The American Climbing The Ranks Analysis

“The American Climbing the Ranks of ISIS” is a very well written piece by Graeme Wood which explores the journey of a young rebellious white American from a military family into a terrorist organization. The author tells a story of Yahya Abu Hasan (born as John Georgelas), a man originating from a Greek-America military family, and how events throughout his life landed him into a top rank of ISIS. The most intriguing element of the story is the author’s sterling ability to draw a connection between the past and the present, and the conclusion that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

The story begins in 2013 at a town in Syria. John Georgelas, a 29 years old white man of Greek origin coming out of a war torn village in ISIS
territory would be an unusual circumstance, unless if he was taken hostage by the terrorists. However, it was different this time. The new Georgelas (aka Yahya Abu Hasan) was the result of an underachieving teenage hood, and fragmented relationship with his father, which made him turn towards a different way of life, a life where he would earn the respect and importance he always endeavored. So sum everything up about his early years, Yahya was a rebellious teenager, who found gratification is defying the rules set by parents. Well, the way Wood describes Yahya’s childhood, there is nothing unusual that would set him apart from millions of American teenagers, but in most cases, a fragile relationship with parents always ends up as the son moving out, and endlessly talk about how his parents don’t understand him. In the case of Yahya Abu Hasan, after converting to Islam, he has absolutely got it wrong between discrepancy of Sufiism and radicalism. In the article, author Graeme Wood describes how Yahya envisioned himself as a Sufi, a Muslim ascetic and mystic but ended up pursuing a bin-Ladenist approach; which goes totally against the principles of Sufism. In the case of Yahya, almost everything that went wrong in his life led him to where is ended up in.
Him converting to Islam shortly after 9/11 was the first indication of his crazy, antagonistic behavior. As a Muslim myself, I find is quote unusual for someone to suddenly convert to Islam right after 9/11 without any legitimate reason. Converting to a certain religion is quite usual among mid-aged men, however, it is quite unusual without any influences. There was a surge in men converting to Islam in 1980-1990, heavily influenced by personality such as Malcolm X, but what was Yahya’s influence? It was obviously the 9/11 attack which killed 3,000 innocent people, wounded over 6,000 and scarred millions for life, or maybe his intention to convert was to prove a point to his father, whatever it was, the second nail was struck in the coffin when he married Tania, a rebel who dreamed of marrying someone life John Walker Lindh. Two ended up leaving Dallas and moving to Syria, where Yahya found his jihad fantasy land. The final nail in the coffin was the fact that he was respected among his jihadi-radical colleagues. A young white guy from Texas, who could never make any significance in anyone’s life, and received no attention or importance is was getting exactly what he strive for his entire
life.
Yahya’s father Tim Georgelas have always portrayed his son as a worthless underachiever, however, Yahya possess a talent which many of us lack; the ability to be a leader and script immense strategies, which unfortunately has been used to further a violent and ruthless agenda. This article is special because it highlights the story of a large number of terrorists. Neglected by parents, and overlooked by the world, they turn towards radicalism to gain the attention they so long starved for, disregarding the line between right and wrongs. Whatever the reason is, we all are responsible for our actions, and whatever led him to the path doesn’t make what he did justifiable, but I can’t help but wonder, if Yahya attempted to learn the true teachings of Islam, or if he never met Tanya online, things may have been different.