Officials: 3 Denver girls played hooky from school and tried to join ISIS

[yuiyoshida]

(CNN) -- The first indication that something was wrong was a phone call from his daughter's Denver area school to let Assad Ibrahim know that she had not come to class.

He dialed her cell. And she answered. But, officials say, she didn't tell him that she was on her way to Syria to join ISIS.

She was just late for class, that's all, Ibrahim's daughter told him on Friday, according to the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office, which filed a runaway report.

The American girl of Sudanese descent also kept quiet about her two girlfriends, Americans of Somali descent, who were flying with her to Turkey by way of Germany.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/22/us/colorado-teens-syria-odyssey/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

[arcane1]

1. Does ISIS even let women participate?

I can't imagine what the motivation would be there

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. They get told to marry one of the male fighters

They are effectively putting themselves up as sex slaves.

Schoolgirl jihadis: the female Islamists leaving home to join Isis fighters

Girls as young as 14 or 15 are travelling mainly to Syria to marry jihadis, bear their children and join communities of fighters, with a small number taking up arms. Many are recruited via social media.
...
In most cases, women and girls appear to have left home to marry jihadis, drawn to the idea of supporting their “brother fighters” and having “jihadist children to continue the spread of Islam”, said Louis Caprioli, former head of the French security agency Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire. “If their husband dies, they will be given adulation as the wife of a martyr.”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/29/schoolgirl-jihadis-female-islamists-leaving-home-join-isis-iraq-syria

[Recursion]

9. ISIS does have female soldiers/police

http://time.com/3276567/how-isis-is-recruiting-women-from-around-the-world/

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ellievhall/inside-the-online-world-of-the-women-of-isis

Additionally, if they succeed in getting more internationals involved they will probably have to deal with women who want more of a front-line position (e.g. Chechnyans or Bosnians, whose militant groups have always had female fighters).

As far as the motivation? Smashing capitalism and imperialism holds a certain mystique for a lot of teenagers.

[bettyellen]

37. interesting- I assumed a lot of the motivation was teen angst + the urge to be seen as "grown up"

[Marrah_G]

2. I find it bizzarre that they were all able to get on an international flight

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Depends how instrusive you want government monitoring of extremist websites to be, I guess

The one clue that they were going to do this was that they'd looked as sites talking about how to get to Syria. The article doesn't actually say they participated. If they didn't, all the NSA (or whoever) would have is IP addresses showing someone was reading the sites. Innocent people do sometimes look to see what extremists are saying. I can see that reading the sites would be held to be a low priority problem.

[Aerows]

12. Do you actually believe this story? n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

16. We have the parents named, and a runaway report

and enough information that people who know the Somali or Sudanese communities in the area will expect to recognise the families. So, yes, I believe the story. I take it you don't. Why not? What do you think the reality is?

[Aerows]

17. You probably know exactly what I am thinking

and I'm going to let it play out. Wouldn't want to "play into a conspiracy theory", now would I?

The babies were flung from the incubators and Iraq had WMD's, right?

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. No, seriously, I don't know what you're thinking at all

To be honest, I suspect that you haven't thought it through at all, and this is just a kneejerk "my government must be lying to me" reaction.

[Aerows]

20. LOL!

That's an interesting conclusion to arrive at.

"kneejerk "my government must be lying to me".

Considering that my government has been so incredibly truthful ( ), my incredulity, I would think, would be natural.

And to state that I haven't thought it through at all? That's rich!

[muriel_volestrangler]

24. It's based on your lack of effort in stating what you think happened

A lack which continues. If you're unable to put forward an alternative, it's reasonable to conclude you don't have one.

[Aerows]

25. There are some things lacking here

and they aren't with my (or yours, for that matter) explanations on what happened.

The massive chasm between this occurring exactly as the government stated it happened and common sense would take a *huge* leap of logic.

Feel free to come to your own conclusions, but I'm just going to sit here and go "HA HA HA" do you really think everyone is this stupid? Re-evaluate the story as written, then think about passports, security in a post-911 world, airports, valid ID, and monetary means to do all of the above, along with monetary means on their person WITHOUT triggering a response.

Really think about the logistics. Then think about the fact that these are teenagers. Are you *REALLY* going to tell me this bucket could hold water?

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

27. The girls had at least $2,000 among the three of them

The story is definitely bizarre, but not necessarily completely unbelievable.

[Aerows]

29. It's beyond bizarre

How did they get a visa to enter those countries? If they were US citizens, they DID need a visa to enter the the countries they were traveling to.

It's dumb.

[muriel_volestrangler]

28. A passport is a valid ID for international travel; the story says they had their passports

Is it possible for 15-17 year-olds to have enough money for a transatlantic flight? Of course it is. And there's the possibility they had help from someone else - we'll see.

[Aerows]

30. You can't travel to the countries

where ISIS operates without a visa. Please feel free to look it up.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

33. Americans don't need visas to get into Germany

They were probably caught when they couldn't produce visas for further travel.

Frankly, I haven't read very much about this. Is it possible that they hold dual citizenship/dual passports to get into any of the countries where ISIS operates?

[Aerows]

34. You have to get a visa

to enter the countries they were supposedly going to. Maybe they were planning to hike from Greece (LOL!) overland, or hike from Turkey as 15, 16 and 17 year old girls after they bought a visa in Turkey (LOL!).

Do you see the logistical problems with either scenario? Because I certainly do.

[Ikonoklast]

86. If they had contacts in ISIS, they were most likely told to get to Turkey.

From there ISIS has operatives getting people coming in to fight from all over the world across the border.

ISIS has been active inside of Turkey for some time now, they have crossed the border with impunity.


The two Austrian girls took the same route through Turkey to join ISIS. They are 15 and 17.

[LawDeeDah]

73. I think it has something to do with Sailor Moon.

Oni Isis | FanFiction
https://www.fanfiction.net/u/538130/Oni-Isis
Oni Isis is a fanfiction author that has written 5 stories for Sailor Moon, and Rurouni Kenshin.

[Aerows]

11. This story

is so bad you would have to be dumber than a bag of hair to take it at face value.

Not the OP, who just relayed it, but whatever government official decided to concoct this fable. WMD, babies flung out of incubators, etc.

[treestar]

53. Agree, checking the article, they are all minors

I would have thought there would have to be permission for an airline to agree to let a minor on board.

[Downwinder]

3. Wonder if American racism has any impetus for this.

[JI7]

74. more likely it was some cute guys they wanted to meet up with

of course they had the whole fighting for a cause bs to justify stealing money , running away from home etc.

[seveneyes]

4. Piss poor parenting and education can contribute to wanton disregard for sound decisions

Can't say for sure this is the case here but there are other inexcusable options if not.

[Ed Suspicious]

6. The teen years can contribute to a wanton disregard

for sound decisions.

[seveneyes]

8. We all have our excuses

Joining a squad of murderous, scumbag, religious filthy killers is not one of them.

[Recursion]

13. Patty Hearst

Replace sharia with international communism and there's not much difference...

[Bluenorthwest]

89. Big difference in that Patty was kidnapped, held as a prisoner and used to extort ransom

They invaded her apartment and abused her as captive for weeks and weeks before she 'joined them'.

[JI7]

77. except the Father in this case was against the girl getting involved with these thugs

she went against them as teenagers do and father called authorities and reported them.

it's not like he sold them off to some thugs in the name of his faith or anything.

[Marrah_G]

81. I had good parents and did some really reckless, stupid shit as a teen

I'm very glad they got the girls back before they ended up as slaves, married off to some fighter.

[Aerows]

10. This story stinks

on many levels. I'll let people that haven't had their common sense flung out of the window to decide why that is.

Hint: babies aren't getting flung out of incubators, either.

This isn't a slight against you, yuiyoshida, you are just reporting the story. Thank you for that. It is up to intelligent people to process the news given and decide if it makes any sense, and this story doesn't make a grain of it.

[yuiyoshida]

14. CHECK out latest breaking news...

THIS IS getting fucking crazy.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/man-apprehended-after-jumping-white-house-fence/

[Autumn]

15. Why does this story seem to smell? Teenage girls get on an international flight?

"German authorities intercepted the trio, ages 15, 16 and 17, at Frankfurt airport and put them on a plane back to the United States, where they were greeted by FBI agents."
Daddy found out the girl was gone when the school callled to let him lknow that she had not come to class?

Horse shit.

[Aerows]

19. It sounds about as plausible

as "a goldfish on a bicycle stole my lunch money!"

[Chemisse]

21. What strikes me as odd about this story - and did the minute I heard it -

Is that the girls are allowed to go back home. All is forgiven.

Now that may seem the sensible way to handle this kind of situation, since they are under age and were probably lured into this decision, but it strikes a discord to me.

Since the 'war on terror' began, there has been no mercy for anyone who is even suspected of maybe joining forces with terrorists. Why aren't these young girls in prison?

[Aerows]

22. I think you answered your own question.

It's a bunch of horse shit, that's why.

[muriel_volestrangler]

23. In prison, charged with what?

Missing school? Wasting police time? To have them in prison, as opposed to at home (where it sounds as if the parents will watch them the whole time), you need a specific charge. And that will need hard evidence that they were going to join a terrorist group, as opposed to just travelling to the area (and is intent to join a specific charge? Or do they need to have joined?) Perhaps they will be able to work up a charge, examining their computers and phones. But look at the Canadian pair who killed 2 soldiers this week; they had their passports confiscated (which governments can do without a trial, because they are government property, in most countries at least), but they weren't jailed.

[Aerows]

26. Well, for one

forging a visa. Since you aren't going to be traveling anywhere and entering a country without one. I know you live in Great Britain, so you are definitely smarter than to believe you just enter a country without one if it isn't in Europe.

[muriel_volestrangler]

31. They hadn't tried to enter Turkey yet

so there's no particular reason to think they had forged a Turkish visa, which you'd normally buy on entry. As far as I can see, US citizens can travel to Germany without a visa. Whether Turkey refuses visas to unaccompanied teenagers, I don't know; they may have been planning to sneak in overland from Greece.

[Aerows]

32. Sneak in overland from Greece?

Really? Buy a visa on entry into Turkey? Really?

Far be it from me to say that any and all of that sounds far-fetched, but whatever floats your boat.

[muriel_volestrangler]

35. Buy a visa on entry into Turkey is what an adult would do

as the link pointed out. People are smuggled into Greece from Turkey; the smugglers may now have a sideline in taking people back. Whether either of these would have succeeded, we don't know, since they were stopped at the German airport.

This isn't about whether their plan was well enough thought through to succeed, if the alarm hadn't been raised before they got beyond Frankfurt; it's about your dismissal of the whole story as a fake to rank alongside the 'killing babies in incubators' and 'Saddam has WMD' stories. You're saying it's part of a US government misinformation program. Which bit do you think is a lie?

[Aerows]

36. I'm skeptical

I've heard too much bs in my lifetime and this reeks of it.

You may call me whatever you like for being the frontrunner of calling this bullshit. The entire story is about as plausible as someone publishing a discovery that the moon is made of cheese.

I reiterate. I will accept responsibility for being the front-runner of calling horse shit on this story.

You are free to mock me if I am incorrect. Deal?

[Barack_America]

41. Can you please just state your hypothesis here?

What is the "real" story? I've been enjoying your back and forth but I cannot, for the life of me, figure out what you're getting at here.

[Aerows]

42. If you can figure out

what is the "real story" here as opposed to this fiction, I want to hear it. I've stated my case for how implausible this entire story is, and I wasn't the one that created it. I just explained how the official story is epicly stupid.

[Barack_America]

52. Teenagers are the masters of "epicly stupid".

So the story of a romantic misguided notion to go off and marry ISIS fighters, while not realizing that Visas are required for foreign travel, is completely plausible to me.

Is wanting to marry a terrorist even a crime? Seriously, I do not know.

[Aerows]

59. Who wants to marry a terrorist?

WTF?

"Hey, Mom and Dad, here is my boyfriend. He's a jihadi with a .50 caliber. Don't do Christmas ham this year!"

[bettyellen]

69. He is just misunderstood- a classic bad boy, LOL. I know it's hard to understand HOW people get

duped by people who are obviously just pretending to care- and to be soul mates.... but we've all seen it happen to people smarter than 16- 17 year olds. Seducers are going to seduce and isolate. I'm sure the same hot guy is skyping with 30-40 teenagers daily because he's better at it than anyone else there. Even if he succeeding 1/100 it's worth it to them PR wise.

Boy those gals will be pissed about the bait and switch to another guy- who treats her like chattel and uses her as a breeder- when they get to Syria.

[Aerows]

71. I don't take things at face value

Nothing in this story makes a bit of sense.

[JI7]

80. look at the Groupies that the younger Tsarnaev Brother has

[Aerows]

38. You are discussing misinformation

How damn far do you think all of this really could get?

There are 3 areas where this breaks down. I showed you one.

Now here is a gem!

The NSA/Five Eyes spy on us to protect us while violating our freedoms, but they couldn't catch school girls until the school girls got into Germany, which isn't part of Five Eyes.

Pee on my leg and tell me it is raining again.

[muriel_volestrangler]

83. As I said in #7, this shows the NSA surveillance doesn't pick up stuff like this

If they do monitor the IP addresses that read extremist websites, they're not following that up to identify the households using the addresses, and then placing all the members of the families on the no-fly list. That's what your incredulity boils down to - that they weren't marked as a problem and prevented from boarding the flight in the USA, because their households accessed some sites. Of course, they might well have used public IP addresses to read them, in which case identifying them would be even more difficult.

Do you think reading extremist websites should put someone, and their family (because you won't know which one is doing it) on a no-fly list? I personally think that would be an infringement of their rights.

[mainer]

39. I travel to UK, Germany and Turkey frequently.

US citizens don't need visas for UK and Germany. turkey visas can be obtained online within minutes, or on arrival at the airport.

And yes, a visa for Turkey is that simple. Arrive in Istanbul, wait in line, pay the fee, and you're in.

[Aerows]

40. Of course they can

But entry visas to the countries they were supposedly going to? No. That was my point.

So that leaves 3 teenaged girls traveling to a violent area. With 2000 dollars pooled together.

How does that make sense?

[mainer]

43. No one's checking visas to Syria.

fighters are being escorted across the Turkish border by ISIS. That's how the Aussie kid probably got in.

[Aerows]

44. Do you think 3 American teenaged

girls, 15,16 and 17 will be shuttled right in?

Uh, are you aware of the culture there?

[mainer]

45. That's how the Austrian teenaged girls got in

Escorted across from Turkey by ISIS.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isiss-austrian-poster-girl-jihadi-brides-have-changed-their-minds-and-want-to-come-home-9789547.html

[mainer]

46. Turkey, by the way, is easy to travel in

It's not a restrictive country. I have driven all over it, and all you need to do is head east or south and you'll be at the border. No one will stop you. I'm a woman by the way.

[Aerows]

47. Okay

I won't argue it anymore.

[mainer]

48. I'll put in a plug for Turkey as a tourist destination

While I've got your attention. It's beautiful, friendly, fascinating, and cheap. I head there next week on business.

[Aerows]

49. Turkish cuisine is delicious

Do enjoy when you go

They do things with yogurt and cucumber as a sauce to make a person drool for a lifetime just thinking of it .

EDIT: I'm a tea fan. I love tea. Turkish tea is delightful!

[bettyellen]

50. most visas you can buy at the airport, so yeah, it could have happened. how many times has it

happened to teenagers in the UK? they're young, not savvy enough to understand they are being manipulated and often angry at the world. I don't know why anyone would think our govt needs to do anti Isis PR, they are doing a really fine job on their own.

[Aerows]

51. I don't disagree with this statement

"I don't know why anyone would think our govt needs to do anti Isis PR, they are doing a really fine job on their own."

But our government has a history of bungling things.

[bettyellen]

54. I don't see how they can fake three teenagers getting on a plane- but I think 9/11 happened with

planes and no bombs. Both pretty difficult to fake, and kind of pointless in both cases too.

[Aerows]

55. 15, 16 and 17

With 2000 dollars all together. No visas for the countries they want to enter ... sorry, bettyellen, I'm having a problem with this one.

I can suspend my disbelief only so far, and this one doesn't pass the test.

[bettyellen]

56. Turkey is easy as hell to get into and through to Syria from. Teens are allowed to fly w/o adults..

even internationally. No one blinks an eye. I do not see the problem at all.

Not sure what is weird about this except how dumb it is- but teens can be pretty dumb and easily manipulated.
Isis is not going to bother trying to recruit older people with steady lives and jobs, that would be a waste of time.
Do you think they faked the british and canadian voices in their videos too? I saw speculation about that but think it's a crock. It is not currently difficult to get to Syria.

[Aerows]

58. I think the whole

thing is a crock of shit. It's contrived and weird. Maybe I'm too cynical, but the whole thing smells. Not just the teenagers going and getting caught in Germany, which is pretty damn strange, but all of it.

I don't know.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

87. It's simple, even though stupid behavior

Steal your parents' credit cards.

Buy your flight tickets.

Grab your passports.

Head to the airport in own car or call a taxi.

Get on a plane. (They were all beyond age of needing to be escorted.)

Meanwhile, parents figure out what's going on. Girls not at school. Check their computers. Did girls leave notes?

Notify authorities.

Grab the girls in Germany, before they fly to Turkey, which does need a visa upon entry, but is simple to acquire.

Thought on the parents and their parenting - kids do stupid shit! These parents wanted their daughters back. I presume they are not radical themselves and don't plan on stoning them upon return.

/sarcasm

Seriously, though, these girls will be questioned to see if they had actual contacts, which is probably unlikely. More likely, they are stupid, irrational girls, who have romanticized the fight against the enemies of Islam. Of course, they could have a contact in this country, so they will be watched just as a precaution. NSA and all that...

[brooklynite]

60. Not to Syria...

...Took me several weeks and mailing my passports to Washington to get them.

[bettyellen]

63. nope, you go from Turkey to Syria over land. The borders are very easy to pass. The US has been

begging Turkey to provide more security @ crossings for months.

[Aerows]

61. They were in Germany. n/t

[bettyellen]

64. Where they were only stopped because the Dad informed the police exactlly where he thought she was

going. Interesting the Dad can believe she would do this, but DUers are having a hard time.
Another teen was arrested (beecause she is 18) for the same thing last month. All admittedly had cute jihadi boyfriends skyping them. Heady stuff for a rebellious teen.

[Aerows]

67. I have no intel

on the "cute jihadi boyfriends" via skype.

They were stopped in Germany, had 2 grand pooled together on them, and no entry visa to where they wanted to go.

bettyellen, you are a New Yorker. You must be smarter than to take this at face value.

It isn't even political for God's sake, it's common sense.

[JI7]

72. there is nothing unusual or hard to believe about this , it's not hard to get 2K if you aren't

worried about paying it back you can easily steal it from family and other close members.

or they could have got it from the ISIS guys who want to marry them .

[bettyellen]

79. yep- charge the tickets- and the 2K was only what the NOTICED stolen.... The scottish gal was

pretty well off, wasn't she? God knows how much an upper class teen can squirrel away in six months to a year if she wanted to.

[bettyellen]

75. I'm smart enough to know they would have made it to Turkey if Dad hadn't caught on. Visa are bought

on the spot- not sure why you keep claiming there was some obstacle stopping them from getting to Turkey? There was none.


Dad knew his daughter had a romantic LDR with a foreign muslin, (he denied them his blessing) and put two and two together when he found her passport missing. He went to the best friends house and found they were missing, l also stole 2K and took their passports.
That is when he called authorities.

Sorry, it is not that hard once the tickets are bought. No one blinks an eye at teen travelers.

Do you have ANY theory why the USA would try to make something like this up? DO you think thy are faking Isis videos? Bomings? What?
I'm curios, because THAT makes no sense to me.

[Aerows]

82. I speculate on a lot of things

I'm sure you do, too.

My thought is that it was gin up support for what is going to turn into a "Boots on the ground" against ISIS, despite that public support for another war campaign has a sorry showing in polls.

[Chemisse]

84. Well if you look at other stories of people in the US even just PLANNING to join a terrorist group

They are all charged with crimes.

Such as this one:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/10/justice/colorado-jihadist-guilty-plea/

[muriel_volestrangler]

85. More specific activity - plans to marry a particular ISIS member, and 'suspicious behavior'

Conley, 19, was arrested at Denver International Airport in April as she was about to embark on a journey to Germany and eventually to an ISIS camp near the Turkish border. She told investigators that she was going to Turkey to await word from her suitor, identified in court documents as Yousr Mouelhi, an ISIS member she met on the Internet, whom she planned to marry.

Conley, a convert to Islam who wore a blue and white striped jail uniform and a traditional Muslim headscarf, appeared before a federal judge Wednesday and pleaded guilty to charge of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
...
She told federal agents she had read a book called "Al-Qaida's Doctrine for Insurgency" and intended to wage jihad against the United States, according to the criminal complaint.
...
Conley first came to the attention of authorities after the pastor and the security director at a church in Arvada, Colorado, called police and said she was acting suspiciously. Authorities interviewed her seven times over the course of five months before arresting her at the airport.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/10/justice/colorado-jihadist-guilty-plea/

Their youth and apparent lack of other activity may have stopped them from being seen as more than foolish wannabes with a vague plan to get to Turkey. And it's possible they will be charged; Conley had a history the authorities could put forward at once as evidence, while they've only just started the investigation of the teens.

[Chemisse]

94. I guess that makes sense - and I am glad they are being treated with some compassion.

[bettyellen]

92. adults would be charged

[brooklynite]

57. So, awkward Thanksgiving holiday?

[Aerows]

62. "Not the ham"

Seriously, not the honey ham this time. Or the oyster dressing. Or ...

Oh hell, we'll just have a salad and eat somewhere else after they leave.

[Rex]

65. WTF WTF WTF?

[Nye Bevan]

66. Hmm. Kids today with their loud music, strange clothes,

and joining anti-Western Jihadist terrorist groups..... it was all different back in my day.

[Aerows]

68. This has to be

the dumbest story I've ever heard, and I've heard some dumb ones.

I think they picked up whatever fell off of the turnip truck to make "news".

[JI7]

70. there were Somali British Twin Sisters who did this and ended up marrying some guys there

in their case i think they got the money from some isis members who were looking for wives.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2703792/Twin-Manchester-schoolgirls-ran-away-Syria-married-ISIS-fighters-mainly-stay-indoors-read-Quran-unless-jihadi-husbands-out.html

[boomer55]

76. let em go and dont let em back in.

[JI7]

78. another thing is that a lot of these ISIS Members were raised in the West

so they are able to communicate and more easily have things in common with others in places like the US , Europe etc.

this is why there seems to be more young people in the west who find it appealing compared to Al Qaeda and some other groups where it's mostly older types raised in the old countries and much more conservative who mostly want to talk about the quran .

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

88. Yeah, the old guys with Osama Bin Laden scraggly facial hair not too appealing to young girls

ISIS, ISIL, IS, Islamic State ???? members have learned a thing or two, apparently, about attracting young females.

[KinMd]

90. Back in my day....

girls would skip school, go to a guys house, get high and maybe have sex. The good ol' days

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

93. Back in my day (waaaay back)

ya' skipped school with your fella' and walked down the railroad tracks into a rural area where you "made out."


Those were some well-worn tracks.

[yuiyoshida]

91. For teen with passport, Syria trip can be seamless

PARIS (AP) — The teenage sisters told their father they were staying home sick from their suburban Denver school. Instead, they took $2,000 and their passports and headed off for Syria with a 16-year-old friend. They made it as far as Germany before border guards detained them for questioning.

The fact that adolescent girls could make their way across the Atlantic might come as a surprise to many parents, but a patchwork of laws and rules governing international air travel in many cases makes it easy for teenagers to travel with nobody's permission but their own.

Airlines have a range of rules governing minors' travel: Many major carriers including United Airlines and Scandinavian airline SAS place no restrictions on children over 12, while others let even young minors travel as long as they are accompanied by someone over 16. Yet others, including American Airlines, require a parent to accompany travelers under the age of 15 to the gate, while those 15 and over face no restrictions.

Countries have a separate set of laws that is no less haphazard, from a Russian requirement for notarized parental permission to the U.S. system where adolescents with valid passports are free to come and go.

In Spain, both parents must fill out a permission form at a police station before a minor can travel alone. In Germany, where the American teens were stopped, border guards are required to verify that minors have parental permission to travel.

And in France, which is Europe's single largest source of would-be jihadis, parental authorization had to be received by city hall — until January 2013.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/For-teen-with-passport-Syria-trip-can-be-seamless-5842188.php