[Paul:] It is tough, isn't it, to get just the brutality of ISIS from everything that we've heard.
[Savidge:] It really is.
[Paul:] The terror group's reckless, its senseless murder of innocent civilians and soldiers and most recently two American journalists sparked this outrage, and really disgust around the world I think would be a good way to characterize it.
[Savidge:] It would indeed. One man who knows what it's like to come face to face with ISIS is this Iraqi soldier. Ali Kadhim, the 23- year-old says that he survived a brutal ISIS massacre in June.
[Paul:] Kadhim story matches ISIS claims that 1,700 Iraqi soldiers were executed in one day. And this is video from that massacre.
[Savidge:] And Kadhim shared his story of survival with "The New York Times." We're going to show you part of his interview. Kadhim speaks in Arabic. The translation from "The New York times" will be seen at the bottom of your screen.
[Paul:] Let's bring in Mona El Naggar. She is in New York, and a video producer for "The New York Times," and helped produce the story of Kadhim's escape. Before we move forward here, I do just want to let our viewers know, the content of the segment is not appropriate for children. I don't want you to be I don't want you to get caught off guard. But we just want to let you know, you do not want them in the room for this. So, Mona, with that disclaimer, I just wanted to get to you. How is it that "The New York Times" was able to secure this interview with him? Because I would think he would have some trepidations about wanting to speak.
[Mona El Naggar, Video Producer, "the New York Times.":] Yes, but if you watch the video, you see that Ali sort of at some point as he was escaping, really, for his life and trying to survive, he meets this man and he's on the river bank for three days. The man is practically dead. And at some point, Ali decides to try and cross the river and, you know, survive. And the man tells him to go on, not to forget him, and to tell the story. And so, you know, I mean I'm sure that a part of him is feels the responsibility and need to let people know.
[Savidge:] Yeah. It is truly a very moving interview, when you watch this. And we want to warn people again. We're going to play a little bit more of it because we do think it's vitally important that you hear this firsthand account. But again, we want to warn our viewers that some of the content that you're about to see is very graphic and certainly not appropriate for children. And some of it is extremely hard to watch. But we are going to let you listen again, and I'll also say we won't show it again after this and Mona, we'll talk more on the other side of this. I watched all of this. And, you know, at that part, he's describing, of course, the shooting of the man beside him, on both sides. And he falls down. And Mona, is it that he played dead? Is that how he was able to get away, survive?
[El Naggar:] Basically. I mean, you know, it's really incredible, because he reached this point where he realized that he's about to die, basically, and, you know, was sort of almost ready to give up. He saw the man next to him get shot, one, two, three. He was the fourth in line. And at some point, he realizes that he's still alive. And I think there is a moment there, where, you know, he goes from sort of giving up to really wanting to fight for his life and embraced this like sort of miraculous moment of luck where the bullet misses him. And so at that point, he acts pretends to be dead. And he just waits for darkness and starts to, you know, rely on his survival instincts and keep on going.
[Paul:] Yeah. I read that he laid there for four hours until it became dark, and that's when he got up and he ran. And as he was running and he got to the side of the river, he ran into, as you mentioned earlier, this man along the river. And he talks about that interaction with him. Let's take a listen here. Obviously in a moment like that, Mona, he really felt a connection with this man. What happened next, and what does he tell you about ISIS?
[El Naggar:] I mean what he has to say about ISIS is, of course, sort of apparent from what we see ISIS doing in the video. I mean just extreme brutality. I think the shocking thing was that at one moment in the very beginning, when they were confronted by the ISIS militants, you know, they told them that they would not harm them, and they essentially lied to them and ended up really just, you know, massacring them. So I think what he has to say about ISIS is sort of demonstrated by what we see ISIS doing and what ISIS takes pride in doing. They shot the massacre and published their video online for everyone to see. So, and yes, Ali goes on after staying there for three days by the river bank, and he tries to cross the river. Of course, it's not easy. He's aware of sort of the risks that lie ahead. He's not exactly sure where to go, but, you know, all he can do is really try to cross that river. The current is pulling him towards an ISIS checkpoint, and he's, of course, sort of in this moment where he doesn't know if he's actually going to make it or not. He eventually, you know, gets across to the other side and still he doesn't know if he's going to survive because he's in a Sunni village. And he's scared to go knocking on doors. He doesn't know what would happen. You know, someone can turn him in. But you know, what's interesting through this tale of survival is, you know, it's essentially Sunni Muslims, the ISIS militants, who tried to kill him, who tried to execute him. And on the other side of the river bank, it's also Sunni Muslims who end up sheltering him and really helping him escape to safety.
[Paul:] Isn't that interesting, doesn't that tell you a lot about the dynamic of what's going on there. Mona El Naggar, thank you so much for being with us.
[Savidge:] Excellent reporting. Just such a powerful piece. Thank you.
[Paul:] It is. It is. Thank you so much. We encourage you to take a good look at this. And we'll be right back. Stay close.