In an interview with New York Times foreign correspondent Rukmini Callimachi during MSNBC’s 11 a.m. ET hour on Monday, anchor Kate Snow touted the reporter’s latest piece on the war against ISIS: “...you spoke to a former Islamic State fighter from Germany....he said to you, ‘For America and Canada, it's much easier for them to get them over the social network, because they say the Americans are dumb – they have open gun policies.’”
Callimachi responded: “He explained to me that in Europe, they're specifically looking for fighters who already have a criminal record and who have a criminal network that they can tap into because it's hard to get weapons....He said that in America, that extra step is not there.” Snow interjected: “The difficulty of getting weapons.” Callimachi replied: “Exactly.”
In the Times article, convicted ISIS fighter Harry Sarfo talked to Callimachi from his prison cell and declared: “They [ISIS] say we can radicalize them [Americans] easily, and if they have no prior record, they can buy guns, so we don’t need to have no contact man who has to provide guns for them.”
Here is a transcript of the August 8 exchange:
11:47 AM ET
(...)
KATE SNOW: You wrote an article last week for the Times titled, “How a Secretive Branch of ISIS Built a Global Network of Killers,” and you spoke to, among other people, you spoke to a former Islamic State fighter from Germany. And you write the following, he said to you, “For America and Canada, it's much easier for them to get them over the social network, because they say the Americans are dumb – they have open gun policies.” This a former fighter telling you this. Extrapolate on that for us. What does he mean?
RUKMINI CALLIMACHI [NEW YORK TIMES FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT]: First of all, he's not just a former fighter, he was a member of ISIS's special forces, so was an elite fighter within ISIS, which is why his testimony is that much more interesting. He explained to me that in Europe, they're specifically looking for fighters who already have a criminal record and who have a criminal network that they can tap into because it's hard to get weapons. Obviously, that hasn't stopped them. They’ve been able to get weapons in Paris, et cetera. He said that in America, that extra step is not there. They just need to radicalize people online –
SNOW: The difficulty of getting weapons.
CALLIMACHI: Exactly.(...)
