An American who joined ISIS has now defected from the terrorist group and says he “made a bad decision” in joining them.
FoxNews.com reports that Mohamad Jamal Khweis, a 26-year-old from Virginia, decided to join ISIS at the encouragement of an unidentified woman whom he met in Turkey while traveling.
"We spent some time together, and she said that she is from Mosul, Iraq," Khweis said.
Kweis decided to go with the woman to Mosul and join ISIS. However, he said he soon regretted his decision.
"On the way there I regretted [my decision], and I wanted to go back home after things didn’t work out and saw myself living in such an environment."
Kweis spent a month in Mosul with the terrorist organization before he decided he needed to get out. He found a man willing to help him get to the border of Turkey where he surrendered to Kurdish forces.
Kweis has not offered any other reasons for why he joined ISIS, apart from his interactions with the unidentified woman.
When asked if he had a message for the American people based on his experience, he said, "Life in Mosul is really very bad. The people who control Mosul don’t represent a religion. Daesh [the Arabic acronym for ISIS] does not represent a religion. I don’t see them as good Muslims."
Publication date: March 18, 2016
