Bloodlines

Absolutely incredible reporting, a riveting listen. Bloodlines podcast gives a very personal look at the families and children of IS fighters. It’s a bit tense at times; Poonam Taneja is relentless in search of answers.

I binged this series in two days. A very high quality podcast.

A careful and thoughtful podcast series. I was totally absorbed. I really appreciated the calm and nuanced reporting, yet filled with appropriate compassion and concern. Thank you!

First of all- Poonum is amazing, she handled this with incredible honesty, authenticity, empathy, and a drive for the truth. She’s brilliant! I come to this as a mother, but also as an Emergency Medicine physician who spent 7 years overseas working in South/Southeast Asia and Africa in refugee camps, prisons, conflict zones, and disasters. I have seen human beings living in despair in the worst of circumstances and it is NEVER acceptable. I have fairly strong feelings about this, but it is appalling to me that we’ve left these children (or women, or men even) in deplorable conditions in the middle of nowhere, forgotten and disregarded. I know I might be in the minority, but I don’t believe anyone should lose their right to due process or their citizenship. For the women especially (particularly those who were underage), there was enormous grooming that brought them to IS. But it doesn’t matter- those children deserve to be safe and with their family in the countries they rightfully belong to. Even for these women, they deserve a chance to bring their children home and face justice properly. Leaving them for years rotting in camps is unacceptable, no matter what the circumstances. I’ve been in camps like these- no human on earth (regardless of what they are accused of doing) deserve to live in such conditions. As an international community, particularly those of us from countries who purport to support humanitarianism and democracy, it is unacceptable. My heart breaks for Ash and his grandchildren. As for DA and her kids- I hope they can find a normal life in Canada and she gets fair justice. I also pray every single child in those camps gets a chance at life, it is utterly cruel to think of them growing up there, with no one fighting for them or caring about them. These camps are an abomination to human rights, truly. Thank you for this incredible podcast- and for the humanity, depth, and insight you gave this important topic. Well done.