What Makes People Join ISIS?

[Hatz]

Very interesting article.

 

What I Discovered From Interviewing Imprisoned ISIS Fighters | The Nation

 

This man is 26, the eldest of 17 children from two mothers (that is, his father had two wives at the same time), from Kirkuk. He completed sixth grade, meaning that at least he was literate, unlike others we were to interview. He is married, with two children, a boy named “Rasuul,” meaning Prophet, and a girl named “Rusil,” the plural of Prophet—indicating the centrality of Islam to his life. He was working as a laborer to support his huge family when he hurt his back and lost his job. It was then, his story goes, that a friend, from the same tribe but only distantly related, approached him with the offer to work for ISIS. The story has been honed through repeated interrogation and the trial, and comes out pat. Life under the Islamic State was just terror, he says; he only fought because he was terrorized. Others may have done it from belief, but he did not. His family needed the money, and this was the only opportunity to provide for them.

 

 

Why did he do all these things? Many assume that these fighters are motivated by a belief in the Islamic State, a caliphate ruled by a caliph with the traditional title Emir al-Muminiin, “Commander of the faithful,” a role currently held by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi; that fighters all over the world are flocking to the area for a chance to fight for this dream. But this just doesn’t hold for the prisoners we are interviewing. They are woefully ignorant about Islam and have difficulty answering questions about Sharia law, militant jihad, and the caliphate.

 

There is no question that these prisoners I am interviewing are committed to Islam; it is just their own brand of Islam, only distantly related to that of the Islamic State. Similarly, Western fighters traveling to the Islamic State are also deeply committed, but it’s to their own idea of jihad rather than one based on sound theological arguments or even evidence from the Qur’an.

[Science Friction]

Really good question...one that have pondered a lot of late.. Of course, I'm still trying to figure figure out what makes people become Baptists.

[PepRock01]

Really good question...one that have pondered a lot of late.. Of course, I'm still trying to figure figure out what makes people become Baptists.

 

 

Fried chicken and sweet tea?

[Getslow]

I posted this in another thread. Really great brief history of ISIS and how it rose to this place despite all evidence suggesting it would never survive.

 

The Mystery of ISIS: New York Review of Books/

[Science Friction]

Fried chicken and sweet tea?

 

 

Good answer.

[Habib]

I posted this in another thread. Really great brief history of ISIS and how it rose to this place despite all evidence suggesting it would never survive.

 

The Mystery of ISIS: New York Review of Books/

 

Good read.

 

This was a very good point and one I'd overlooked:

 

Nor have there been any more satisfying explanations of what draws the 20,000 foreign fighters who have joined the movement. At first, the large number who came from Britain were blamed on the British government having made insufficient effort to assimilate immigrant communities; then France’s were blamed on the government pushing too hard for assimilation. But in truth, these new foreign fighters seemed to sprout from every conceivable political or economic system. They came from very poor countries (Yemen and Afghanistan) and from the wealthiest countries in the world (Norway and Qatar). Analysts who have argued that foreign fighters are created by social exclusion, poverty, or inequality should acknowledge that they emerge as much from the social democracies of Scandinavia as from monarchies (a thousand from Morocco), military states (Egypt), authoritarian democracies (Turkey), and liberal democracies (Canada). It didn’t seem to matter whether a government had freed thousands of Islamists (Iraq), or locked them up (Egypt), whether it refused to allow an Islamist party to win an election (Algeria) or allowed an Islamist party to be elected. Tunisia, which had the most successful transition from the Arab Spring to an elected Islamist government, nevertheless produced more foreign fighters than any other country.

[Jumper_Dad]

Interesting story on how they get their money...Extortion, Kidnapping, Theft and $1 to $2 million per day from Oil Sales...half a billion+ stolen from banks also

 

How ISIS makes (and takes) money - CNN.com

 

You would think as fragile as oil facilities are that the US or Russia could put an end to production in a couple of hours...other wise they will keep smuggling oil out and making a boatload of money from it.

[Jumper_Dad]

A lot of people can be bought for that kind of money.

[Hatz]

Really good question...one that have pondered a lot of late.. Of course, I'm still trying to figure figure out what makes people become Baptists.

 

It's a long story Science. You just haven't met the right Baptist yet. :thumb:

[Hellcats]

Interesting story on how they get their money...Extortion, Kidnapping, Theft and $1 to $2 million per day from Oil Sales...half a billion+ stolen from banks also

 

How ISIS makes (and takes) money - CNN.com

 

 

You would think as fragile as oil facilities are that the US or Russia could put an end to production in a couple of hours...other wise they will keep smuggling oil out and making a boatload of money from it.

 

Why don't this happen?

[Jumper_Dad]

Why don't this happen?

:idunno:

 

Maybe France will take care of it now.