human decency.
However I did come to this conclusion: because of the horrible acts of the Islamic State, people like Foley and Sotloff are more necessary than ever. People need to know what happens in this world and who is to blame. People need to care. I should be so lucky to have enough guts to do what I think is right — what Foley and Sotloff thought was right.
— Jeffrey Dahdah is a junior studying journalism. He aspires to report overseas.