Some of the richest and most powerful countries on earth are gathering intelligence, making war plans and getting ready to pound the army thats taken over much of Northern Syria and western iraq. Have you seen the news reports, the convoys, the pick up trucks, the rocketpropelled grenades and machine guns. Who are those guys . Who is willing to drop everything back home and fight in Northern Syria . If youre a 22yearold guy in chechen capital or the british capitol of london, what could someone say to you to get you to smuggle you are way into syria and join an army that is murdering its way across a big chunk of the middle east . The shutting off the flows of fighters loom as a strategic goal as important as shutting off the flow of weapons or money. President barack obama met with military leaders from 20 nations in Andrews Air Force base. There is going to be a longterm campaign. As with any military effort there will be days of progress, and there are going to be periods of set back. But our coalition is united behind this longterm effort. Reporter tuesdays meeting followed another round of u. S. Led airstrikes in syria . In the strategic border town of doob, fighting between the Islamic State of levan fighting testify. People have fled provinces since isil took glover th took over. The people have fled Anbar Province. Its tragic that a displaced people who have fled once, twice, three times, four times. Reporter throughout this sprawling battlefield they are what Security Officials call foreign fighters. Militants attracted from the regions in far away places from europe, north africa and the u. S. There are 15,000 militants from 80 countries operating in those two countries now. The largest number of fighters have come from tunisia, saudi arabia and jordan. More than 100 fighters are from the u. S. Alone. Social media such as youtube, twitter and facebook play a large role in isil recruitment. There is one village in the south of france that shows the power of the message. 18yearold sarah grew up in a town where her family says relations turned sour when she demanded to wear a full islamic veil. She began looking herself up in her room with they are computer. One day she is disappeared. Its psychological kidnapping. I dont know how long sarah was indoctrinated. They must have told her various things and brainwashed her to reach this point. Sarah said shes not coming back to france. If she does she could face terrorist charges. The new phenomena that i worry about are the fighters and threat of violent extremism here at home. Those two phenomenon are things that our government needs to prepare for. Passing a resolution to adopt laws to penalize foreign fighters. Isil poses a significant threat to the people of iraq and syria. It pose as threat to surrounding countries, and because the number of foreign fighters an and the chaos that they are creating they pose a threat as far as australia where they have seen them impact on the other side of the world. The man and occasionally women grouped under the policy shorthand the foreign fighters, this time on the program. What do we know about them . How is isil speaking to them . Is government dysfunction unemployment, poverty, as big a draw, as big a spur to fight as ideology . Joining us with that conversation from london, spokesperson from the council of britain, from denver, professor of media studies at the university of colorado, the college of Media Communication and information. Thats mouthful. Professor, if we were to go on the worldwide web what would we find sweeping through there as far as messaging, appeals, the kinds of communication that actually get people thinkin thinking about this . Absolutely. Thank you again for the invitation. I think you would find a range of things. Anything from Youtube Channels to twitter accounts that are very active. You would find very glossy magazine that havethat are very colorful. That have fresh content day in and day out with photos from the battlefield. With, you know, messages about the victories on the field, and you would find also blogs by these young women who are flocking to isis apparently wanting to marry these wouldbe martyrs. Theyre very proud of where they are. And you would find things, Islamic StateTelevision Channel which has different kinds of segments and slick and wellproduced programs. Lets say it is slick and well produced for arguments sake. What is the difference of someone who finds themselves in sympathy, moved even, and someone who will actually pack their passport, put together some clothes in a bag and get on a plane to go to a very dangerous part of the world . I think the issue to recognize to start with is this, often the narrative that we hear about these problems are problematic. I give you one example. We started this program talking about plans being drawn in tel aviv, and instantly you think, my god, how could you do that . Thats simply going to be the biggest gift to isis because this is a classic example, especially when the memory of gaza is still so fresh, it gives a reason a possibility to present themselves as vanguard of islam, if you like. The other problem you have, you spoke about a young girl from france who flew out to join them, and on the report the moment she started putting full veil on and that sort of thing the relationship started to sour. What it does is give the perception some how if youre a conservative religious, you ought to be aligned with isis. That is saying that we have to break. So what happens is that the moment someone becomes religious or seen to be suddenly religious from a previously not so religious appearance and practice, if you like, some of them withdraw themselves from the wider society, and in isolation they get indoctrinated online. The ideas that are developed are not challenged because theyre effectively secluded from the ordinary muslims. Some of them eventually feel that they really ought to make the journey and join them. Well, if there was any implication in our report that by becoming religious youre open to becoming a terrorist, that was certainly not our intention no, i wasnt implying that. But that part of the story was to illustrate that she had become alienated from her own family. The point i was makingthe point i was make something this. I was not suggesting to you that you intendedi think the problem is this, the narrative has been such that if somebody who has not been very religious and suddenly becomes religious, then there will be mistrust and suspicion. And we have got to break that. What we need to state, and in the u. K. We have largely achieved is that isis does not represent any strand of islam in even if you take it in extreme. Isis does not present islam. They do not stand for islam. And therefore somebody becoming religious in anyway, the families should not read any issues with that. And that should not cause the relationship to break down between people because ultimately if we really want to succeed we need to keep the relationship open and challenge those ideas in a reassuring and confident environment. As we continue our conversation were now joined by mia bloom, professor of security studies. If we were able to whisk ourselves off to the middle east and after a hard day of fighting were walking among th them, what would they tell us . What are some of the things we would hear from them about how they got there and what moved them to fight . On the one hand they talk about experiences of phobia, and at the same time on their social media accounts, they also discuss the fact that they dont enjoy living in the li the licentious west, and this is not the life that they eke. Now they can seek the caliphate and live the life of a muslim that is an ideal vision in their head. I want to add one thing. The idea of people becoming religious, that does not automatically make them at risk. But someone who doesnt islam, and theyre not able to speak the language, to having a distortion of who they mean, i think its important that the fact that a nonreligious person becomes religious or converts to islam does have a certain amount of risk in it, but not for some of the reasons that was said. Lets talk about that idea from professor bloom further. This world that you enter, and its a very subversive world. Its a world that when its not even about terrorism and extremist messages, to leave your work a day world behind. Does it help young people especially sort of breakaway the realities of having to get up and go to work, going to school, or having to deal with parental restrictions, where you are allowed to sort of enter a world where people are encouraging, enlivening, stimulating in a way that maybe minneapolis, st. Paul, or the midlands of england arent . Yes, this is a very tantalizing world that theyre exposed to. If you look a little bit into the websites and the Youtube Channels, and youre explosive of that world of imagination or imaginary, its very much a fantasy world. Many of these young people, particularly these people that were calling foreign fighters or these foreign groups, they are trying to escape certain realities as your guest said. And theyre trying to find some how a better world in their imagination, even though this involves quite a bit of bar be barbari barbaricty, and misguidance. For them fleeing the rattles of today means fleeing experiences of islamic phobia. You talked about that girl from france, from the south of france. I dont know all the details of how she became the person she became, and how she decided overnight that she wanted to first take a train and then board a plane into syria, but if you think about the situation of muslims in france, and the conversation and the debate about islam in france, obviously there are reasons out there for people to thenim not saying that this justified i what isis was doing, but it contributes to the radicalization and make people realize maybe there is another world somewhere. Maybe we have to make the migration. Maybe this world of hasntcy is a better word that way. Well be right back after a short break. When we come back well take a look at the fighters finding their way to syria taking up arms under the black banner of the United States. There is no pension or College Tuition or lifetime medical care. What clinches the deal for men and some women willing to put their lives on the line . Stay with us. Youre watching inside story on al jazeera america. Im ray suarez. How does isil afact fighters . What does it promise in return, if anything, and how important aa part is the war of isil understanding the deployment of outsiders. The United Kingdom has been at this for a long time, trying to understand whats going on inside these communities, understand the appeals that are being made to these young people, have they been successful at all . I thinkwell, its very difficult to say whether theyve been successful. Clearly there has been some success in terms of preventing, if you like, violent attacks. So there are claims that plots have been identified and dismantled, but i think the issue is this one of the problems that we have is that there is a growing mistrust. Certainly in the u. K. Young people. Not just muslims, but young people in the political and Decision Making arena, western young people, for example, they sense injustice and double standards. So going to look at isis and the debate is framed, some feel that isis represents a credible alternative to western determination. And so in on when you reinforce that narrative you do not succeed. One thing that has to happen, and were saying that we deal with them in a security way, but we become pragmatic. I think there are reports that we need to deal with them but we should use these as opportunities to understand and realize what motivated them in the first place and why theyve become demotivated. Instead our government is talking about denying them ever coming back as british citizens. What about the ones who havent left yet. Yes, it be tough to be in manchester, birmingham, sheffield, but its not as tough as riding across Anbar Province under American Drones or jets. Its really tough, i think, looking at it as an outers to make the case that youre so oppressed in britain, and i understand that there are problems with alienation. I dont think people leave u. K. To go and fight with isis because they feel oppressed in such a way. And bear in mind that of the 3 million muslims only a few hundred dollars have traveled. But thats too many. When you look at the number its not as high in that sense. But some people, they do become isolated and confined in their own rooms, and they feel a sense of grievance and in order to bring them out of that, what we need to do is to create an environment in which people can express their views without feeling of being critica criminalized. In the u. K. Even an open debate on jihad could land yourself in difficulty, and many imams do not talk about these issues in mosque. These people who are radicalized online. Their ideas are not effectively challenged because those who can challenge them, they do not do so for fear they will might fall on the wrong side of the law. I dont think that fear is justified, but it does exist. He makes a good point. Its a tiny percentage of people who are actually seduced by this message to the point where theyre going to act upon it. Do we know anything about what makes those people different from each other . The people who consume those messages and get up tomorrow morning and go to work and those who start to make plans to leave the country, whether its tunisia or britain. There is a common thread. Let mia bloom talk. Its important to distinguish the fact that the majority of the foreign fighters are not coming from britain or the United States as mr. Ahmad has correctly stated. Thats a small percentage but the majority of the foreign fighters are coming from turkey, the gulf, north africa, and theyre local. What is motivating them may be very different than what is motivating the people who are living minneapolis or leaving the southeast of england. So part of it is this idealized version that theyre being sold of what it will be like to live in the caliphate, but theyre being offered worldly and otherworldly benefits of being a martyr. Free houses, free electricity, water, all the benefits and all these wonderful things that theytangible things, not just in the after life but in the current life. Well be back with more inside story after a short break. When we return a look at the sending countries. Some of them are concerned and want to shut off the flow of fighters. Others might be glad when young hot heads leave their shores. Still others share the goals of isil. Stay with us. Welcome back to inside story on al jazeera america. Im ray suarez. Were looking at the foreign fighters heading to syria to fight with the forces of the Islamic State and what role countries could play in shutting down the supply of new fighters. You just heard mia bloom before the break. Is there an aspect of this worldwide appeal that helps to strengthen the claims of isil to be forming a new kind of Islamic State . A caliphate that is built on the Worldwide Community of all believers . Yes, i think if you look, for example, at the Television Channel of the Islamic State you would see examples of exactly the kind of life that you will be leading. Of course its major propaganda, and obviously fabrication after fabrication. It is produced and you have for example a german recruit who has converted to islam. And theyre talking about what its like in perfect german, theyre talking about what its like to live in a caliphate, this perfect world, this utopia and showing daytoday in terms of eating, in terms of talking to one another, playing with kids, and also preparing to go for jihad. That could bewe have to remember something here thats very important is that the people that theyre targeting are also very young people. 13, 15, 17yearolds, very highly impressionable kids. And we have to remember that these kids are not kids who frequent necessarily mosques, so we cannot throw Old Solutions to a new problem. We have to figure out new solutions to how to tackle this problem. Mia bloom, does this use of social media almost confirm the idea that its harder to do this in an overt way. You would be detected in many places in the world by as soon as possible, by people who are watching, by secret police and so on. Absolutely. And a lot of the twitter accounts, for instance, you have to get permission to follow someone who is a member of isil. What were see something a variety of media everything from ask, linkedin and facebook and its a matter of engaging people and showing what wonderful life and existence they can live in a caliphate. This is where i disagree with the British Government. If people want to come back we need to vet them and they would make wonderful spokes people against extremism. They could say, i went there and it was horrible. We need their voices. Before we go, thats the point that you were making, its a bad idea. Is there a channel for you to speak to forces inside the British Government to dissuade them from shutting the United Kingdom to people who want to come back . Yes, we areof course we have channels, and were trying to persuade the government and the wider society, but for me two things that needs to happen urgently. We need to create hope in iraq and syria. We need insist the Iraqi Government be insisttive, and make sure that we dont allow them to claim that they stand for islam. They do not stand for islam. The narrative must reflect what isis does is a cheer act of criminality and opportunism for a cruel militia to apeter its own control. Well, ahmad, mia, great to talk to you all of you on the program. That brings us to the end of this edition of inside story. Thanks for being with us. The program may be over but the conversation continues. We want to hear what you think about the issues raised on this or any days show. Log on to facebook page. Send us your thoughts on twitt twitter. Follow me ray suarez news. Well see you for the next inside story. In washington, im ray suarez. Health officials learn protection as they are warned that the outbreak could grow he can poexponentially. And well speak with a 13yearold who is oh so determined to set foot on mars she has a 20year plan to do it. That and more coming up at 6 00. [ music ] i have seen people face some of the deepest trag dis they imagine, people are forced to do things, yet they continue on. Forest whitaker is a special u. N. E. S. C. O. Envoy for peace and reconciliation, working with the young affect by violence, including the former child soldiers. He was abducted by a mother and father. They took her to a tree and