Going to be radicalized, i dont buy that. You. Sheila macvicar with an exclusive interview with a mother who lost her child and fears many more at risk. Also tonight as a steady stream of foreigners join up how the u. S. Strategy against i. S. I. L. Is seen as an uneven and unfair fight. How much suffering is there in aleppo right now . Every single people in aleppo have been killed by shelling. Bombings, everything, everything. At the Turkish Border correspondent Nick Schifrin with an on the ground view of the fight against i. S. I. L. And why theres so little hope for salvation. And in the home stretch of the race, to America Votes 2014, they want your vote. Your chance to say what you want from them. Dear congress, how you can be heard. Good evening, thanks for joining us. Im joie chen. We begin with a pull of something so hard for some of us to understand, how kids born and raised in the west, can be drawn to ideology that strikes terror in the world. A lone gunman taking his rampage into Parliament Buildings two weeks ago. Michael bibeau had been lured into violent jihad. One of many. In our america tonight exclusive, our Sheila Macvicar gives us the exclusive of a mother who saw her child drawn into terrorism. First picture with santa ever. Look at the bowtie. Christianne has memories of her son damien. Growing newspaper calgary, damien was bright, into School Sports cars, star wars. But as a teenager things started to change. I think he just was trying to find where he fit, it was difficult, he had struggles. And once he hit about 15 he started keeping more and more to himself, leaving the house less. At 16, damien dropped out of school. He became reclusive and depressed. Counseling didnt help. The day after his 17th birthday he attempted to take his own life. Oh, boy. We didnt see it coming. He seemed like he was getting better. Soon after, boudreau said her son converted to islam. She was relieved. The emotional states, the depression, when he converted to islam he found this peace within him. He would sit with the family and i could see that i could relax. For three years, damien seemed happy, working at peace. But then he moved to a new apartment and that brought him to this downtown mosque. He must have met new people because thats when things started to change. And how did they change . There was more agitation within him. He started talking about 9 11 conspiracy theories, other countries and that wars they had there is. Theres damien raiding the fridge again. This is the last video boudreau last of her son drifting around a halloween party. The next month he traveled to the middle east. He told his mother he was studying linguistics in egypt. Thats damien. Instead the troubled 22yearold went to fight alongside extremists in syria. Boudreau had no idea until the Canadian Spy Agency comes knocking. So cecus comes into your house and start asking you questions. I said i dont know why youre asking these questions, damiens not in the country, he went to egypt to go study. So hes not here, hes not a concern. And thats when they said yeah, hes a concern. Weve been watching him for a couple of years. And we suspected that hes actually gone to syria not egypt. And with we now know that many other foreign fighters come from this busy city in western canada. Many of them attended the same downtown mosque. All of them were canadian citizens. Underring what took them on their journey from this city of just over a million at the foot of the rockies to the battlefields of syria understanding their journey to radicalization, is key to preventing others from following the same path. Beset by someone whos got their arm on their shoulder. Calgary police chief rick hanson says theres a problem in his city, a human problem. I dont buy that he went to the internet and got radicalized. I dont buy that. In the era of social media theres a lot ever focus on the internet, and radical organizations devote a lot of time to the internet. They can be introduced to the ideology. This 40 year veteran of policing trained in counterterrorism believes the internet alone doesnt create would be terrorists. You need someone to pull the strings communicating, encouraging, guiding him down the avenue of indoctrination. Have you found that person or those people in your city . No, we know theyre there, weve been told theyre there and it has been members of the Islamic Community that has said, you better be careful. Theyre telling you theyre not recruiting but theyre giving you radical messages. In your city . Absolutely theyve told us that, to be alert to this. Online, the recruiter somebody calling himself abu najir, his real name no one knows. A rat cal american preacher identified by the fbi as a radical preacher. Argued away his doubts and accompanied him saying we put our trust in a allah and headed to syria. 130 individuals with canadian connections were abroad, adding that its possible that some returnees could plan and carry out terrorist attacks in canada. I got to tell you theres no city in this country thats immune to this. Probably no city in the west. I totally 100 agree. How to combat it, first says chief hanson recognize that radicalism comes from the same place as other kinds of trouble like gangs and drugs. And thats alienation. When you profile kids that deviate off of a path and get into trouble whatever that trouble looks like the motivation is frequently the same. Theyre alienated from mainstream and they start looking for ways that they can feel part of something bigger than themselves. His force is working on crisis intervention with local Muslim Community leaders. What else do you want to achieve out of life . Like clinical psychologist matty kafka. Our programs have the same goal, closely connected to youth, having connection with positive and meaningful role models, all those factors reduce the risk of crime. You know exactly what you want and you know exactly how to get it, right . His three own organization offers counseling and mentorship to muslim youth. Youve got that spiritual motivation, youre unstoppable. He says part of the solution is just being there. If youre alone and the first person that comes to you and says, you know what i can help you end this loneliness you can jump in. The devil himself can jump in. You are going to say, you know what i cant handle this loneliness. If theres one variable it is loneliness. Research is everywhere on Early Intervention and what it says is you have to steer them to something where they feel they have value. Calgarys police force is working in schools with kids as young as eight. The part thats been missing until now has been intervention with posthigh school kids who go off the rails. There needs to be the second intervention piece. Parents see it, family sees it, friends see it, they realize something is happening but where do you turn to for that intervention and thats the second piece thats being developed here. That humanistic piece is missing. 74th boudreau wish support boudreau wishes she had. Without nothing there was reason to have concern you think hes young, hes going headdeep, hell level it will level itself off. Ill save it and send it out. To help other families boudreau has started a website based on a successful German Program called hiat, originally done to deradicallize nazi youth. Definitely common threat, common narrative. Theyre coached. Theres no way that can you tell me that all these kids from all these countries are all going to say were going to study in either saudi arabia or egypt without having been coached. Thats not a coincidence. When she finally figured out what was going on, boudreau attempted to reach out to her son. But it was too late. He said he couldnt come home. That he finally found a purpose in life. He found where he belonged. He wasnt coming home. That was going to be his new home. And he hoped he could stay in contact. Boudreau never heard from damien again. He was killed in syria in january. If i could help just one family not live the terror, the pain, the stress, Everything Else that weve had to go through, and save one life, its all worth it. Ive nothing left of damien. And the best i could do is try to do something good in his memory. America tonights Sheila Macvicar with us. And this is so timely because just at this hour were hearing reports of more teenagers being lured from the states. This is a boy, 19 years old who was actually arrested at Ohare Airport earlier this summer with his yurn younger brr and sister. He had bought tickets, arranged passports for all of them to go to turkey and then go on to syria and join up with Islamic State of iraq and the levant. He is held with very serious charges. His younger brother and sister are not charged but potentially he faces long years in prison if the prosecutor proves beyond all reasonable doubt that he was heading for a radical organization. When someone starts to deviate off the straight path, its all the same, whether youre talking about gangs or drugs or religious cult or religious radicalization. It is all the same thing. When children become this. America tonights Sheila Macvicar, thanks so much for being here. The view from on the ground in syria when we return. The u. S. Led air campaign and why communities on the ground warn it wont be enough to hold off i. S. I. L. Correspondent Nick Schifrin with leaders who say kobani isnt the only community on the edge of being overrun. And that the u. S. Must do more to stop i. S. I. L. The truth, they are about the same issues, cared about in aleppo. To be honest theres no true strategy which can you see. There is only the air strikes. And right after the break we look into the home strej of stretch of America Votes 2014, from the pollsters and prognosticators, as america heads to the polls. Election day stay with Al Jazeera America for live, indepth coverage focusing on the issues with expert analysis and updates from across the country. Midterm coverage thats serious, straightforward and unbiased. Tomorrow, 7 00 eastern. On Al Jazeera America. An election day midterms marathon. Its gonna be close. Several swing state elections are up for grabs. Are you kidding me . Dont miss filmmaker a. J. Schnacks unprecedented. If i can drink this, i dont see why you shouldt be able to smoke that. Behind the scenes look. Are you gonna do this . At what it takes to win. Its certainly something that doesnt exist elsewhere in politics on television. Midterms election day marathon. Tomorrow, 1 00 eastern. Only on Al Jazeera America. And now on America Votes 2014, these are the final hours for candidates to make their pitch and in truth Many Americans have already made their voices heard. Early voting is ahead of where it was in 2010 at the last mid term, more than 70 million voters will have cast ballots before the polling places even open. While prognosticators, feel they can tell us the spread of votes, what were more interested in is what they will vote for. Number one what role will minorities and women have in this mid term race . Especially interesting will be voters in the deep south. Georgia and North Carolina where there are razor thin senate races, target races to bring more minority voters into the fold. Democrats see an opening and even an opportunity to get out enough of the minority vote not just African Americans but latinos and to turn the state rack or purple. In reverse migration and the growth of latino and Asian American voters in the state, will end up yielding a state thats much more competitive at least from a partisan standpoint. History tells us underrepresented groups can and do turn out to vote. Black women for example had the highest turnout of any group in 2008 and 2012. If theyre motivated to do so. The question is what will get them to the polls . In the aftermath of flash point ferguson and the deaths of Young Trayvon Martin and jordan davis will minority voters find the value of engaging in political process . It is a guess of the left and right. Number 2, will voter i. D. Laws, Voter Suppression to others, tamp down those underrepresented voices . Just last week, an investigation by greg palast, uncovered irregulates irregularities, in more than one state disproportionately tags minorities especially these with common names. There clearly is an effort to suppress the votes of African Americans and young people. Elderly people. Clearly, there is a kind of partisan cherry picking thats going on. So youre talking about probably over a Million People that voted twice. But conservative activists point to states that carefully police their voter rolls. Have you double bagged voters in the past years . We have made referrals. Whether prosecutors have prosecuted, we dont have good data on them. Its not like blanket going out and arresting somebody, you have to push for a crime. They are pushing for more careful i. D. Checks. Will that drive minority voters away . Which raises the question of how much will their votes matter . Number 2 of the issues we will be watching, that control of the senate thing which by any measure is a tough sell for voters. In a nonpresident ial year, voters will focus on who they put in the state office or governors office. What Senate Candidates must persuade voters of is the control of the upper house will make or break that legislative gridlock, the folks at home have seen time and again stymie real action on issues that really affect them. Which brings us to number 4 what issues will get voters to the polls . Is the fear factor a Winning Strategy . Thats whats driving spots like this. Candidates both democrats and republicans have pushed in these last few weeks to make ebola a campaign issue. Democrats insisting america would have been better prepared for Health Crisis had it not been for republicans blocking their way. Republicans pointing to failures of the Obama Administration and by extension all democrats as a sign of incompetence. Proves and showcased this president s lack of leadership and it hurts the democrats all the way down ballot especially in a mid term even in a president ial election. More than anything ebola became not only arating a ratings grabber, which brings us to the final issue of the mid term were watching, number five all that money. Already this is the most expensive mid term ever and with the possibility that some of the senate races will end up in runoffs we can see Campaign Commercials running all the way into january. Not only making tv stations happy but raising the question if it takes all this money for an offyear election how much will it cost to elect our next president . Roland martin says the big battles are now. This is at mid term there is no right. What happens now . Whats the think for a voter, what gets them there . This is why the poll numbers at 30 of americans dont even know the mid term is taking place because you dont have that one unifying race. 201016 legislatures flipped to total in 2010, 16 legislatures flipped. Voter suppression laws you saw stand your ground laws because washington is in total gridlock. And so really all the action is on the state level. That makes it harder, when you have special Interest Groups, because you have to go to 50 different state legislatures as opposed to simply going to congress. So from a voters standpoint, it is difficult because youre dealing with all these different individual things. And so what might be a critical issue in North Carolina is different from georgia, different from louisiana. And so although we keep hearing republican and democrat its knot that simple. So the not that simple. The voter at home doesnt focus on, it is that simple. Thats not part of the equation. Do i want this lady or that guy or that one. 15 of americans say they are satisfied with republicans in congress. 90 to 95 are going to get reelected because of jer jerry gerrymandering. You cant change from one because you have been redistricted. Right. Democratic or liberal districts, very few swing districts left. Again though, that when did that change . 2010 mid term elections, when the census was taken again, when the districts were redrawn. And so this is why mid terms are so important but also, from a policy standpoint, the battle is really not in d. C. It is really in the state level. The abortion law that was passed in texas, same thing in mississippi when they said in order to do abortions you had to hospital. If you look at ferguson, that is the place we learned how much local elections matter. And also after Trayvon Martin was killed, thats where they found out with alec and their influence on state election returns, before Trayvon Martin no one knew what alec was. Part of the problems for democrats is they are in many ways a national party. Whereas the republicans have focused on being a 50state party. Howard dean told democrats we better focus on a 50state strategy because they dont want to see a repeat of 2010. Thats part of the issue here. You got so think bigger. The white house admitted they a strong situation in states in 2012, in these red states guess what now this hurts them when it comes to Election Night because they didnt have are Fractur Fractur infrastructure on the ground. Thank you for joining us. Thanks so much. Why the pebble deposit is a valuable issue. And when mid term elections are not enough. I. S. I. L. Warns the u. S. Air strikes are welcome but the fighters wont be stopped without more h