Christopher Helali: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 18:05, 31 August 2026

Christopher Joseph Helali (born October 18, 1989) is an American political activist, self-described investigative journalist, and former U.S. Army Reserve officer who serves as International Secretary of the American Communist Party (ACP) and Head of the North American Executive Committee of the DPRK International Solidarity Group (DPRK ISG). He previously served as International Secretary of the Party of Communists USA (PCUSA) and co-founded the International Revolutionary People's Guerrilla Forces (IRPGF) in Rojava, Syria.

In March 2026, Helali signed a contract to serve in Russia's military operation in Ukraine. On June 4, 2026, he publicly requested Russian citizenship from President Vladimir Putin at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Helali has been the subject of a unanimously passed Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) resolution documenting allegations of reproductive coercion, child abandonment, financial theft, and domestic abuse. At least three former partners across multiple countries have independently described similar behavioral patterns. He has been barred from multiple leftist publications and organizations, and is listed in the Myrotvorets database.

Early life and education

Helali was born in Paxton, Massachusetts, to Davood Helali, an Iranian immigrant who works in freight, and Vicki Helali, a white Greek-American who works for the state government. He has a younger brother, Peter K. Helali, who works in finance and identifies as white. The family home is at 16 Indian Hill Road, Paxton, MA 01612, as listed on Helali's military discharge documents.

Helali holds an unusually large number of academic credentials across four countries:

Institution	Degree	Notes
University of San Diego	BA in Philosophy, History (Honors), Political Science (Honors); minors in Classical Studies, Peace and Justice Studies (MENA emphasis), Theology and Religious Studies	Graduated circa 2012
Huazhong University of Science and Technology (China)	MA in Marxist Philosophy	China Government Scholar; terminated under controversial circumstances (see below)
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology	Master of Theological Studies, Highest Distinction; Certificate in Science and Religion	Basis for Army Chaplain Candidate appointment
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens	MSc in Southeast European Studies ("Excellent" honors)	Thesis: "The Deafening Silence of the Unburied Dead: The Greek Civil War and Historical Trauma"
Dartmouth College	MALS (Master of Arts in Liberal Studies), Cultural Studies	Enrolled September 2017; academic profile removed from Dartmouth website circa November 2019 under unclear circumstances

China (circa 2012–2014)

While enrolled at Huazhong University on a Chinese government scholarship, Helali was simultaneously working illegally as an English teacher under a different visa classification. According to a former partner from this period, two weeks before his thesis defense, he tracked down one of the organizers of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests who lived in his town, arranging a meeting through a Chinese partner who served as translator. Police came for him the following day. He lost his job, was banned from the town, and had his research confiscated at a factory where he had been "asking some questions that they didn't want him asking." He was subsequently banned from China entirely, which explains why his Chinese studies do not appear prominently on his CV and why he was later unable to return for another program.

Dartmouth College (2017–2019)

Helali enrolled at Dartmouth in September 2017, immediately upon his secret return from Syria. He gave a public talk at Dartmouth on March 1, 2018 about his YPG service. In approximately November 2019, his academic profile was removed from Dartmouth's website. This coincided with a former partner's report to Dartmouth's Title IX office and the public circulation of the IWW resolution. His thesis defense had been scheduled for mid-May 2019. Whether he completed his degree or was asked to leave remains unclear.

Ethnic identity

Helali's ethnic self-identification has shifted repeatedly depending on audience and context:

Period	Claimed identity	Context
2012–2013	Greek	Early interviews, including with Noam Chomsky (March 2013) and Matt Bieber (2012), reference exclusively Greek heritage
~2014 (China)	"Half Greek, half Persian"	According to a former partner from this period
2016 onward	"Ethnic Kurd" / "Iranian Kurd"	Coinciding with involvement in Kurdish YPG; used to justify service in Rojava

In a podcast interview circa 2020, Helali acknowledged the constructed nature of this identity: "I am the first in the family to identify as Iranian Kurd, like that, like my dad doesn't identify like that at all." He explained that "a lot of my sort of consciousness about being ethnically Kurdish or Lur comes from my participation both in Europe with Kurdish refugees and with the organizations in Europe that support the PKK."

His brother Peter identifies as white and refers to their father as "Persian" rather than Kurdish.

His accent has been documented progressively thickening across public appearances, from a standard American accent in the 2013 Chomsky interview to a markedly different presentation by 2017.

Military service

U.S. Army Reserve (2011–2015)

Helali served in the U.S. Army Reserve from approximately 2011 to 2015. A photograph from 2008 shows him in a U.S. Army uniform, which may indicate earlier enlisted service or ROTC participation.

Public claims

Helali's Ballotpedia profile states he "graduated US Army Airborne School" at Fort Benning (now Fort Moore) and "received the German Armed Forces Badge for Military Proficiency in Gold." He has variously described himself as a paratrooper, claimed attendance at the School of the Americas (telling a former partner it was "where they send the best soldiers to learn how to destabilize countries in the name of imperialism"), and told associates in the Boston anarchist scene that he was discharged for being caught sleeping with another man.

Actual record

His official discharge documents, filed as Document 1-10 in federal Case 2:21-cv-00141-cr (District of Vermont, filed June 1, 2021), tell a different story.

On October 13, 2015, Helali submitted a memorandum to the Commander, AHRC, Fort Knox, KY, subject: "Unqualified Resignation." The document reads:

1. I, Christopher Helali, 1LT, USAR, [REDACTED], tender my unqualified resignation from the Army Chaplain Candidate Program under the provisions of AR 135-175 to be effective 13 OCT 2015 or as soon as practicable thereafter.

2. I am not under a suspension of favorable personnel action, under investigations, pending charges or being considered for elimination.

4. I desire to tender my resignation due to being a conscientious objector.

The discharge order, dated October 14, 2015 (processed in one day), classifies him as:

HELALI CHRISTOPHER J — DD4 — 1LT CH 56X — USAR

TYPE OF DISCHARGE: HONORABLE

Military Occupational Specialty 56X designates a Chaplain Candidate — a program for seminary students or divinity school graduates training to become military chaplains. This is not a combat arms designation.

Podcast admissions (circa 2020)

In his most detailed and candid account of his military service, given in a podcast interview circa 2020, Helali made the following admissions:

He joined the military to pay for school and nothing more.
He was never deployed and never fired a weapon: "I never fired a bullet, never was deployed with the US Army, never did anything like that. So I just basically went in there, put on the uniform, got training, left, and never served overseas, anything like that."
He transferred to the Chaplain Corps specifically to avoid deployment to Afghanistan: "They wanted to send me over to Afghanistan, and I got out of the pipeline by going to seminary...I slowly escaped that pipeline altogether."
He characterized the Chaplain Corps as an escape route: "I said, well, I got to get out of the military somehow. So the chaplain corps is the easiest way, because you can go into the chaplain corps and then you can resign at any point without any penalties."
He fabricated a religious calling to facilitate the transfer: "I went to the military, I said, you know, I had a vision from Jesus, and he told me I have to pursue this, and of course, the commander was like, absolutely, forgotten country, so they changed me over...no problems."
He described himself as an atheist entering seminary: "It wasn't until high school where I said I'm an atheist and I'm going to leave the church." He attended classes "with the badges of Lenin."

Contradictory accounts

Helali has given at least five different accounts of his military departure to different audiences:

Audience	Account
Boston anarchists (2015–2016)	Discharged for being caught sleeping with another man
Valley News	Conscientious objector
Former partner	Paratrooper trained at the School of the Americas in destabilization
Federal court (2021)	Honorable discharge (submitted documents)
Podcast (circa 2020)	Joined to pay for school; transferred to Chaplain Corps to avoid Afghanistan; resigned

Claim vs. reality on combat veteran status

Completing Airborne School (a three-week course) does not constitute career infantry service. The German Armed Forces Badge for Military Proficiency is a foreign decoration commonly awarded for physical fitness tests. A Reserve Chaplain Candidate attending the School of the Americas — which primarily trains Latin American military personnel in counterinsurgency — would be highly unusual. No independent verification of this claim exists.

Syria — YPG/IRPGF (January–September 2017)

Route and arrival

In January 2017, Helali traveled to Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan, then to PKK mountain camps near the Iraq-Syria-Turkey border. He described the transit: "We went to the camps, stayed a little while, and then eventually crossed over illegally into Syria." The route is the standard pipeline for Western volunteers entering Rojava.

The IRPGF

In Rojava, Helali co-founded the International Revolutionary People's Guerrilla Forces (IRPGF), an anarchist subunit within the International Freedom Battalion (IFB). The IFB was an established formation initiated in mid-2015 by Turkish-origin militant groups, primarily the MLKP and TKP/ML, with experienced guerrilla fighters. The IRPGF was a Western volunteer add-on to this structure.

The IRPGF "consisted of a small cadre of foreign volunteers, estimated in the dozens rather than hundreds" with members who were "predominantly male, young (over 60% under 30 years old), and lacking prior military experience." They recruited "primarily through online channels and networks within Western anarchist and leftist activist communities, leveraging social media platforms."

In July 2017, the IRPGF announced a queer subunit called TQILA ("The Queer Insurrection and Liberation Army") under the slogan "These Faggots Kill Fascists." The announcement went viral across Western media. However, SDF spokesperson Mustafa Bali immediately denied the "formation of such a battalion within the framework" of the SDF. The IRPGF spokesperson responded that they did not need SDF's "permission" as they were autonomous.

Actual combat record

Helali's frontline service lasted approximately 8–10 weeks (late April to July 2017) during phases four and five of the Raqqa campaign — the approach to the city through surrounding villages, approximately 40–50 kilometers from Raqqa proper. He has explicitly acknowledged: "I never fought in the city itself, I fought all the way to the city, and then I was injured."

His injury was non-combat: "I fell off a roof at night time, and I injured my leg and my knees, and I was in a cast, so that was all of my frontline experience."

In his most detailed account, Helali describes firing a weapon exactly once in Syria — at a suspicious car of uncertain identity on a front-line road. The occupant emerged waving a white flag. He describes all other combat engagements as either hiding, running, or watching coalition airstrikes: "The Americans spared no bomb. They just launched everything. They decimated everything."

After his injury in July 2017, he was stationed at Serêkaniyê (Ras al-Ain) on the Turkish border — far from any fighting — until he departed in late August or early September 2017.

IRPGF expulsion and dissolution

In August 2017, the YPG's own English-language communications arm turned against the IRPGF. A YPG-affiliated account stated: "IRPGF yesterday got kicked out of Raqqa, hopefully soon from Rojava — we need less empty propaganda, more fighting." The tweet was later deleted.

No independent assessment credits the IRPGF "with independently securing significant terrain or inflicting verifiable enemy losses beyond sporadic small-unit engagements, underscoring their supportive rather than pivotal role."

The IRPGF announced its dissolution on September 24, 2018, having existed for approximately 18 months. The IFB, by contrast, continued fighting through the Battle of Afrin (February 2018), Operation Peace Spring (October 2019), and the Battle of Baghuz Fawqani (March 2019) — the final battle against the ISIS territorial caliphate.

Inflated claims

Despite this record, Helali's public accounts of his service have grown progressively more dramatic:

Source	Claim	Reality
Seven Days Vermont	"Fired a version of the AK-47 assault rifle while taking part in a frontline assault on Raqqa"	Never entered Raqqa; fired at one car whose occupant surrendered
Jackson Hinkle interview	Implied participation in the fall of Raqqa and work alongside Russian peacekeepers in Afrin	Left Syria months before Raqqa fell (October 17, 2017); was at Dartmouth when Raqqa was liberated; was never stationed in Afrin
Jackson Hinkle interview	"Our units worked alongside the Syrian Arab Army"	The YPG/SDF and SAA had a tense coexistence with armed clashes; they were not allies
Various	Completed his service; organization "dissolved"	Unit was expelled from Raqqa campaign; he left 9 months into a 4-year commitment after a non-combat injury

Departure from Syria

Helali has given at least three different explanations for leaving Syria:

The organization "dissolved" and he "distanced himself from the movement"
Most internationals left because the YPG "sold out to NATO"
"There was US intervention" and "they wanted to send me to a more dangerous region. To fight drones, not men...I would have died"

He left in approximately August–September 2017, enrolled at Dartmouth College that same month, and did not inform the mother of his child that he was back in the United States until November 2018 — over a year later.

YPG response

When contacted about Helali's conduct in December 2018, the YPG International office (through liaison "Heval Fazil") acknowledged the situation as "a difficult Case" and "a sad Story" but ultimately declined to take action, responding in April 2019: "he isn't anymore under our responsibility, he isn't here. If it is how you said, we are sad about that because of you, but our arm is not reaching the US."

When asked whether the YPG had been in contact with Helali about serving before May 2016 — which would have proven his pre-existing plans were concealed from his partner — the YPG responded: "This we can't answer, because we have just folders about the time here."

Russia — military contract (2026)

In March 2026, Helali signed a contract to serve in Russia's military operation in Ukraine. On June 4, 2026, speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), he announced he had sent a four-page letter to President Putin requesting Russian citizenship, citing his "work in Donbas," support for "Russian-American friendship," and interest in Russian "history, culture, language, and traditions." He stated: "I greatly appreciate everything Russia has done for me."

The man who transferred to the Chaplain Corps to avoid Afghanistan in 2015, co-founded a unit expelled from Raqqa for "empty propaganda" in 2017, and left Syria after a non-combat injury nine months into a four-year commitment, had by 2026 signed up to fight for Russia against Ukraine and requested Russian citizenship.

Theft and financial misconduct

IWW Boston (2016)

In spring 2016, while serving as elected Branch Secretary-Treasurer of the IWW Boston General Membership Branch, Helali misappropriated approximately $4,510 from the branch treasury over several transactions. The IWW General Executive Board issued a public statement documenting the theft. The branch was reimbursed through an insurance payout. Helali offered to repay the funds in December 2018 and requested reinstatement; the Boston chapter refused.

Helali gave different accounts of where the money went: he told the IWW he had "sent a letter...immediately stating that it went to Rojava for the IWW comrade killed there," but social media messages showed him discussing "personal donations." The funds appear to have been used primarily for his own international travel.

Greek anarchist collective (2018)

In February 2018, a member of a squatting collective in Athens contacted the IWW Boston about Helali, reporting: "he is at attempting to buy an apartment in a building that is squatted by our collective (or which he is a former member). We found that he had stolen several hundred euros (borrowed and then not returned) from another comrade who previously lived in Greece. We are trying to follow up with various people in order to understand where he may have found money to purchase an apartment, and if it was obtained through dishonest means."

The IWW branch secretary responded: "All we've heard is that he took the money to Rojava. He also left his then pregnant partner back in Worcester, MA. My personal feeling is that he should be shunned by all social movement groups."

Other allegations

A former associate who served in Rojava (using the alias "Benjamin Novatorre," who knew Helali by his code name "Ajit") contacted the IWW after the public statement, confirming Helali had stolen funds from the YPG as well and had harmed other women during his service. This person promised to connect witnesses willing to come forward, then deleted their social media account. No witnesses materialized.

Personal conduct allegations

IWW resolution (March 2019)

In March 2019, the Boston IWW unanimously passed a resolution documenting allegations from the mother of Helali's daughter, including:

Reproductive coercion: lying about his sperm count to justify unprotected sex, then admitting the lie; deliberately checking fertility indicators during sex; concealing his plans to leave the country before the conception
Child abandonment: leaving the country when the mother was seven months pregnant; failing to attend the birth; never establishing paternity; returning secretly to the United States in September 2017 and enrolling at Dartmouth without informing the mother for over a year; meeting his daughter exactly once (January 2019)
Financial neglect: promising financial support in virtually every email exchange from 2016 to 2018 and never providing any until $1,000 cash in January 2019; telling his attorney he was "a poor student living within his means" while attending Dartmouth and living on a partner's farm in Vermont
Domestic abuse: threatening the mother with court proceedings using racial and educational disparities ("I'm a man with a Harvard education, and you're a black woman who doesn't even have a Bachelor's degree"); playing loud gunfire videos outside a locked bedroom door; using security threats and political theory to silence accountability efforts

The resolution was widely circulated across leftist networks. Helali was subsequently barred from publication in multiple pan-leftist sources.

Pattern across partners

At least three former partners across different countries and time periods have independently described similar behavioral patterns:

Rapid escalation: immediate talk of marriage and children, even "super early in a relationship"
Identity matching: adopting whatever political, ethnic, religious, and gender identity matches the current partner's values and social circle
Financial exploitation: each significant partner's family was wealthy (Greek family of ex-wife Christa; family of close friend Gemma in Boston; Amanda Sheehan's family in Vermont; the father of his daughter, later discovered to be a surgeon)
Insistence that "only physical violence counts" as abuse: multiple partners independently describe the same defense
Charisma that "only works in person": confirmed independently by at least two former partners

A former partner from the China period (~2014) described: "One time he spent like an hour denigrating me, verbally abusing, while I was sitting there, crying; then suggested a bdsm role play involving a knife. I said no; he questioned my love and trust for him."

Legal actions

Rather than engaging in the restorative justice process requested by the IWW and the mother of his child, Helali pursued litigation:

Vermont restraining order (April 2019): Filed against the mother of his child in Vermont — a state she had never visited, had no contacts in, and did not know he resided in. She appeared pro se and filed a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. The order was denied.
Federal civil complaint (2021): Filed Case 2:21-cv-00141-cr in the District of Vermont against the mother of his child and one other defendant. The case was terminated October 4, 2023.
Service evasion: Repeatedly refused to provide an address for service of paternity papers, claiming to live in Greece while actually residing in Vermont. His attorney was told he could not attend family court due to a "pending court case in Greece for terrorism charges." A sworn emergency order request states: "He is not on trial in Greece, but lied to my counsel to push the date."

Political career

Early political involvement

Helali says he was "tangentially involved with the CPUSA through their communist youth wing while in high school" and formally joined the CPUSA in 2012. He later became involved with the Boston anarchist scene (2015–2017), where he identified as gender non-conforming and used they/them pronouns.

Party of Communists USA (2020–2024)

After being de-platformed from anarchist spaces, Helali reinvented himself as a Marxist-Leninist. He joined the Party of Communists USA (PCUSA), a hard-line splinter from the CPUSA.

2020: Ran for U.S. Congress in Vermont on the PCUSA ticket, receiving approximately 1% of the vote
2022: Ran for U.S. Senate on the PCUSA/Communist Party ticket
2023–2024: Served as International Secretary of the PCUSA Central Committee
Established a Center for Marxist Education in Bethel, Vermont and a "William Z. Foster Center" in the same location, approximately 20 minutes from his partner's farm in Vershire

In his capacity as PCUSA International Secretary, Helali organized the party's 3rd Congress (April 2024), sent delegations to the Polisario Front congress in Algeria, and publicly supported the Uhuru Solidarity Movement — whose members were indicted by the DOJ in April 2023 for acting as unregistered agents of Russia.

American Communist Party (July 2024–present)

On July 21, 2024, Helali co-founded the American Communist Party (ACP) with Jackson Hinkle and Haz al-Din in Chicago, taking the title of International Secretary. He appeared on Russia Today the same day the party was founded. The ACP has been described by the Communist Workers' Platform USA as "a thoroughly petty-bourgeois formation, led by streamers (small businessmen), political grifters, and ex-functionaries of the state."

On November 5, 2024, Helali was elected High Bailiff of Orange County, Vermont as a write-in candidate with approximately 5% voter turnout.

DPRK International Solidarity Group

DPRK ISG background

The DPRK International Solidarity Group was founded in Russia on February 5, 2020, reorganized from the earlier "DPRK Solidarity Group." Its founding members were Alexander Mostov (chairman, Moscow-based chief editor of Red Star TV), Georgy Abzianidze (deputy), Stas Pusdoi (Far East representative), Fritz Schmidt (Germany/EU candidate), and Vitaly Shchurik (Ukraine candidate). Four of the five founders have no independently verifiable digital footprint outside the organization's own website.

The organization's ideological core is "Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism." Its website runs on Yandex analytics, hosts videos on VK, and all Information Bureau dispatches are datelined "Moscow."

In October 2023, Mostov received a commendation at DOSAAF headquarters — a Russian state-military organization whose chairman is appointed by the Ministry of Defense — for his "invaluable role in protecting the 'Russian World'" and coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a war correspondent embedded with Russian forces from the capture of Lisichansk (July 2022) onward. The ceremony was attended by members of the international war correspondents group "SPECPRESS."

North American Executive Committee

On June 25, 2024 — less than four weeks before the ACP's founding — Helali was appointed Head of the North American Executive Committee of the DPRK ISG at a founding meeting held at the "Pyongyang Koryo Restaurant." Alexander Mostov traveled from Moscow to attend personally. Other attendees included Jackson Hinkle, Dan Kovalik, Donald Courter (an RT correspondent who visited North Korea in Vladimir Putin's delegation), Nicholas Reed, and Peter Gal. The article notes participants "recently visited the Special Military Operation zone in Ukraine."

At this meeting, Helali stated: "If a person is not able to determine whether he is a 'boy' or a 'girl', then how can he be trusted to resolve much more serious political issues? How can mentally unstable people who are trying to assert themselves through participation in the class struggle be trusted to have the right to represent a solidarity organization? Personally, I support the DPRK insofar as it, on the one hand, has a progressive socialist economic system, and on the other hand, is a stronghold of traditional values. As a person with a family, I would like my children to grow up in such a progressive system."

This statement is notable given that Helali previously identified as gender non-conforming, used they/them pronouns, and co-founded the IRPGF's queer subunit TQILA under the slogan "These Faggots Kill Fascists" in 2017.

On August 20, 2024, a "Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation" was signed between the DPRK ISG and the ACP — an organization headed by Helali signing a treaty with another organization's branch headed by Helali.

On December 28, 2024, in Moscow, Helali was "awarded the Medal for Special Tasks in Syria" by the DPRK ISG.

On March 30, 2026, Helali met with DPRK ISG President Zheng Yutong in Beijing.

International activities (2024–2026)

Date	Activity	Location
February 2024	UN press conference organized by Russia's Permanent Mission, presenting Putin's "World Youth Festival 2024"	New York City
June 25, 2024	Founded DPRK ISG North American Executive Committee	"Pyongyang Koryo Restaurant"
July 2024	Co-founded ACP; appeared on RT same day	Chicago / RT studios
August 2024	Signed DPRK ISG–ACP Treaty of Friendship	—
November 2024	Elected High Bailiff, Orange County, Vermont	Vermont
December 2024	Awarded "Medal for Special Tasks in Syria" by DPRK ISG	Moscow
February 2025	Attended funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah	Beirut
March 2025	Spoke at Houthi-organized rally on International Quds Day	Sana'a, Yemen
January 2026	Volunteered as "martyrdom seeker" with Iran-backed Hizbullah Brigades	Iraq
March 2026	Signed contract for Russia's military operation in Ukraine; met DPRK ISG President in Beijing	Ukraine / Beijing
April 2026	Spoke at Sovintern inaugural event alongside Evo Morales and George Galloway	Moscow
June 2026	Requested Russian citizenship from Putin at SPIEF	St. Petersburg

Helali was added to the Myrotvorets database on December 9, 2025.

Shifting identity

Helali's political ideology, ethnic self-identification, religious presentation, and gender expression have shifted dramatically and repeatedly across documented contexts. Each shift has coincided with a change in social environment, partner, or political organization.

Period	Political identity	Ethnic presentation	Religious presentation	Gender presentation
Pre-2015 (Military)	Marxist, proud U.S. military officer	White, Greek heritage only	Greek Orthodox background (basis for Chaplain candidacy)	Cisgender male
~2014 (China)	Marxist	"Half Greek, half Persian"	Atheist	Genderqueer (self-described)
2015–2017 (Boston)	Anarchist	Increasingly "ethnic" presentation; thickening accent	Variable	Gender non-conforming, they/them pronouns
2017 (Rojava)	Anarchist; co-founded TQILA ("These Faggots Kill Fascists")	"Kurdish"	References to spirituality in combat	—
2017–2020 (Vermont)	Socialist, anti-war	"Ethnic Kurd"	—	Cisgender male presentation
2020–2024 (PCUSA/ACP)	Marxist-Leninist	"Iranian Kurd"	References to "traditional values"	Cisgender male; attacked gender non-conforming people as "mentally unstable"
2026 (Russia)	Communist, pro-Russian	—	Cited Russian "traditions" and "culture"	—

Multiple former partners have noted that each identity shift coincided with a new partner or social circle whose resources Helali sought to access. A former partner from China confirmed independently: "He had this weird thing about touch. Like the only abuse one could cause was physical and he didn't want to be an abuser" — the same defense described by at least two other former partners in different countries and time periods.

Podcast admissions on Syria

In a two-part podcast interview (circa 2020), Helali provided his most detailed and unguarded account of his Syria experience. Notable admissions include:

He wanted to go to Damascus and "shake the hand of President Assad and apologize for what I did" — a complete reversal from his anarchist anti-state position during his actual service
He described PTSD triggered by shooting pigs on a Vermont farm, flashing back to "all the firefights" — despite having described firing a weapon exactly once at a car of uncertain identity
He described witnessing potential war crimes: "On our side too...there'd be civilians coming, and of course, people would get nervous up on the roof...they just opened up on them"
He described looting: "We break into every house and take whatever we could, because that was only way to survive"
He described life on a Vermont farm with "our kids" — referring to his partner Amanda Sheehan and their son, with no mention of his daughter, the IWW resolution, the restraining orders, or any of the accountability efforts documented against him

External links

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