"White vans deliver hot meals from home to home, cooked by single women consecrated to the Islamic State, in the city of Hit in western Iraq." Exceptional reportage performed by The Washington Post on the "Muslim paradise on earth" promised by the fundamentalists who established their kingdom in Syria and Iraq.
Heaven
"The one created is a multi-layered society, where everyday life is completely different for occupants and occupied. Foreign fighters and their families receive free accommodation, medical assistance, religious education and a home meal service. The militants also receive (obviously) a salary that is the result of taxes for millions of people who live in a state as big as the United Kingdom.
The situation is totally different for residents who complain of serious shortcomings. Electricity is guaranteed for an hour a day, while water distribution has been suspended in occupied places. The job offer is very scarce and for the vast majority of the population it is impossible to buy food, whose price has tripled. Medical care is scarce, most schools are closed. Anyone who tries to leave the Islamic State can be killed ”.
Propaganda: the fascination of evil
"Over the past two years, militants have produced an extraordinary, sophisticated online propaganda that has helped to persuade at least 20.000 foreign fighters, many with families. The propaganda videos, published on YouTube and on social media, tell a wonderful and free place, where integration is a fundamental component of the new Muslim state. The reality of the facts is very different: fears, deprivations and that extreme version of Islamic Sharia ”.
Those of ISIS? Less corrupt
"The officials of the Islamic State are less corrupt than the previous ones that they ousted. The Islamic State has provided more efficient 'governmental' services. He built roads and improved the waste collection service. In Iraq, Sunni militants of the Islamic state are favorably viewed against the Shiites of Baghdad previously in power. But even if the new government is efficient, there is no excuse for the group's brutal and fanatical behavior. Public education is now a farce, medical infrastructures no longer exist, while the judicial system based on terror will have a devastating impact on many generations of children who powerlessly witness the daily violence perpetrated ".
Women in the Islamic State
"The policies of the Islamic State differ in every sector. Women, for example, must wear the burqa. The whip is the punishment for having left one's home without a male presence. Many of them barricade themselves inside their homes for fear of being kidnapped and married to a foreign fighter.
At the beginning of the year, the al-Khanssaa brigade, a group formed by women of the Islamic State, issued an official document on their role within the caliphate. In the ideology of the Islamic State, the woman's place is at home, close to her husband and children. Her greatest responsibility is to always be close to her husband. Women can leave home only in specific circumstances: going to study religion or to work in specific contexts, separated from men. Wear jeans and sandals? Punishable by death. The burqa is the official 'uniform' of women in the Islamic state. A child at nine is already considered ready for marriage. Women are not all the same. Those belonging to the Yazidi minority, in Iraq, are considered war booty. In another Islamic State document published at the end of last year, guidelines on the issue were outlined sex slaves.
The role of foreign women in the wake of the fighters arriving in Syria and Iraq is different. They receive, free of charge, food and lodging in a sort of 'hostel', houses seized from residents. Then there are other hostels where single women await their destiny. Men can decide to get married in just a few hours: always within these structures the fighters can go to 'view' the goods and commit to a marriage that will take place immediately. The ritual sentence that consecrates marriage is undoubtedly effective: "Always together in the land of jihad until martyrdom separates us". Women are forbidden to fight, but the issue of a religious fatwa could order them to take up a gun, as was the case for al-Qaeda suicide women.
By definition, the Islamic State will almost always be at war, at least until it establishes a global caliphate. This means that on the one hand there will be endless deaths and on the other continuous marriages of young widows. A perennial cycle that takes into account the traditional four-month Islamic mourning period and 10 days. After this time, the woman is ready to marry another fighter.".
Hospitals and the internet
"Hospitals are reserved for foreign fighters and are managed by doctors who come from all over the world. Locals are forced to seek treatment in poorly equipped clinics with expired drugs and unskilled staff. Network access is relegated to the 'Internet Cafes', real propaganda centers where recruiters encourage young people around the world to leave their homes and live in the Islamic State. They convinced about 200 Americans. Most were arrested before reaching their destination. "
School
"With the exception of religious schools reserved for the children of foreign fighters, all facilities are closed. Possessing a university degree is punishable by death. Public events were organized where all the certificates had to be burned. The previous instruction no longer has any value ".
