60 Minutes Interviews Eagan Man Guilty of Supporting ISIS

Abdirizak Warsame is one of 11 men from the Twin Cities that has been charged with trying to help ISIS, according to the Justice Department. Warsame, 21, of Eagan, was a part of a group of friends in the Twin Cities’ Somali community who were inspired to join the terrorist group. Warsame pleaded guilty to conspiring to help the Islamic State earlier this year.

According to the criminal complaint, in the spring of 2014, Warsame and co-conspirators began meeting to watch propaganda videos that glorified religious violence and discussing their aspirations to travel to Syria to join and fight with ISIS. Members of the group, including Warsame, discussed ways to leave the United States and travel to Syria despite the fact that law enforcement scrutiny of them was intense.

On Sunday, 60 Minutes interviewed Warsame, asking him to recount how an American teenager could be radicalized at home.

"The reason I wanted to go to Syria was I felt like it was my duty. I felt like it was something that I had to do," Warsame told CBS' Scott Pelley. "And if I didn’t do it, I would be basically a disgrace to God. I would be a disgrace to the world. I would be a disgrace to my family."

Warsame and his friends watched videos of Anwar al-Awlaki, an al Qaeda cleric and preacher of war. "He explained how Islam was, you know, like, my calling," Warsame said.

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"It was almost like he was talking to you. And like it made you feel like you were special, you know? And like you’re the chosen one."

"I thought I was the only one. But when I met these group of men that I was friends with, it was kind of shocking to see that they also knew about these videos too. We would listen and listen until we became, you know, wrapped in this ideology. All those lectures would talk about how it wasn’t a time for just, you know, talking, but it was a time for action."

In recent years, about 12 men have left Minnesota to join militant groups in Syria, according to the FBI. Several are believed to be dead.

Watch the full interview below:

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