WASHINGTON — Like many teenage boys who grew up in the Midwest in the 1990s, Douglas McAuthur McCain was a fan of Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls and loved to play basketball.

But as he grew older, he lost interest in basketball as he shuttled between two suburban Minneapolis high schools. He never graduated, and in his late teens, he began to have run-ins with the law. In the decade that followed, he was arrested or cited nine times on charges including theft, marijuana possession and driving without a license.

Mr. McCain moved back and forth from Minneapolis to San Diego and then abroad. Officials now know he ended up in Syria, where three days ago, Mr. McCain became the first American to die while fighting for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. He was 33.

The rebels who killed him were fighting for the Free Syrian Army, a rival group backed by the United States, and they went on to behead six ISIS fighters — but not Mr. McCain — and then posted the photographs on Facebook.
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Mr. McCain’s death provides new insight for the authorities as they try to learn more about ISIS and identify the Americans who have joined a group that has vowed to remake the Middle East and establish an Islamic caliphate. And it is a sign that ISIS, at least in this case, is willing to use Americans on the battlefield in the Middle East rather than sending them back to the United States to launch attacks, as Western officials have feared.

“His death is further evidence that Americans are going there to fight for ISIS rather than to train as terrorists to attack at home,” said Richard Barrett, a former British intelligence officer who is now a vice president at the Soufan Group, security consultants in New York. “Nor does it appear that ISIS regards Americans as assets that are too valuable to risk on the front line rather than to keep in reserve for terrorist attacks or propaganda purposes.”

“This incident,” Mr. Barrett added, “also confirms that American and presumably other foreign fighters are prepared to attack where directed by ISIS.” Some of those attacks, he said, will be aimed at the forces of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, but not all of them.

“They are going to join ISIS, not the fight for the future of Syria,” Mr. Barrett said.

In recent weeks, ISIS has become one of the top national security preoccupations of the Obama administration. And the news of Mr. McCain’s death comes amid public anger over the beheading of the American journalist James Foley, an act that added urgency to the Obama administration’s deliberations to expand its air campaign against ISIS into Syria.

Senior administration officials and lawmakers have described ISIS as one of the most serious threats the United States has faced since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by Al Qaeda, and some believe the group is determined to attack in the United States.

American officials said Tuesday that Mr. McCain’s case highlighted the difficulty of identifying Americans who want to travel to Syria to fight alongside rebels. When the United States faced a similar problem with Somalis several years ago, it was far easier for the authorities to identify those who wanted to travel there to fight because that conflict mostly attracted Somalis. And Somalis live in just a few cities in the United States.
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But the Syrian conflict has attracted people from all different ages and parts of the United States — including many with no connection to Syria.

In May, Moner Mohammad Abusalha, a 22-year-old Florida man who had traveled to Syria to join the Nusra Front, died in a suicide bomb attack. He had an American mother and a Palestinian father. A year earlier, Nicole Lynn Mansfield, 33, of Flint, Mich., was killed with Syrian rebels in Idlib Province.

The federal authorities learned only after he arrived in the country that Mr. McCain had traveled to Syria, according to senior American officials. In response, the American authorities included him on a watch list of potential terrorism suspects maintained by the federal government. Had Mr. McCain tried to re-enter the country, he would have almost certainly faced an extra level of scrutiny before boarding any commercial airliner bound for the United States, the officials said.

It is not clear how Mr. McCain was recruited by ISIS and traveled to Syria. According to his Facebook page, he went to Canada and Sweden last year. Many Americans and Europeans who have ended up in Syria have tried to disguise their travels by passing through other countries before heading to Turkey and crossing over its porous border with Syria.

His posts on Twitter, where he went by the name Duale Khalid, give clues to his mind-set. In one message from December 2012, he said that the movie “The Help,” which is about black maids in the South, made him “hate white people.” Other posts disparaged Somalis and gays.

It was on Twitter that he also discussed religion. He said that he was a convert to Islam and that it was the “best thing” that had ever happened to him. “It’s funny to me how all these so call Muslim claim that they love Allah but always curse the one who try to implement his laws,” he said in one post.

According to SITE, an intelligence group that monitors jihadist websites, Mr. McCain also appeared to grow more comfortable with the idea of losing his life in battle. “Ya Allah when it’s my time to go have mercy on my soul have mercy on my bros,” he said on Twitter.
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Recent Comments
Brooklyn Traveler
20 minutes ago

People make choices. He could have had a great life. He had opportunities to have a life where he could have helped many.
zinnias
20 minutes ago

And so we see that the Free Syrian Army, backed by the US, is also in the business of beheading. What a tragedy for those who would give...
ColdSteel1983
26 minutes ago

Oh well. Just like some that dismissed the loss of our servicemen, I dismiss this. He went to do something he believed in, and paid the...

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The Obama administration released a statement on Tuesday evening confirming his death.

The fight in which Mr. McCain was killed occurred in the northern city of Marea, where ISIS and the rebels had been fighting for control in recent weeks, according to members of the Free Syrian Army.

Mr. McCain and two other ISIS fighters — a Tunisian and an Egyptian — sneaked up on a group of Free Syrian Army rebels, killing two of them. The other militants responded, killing Mr. McCain and dozens of ISIS fighters. When the rebels went through Mr. McCain’s clothes, they found his American passport and several hundred dollars in cash. His death was first reported by NBC News.

Much of Mr. McCain’s childhood was spent in New Hope, Minn., a Minneapolis suburb where he lived in a three-bedroom apartment with his parents and two siblings, according to Isaac Chase, a longtime friend and neighbor.

Mr. McCain was the middle child, and his mother worked as a cashier at a nearby supermarket, Mr. Chase said. She attended church every week, he said.

As Mr. McCain grew older, he lost interest in basketball, got several tattoos and lost a tooth. “He stuck around here,” Mr. Chase said. “I don’t think he knew what he wanted to do.”

It was around that time that Mr. McCain’s father died. “He lost his anchor,” he said.

When Mr. Chase last saw Mr. McCain in 2008, he said that it was not clear that Mr. McCain was working, and he appeared as though he was using drugs. That was a far different person, he said, from the boy who had strong convictions about what was right and wrong.

When they were children, Mr. McCain reprimanded Mr. Chase after he stole from a gas station. “He told me who to hang out with,” he said. “He had a big heart.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/27/world/middleeast/american-fighting-for-isis-is-killed-in-syria.html?_r=0

lorRhyMeZ: I only read the first few lines and I found something astonishing...these news referred to ISIS as being terrorists while they also referred to their rivals,FREE SYRIAN ARMY(backed by the US) as REBELS.

Hmmmmmmm

CityNG:

He who pays the piper dictates the tune.

Don't worry we (US Armed Forces) will be fighting the rebels in a few years. Unfortunately they will be using our weapons that we gave them against us. Thankfully by then our boys would have had upgrade weaponry.

CityNG:

He who pays the piper dictates the tune.

Don't worry we (US Armed Forces) will be fighting the rebels in a few years. Unfortunately they will be using our weapons that we gave them against us. Thankfully by then our boys would have had upgrade weaponry.

lorRhyMeZ: I only read the first few lines and I found something astonishing...these news referred to ISIS as being terrorists while they also referred to their rivals,FREE SYRIAN ARMY(backed by the US) as REBELS.

Hmmmmmmm

rickkid:
Do you ever get tired of constantly being lied to by your superiors?? Or is it that you just don't care?

lorRhyMeZ:

That's if U actually "fight" the rebels ,or as this conflict is going on now,how many ur USAF soldiers have died? None

I hope in a few years time when u do fight these rebels,I pray the locals u would recruit will reject u and insist u fight ur own fight with ur own soldiers...real american soldiers

CityNG:

1) Elected officials. But being a shell shocked Nigerian you can't fathom that.

2) When was the last time you participated in the electroral process?

Dibiachukwu: Nigerian team USA groupies. C.um.min.g all over nairaland for their computer server. Crazies.

rickkid:
Your comment seemed to suggest that you are some sort of soldier, hence my use of the term 'superiors'.
As for the comment on my nationality, that was petty, ignorant and unnecessary. Have you even been to Nigeria before? What a silly comment.

CityNG:

Are you going to turn me in to the Gestapo now (finger me to the mods since you got your manhood hurt on the web?

I haven't been to Nigeria before. I tried but my visa application was denied. Can you help? Please, pretty please.

I know the thought of you supporting the Nigerian Armed Forced is nil , seems they flog you guys on the street like dogs .

But we support our armed forces here.

careytommy:
is FSA not the origin of ISIS?

rickkid:
Actually we do support our Armed Forces here. We also take great pride in knowing that in all the 54 years of our existence as an independent nation, despite having the largest and most extensively capable Armed Forces on the continent, we have not displayed any kind of aggression or expansionism. Our Armed Forces exist only to defend the Homeland, not to travel halfway around the world to steal other people's oil and rape their children.
Scum.

rickkid:
They're trying to modify history already. It hasn't been 5 minutes since they were flooding Syria with weapons to oust Al Assad by any means. Now those weapons are being used to massacre Yazidis and they expect everyone to forget who created this entire situation. That is The Great Satan for you. Same format they used in setting up Al Quaida and the Taliban. Fund and arm some group of crazies in the desert to enact a proxy war for you then claim ignorance when they morph into something else.

CityNG:

Outstanding.

Well one day you'll mature enough to be able to purchase first class military grade equipments that will alloy you to expand your reach.

How is that search going for the 300 young citizens from Chibok?

And why do you continue to yield territories to Cameron?

Why do your senior military leaders kill each other like fowls with coups?

Why do you come to our military schools for training?

Why do you run like little girls from terrorists?

Why do you enter into a foreign country without permission?

Why do you lay down your weapons to a foreign military?

SCUM? Why yes thank you Sir. An accolade I'll wear with pride as this shows I've gotten under your skin. Lol.

CityNG:

The strategy works.

Keep them fighting each other in their areas and not on US soil.

I sleep very well at night and I know my daughters won't be kidnapped in school by terrorists in the middle of the night.

Oh what a sweet life and yah all need to engage your political leaders more.

rickkid:
You can believe as much self-generated propaganda as you want to, that's your business. Nigeria is a non-aligned country so just as we send military personnel to Sandhurst and other Western institutions, we also send them to Russian and Iranian institutions and also train foreign personnel at our own institutions, such as ZANU-PF which was trained at the National War College in Zaria, Kaduna. So it's no achievement on your part that Nigeria sends personnel to train there - so does half the world. Who cares? Is it your personal achievement? Or are you not in fact just some grunt who dropped out of a woman's orifice on soil which European immigrants stole from Red Indians?
For your information, Nigeria is making immense military progress to expand its sphere of influence. You might want to google DICON and also check out our drone programme, our aircraft development programme and our space programme. Unlike you, we don't feel any need to trumpet our capacity across the world to cover our own deep seated insecurity. If you truly were worth anything, you would not be here on a foreign website crowing about your imaginary greatness. Nigeria respects international justice, which is why the Bakassi Peninsula was 'ceded' to Cameroon - it was never ours to begin with and unlike you, thievery is not part of our national psyche. We are peaceful and non-expansionist. We respect the right of other people to live and mind their business.

Anyway just keep being a loudmouth, I can't change you. When America's empire collapses (which is nearer than you think), maybe you'll gain some perspective on life.

And by the way, the last time there was a military coup in Nigeria was in 1985. Check your facts well.

rickkid:
"Terrorists" might not kidnap your daughters in the middle of the night, but they are still liable to be kidnapped or killed by any number of secret militias run by different arms and agencies of your government with flagrant disregard for your own constitution. So how secure are you really?
Here, a small portion of the country has a terrorist problem.
In your case, your entire country is beholden to a government which is run in secret and is not accountable to you in any way.
Since 9/11, every single piece of social freedom you think you have has been legally withdrawn. You're only being granted those freedoms currently because by the wording of such legislation as the Patriot Act, you have no rights and are completely subservient to the security state. You can be shot in the head right now by any one of these Black Budget paramilitary operatives and your existence will simply be erased!
We in Nigeria are actually in less danger than you are, in case you haven't figured it out yet.

rickkid: This is like the worst troll ever. You're terrible at trolling lol can't believe I got sucked in Your last post exposed you.

careytommy:
is FSA not the origin of ISIS?

lorRhyMeZ:

Yessssss,buh y label FSA as rebels and ISIS as terrorist? For God's sake they are either both rebels or terrorists ...

Buh USA doesn't think so apparently