Peter1469
05-13-2015, 06:24 PM
Life under Islamic State rule (http://www.vox.com/2015/5/11/8585599/isis-takeover-tikrit)
I have mentioned this several times. ISIL did not so much conquer parts of Syria and Iraq, as it was invited in. Yes, ISIL's goal is a Caliphate. But when you kill or drive out the vast number of your new citizens, what sort of State is it going to be? When infrastructure collapses, what sort of State is it going to be?
In early April, Iraqi forces retook the city of Tikrit (http://www.vox.com/2015/4/2/8331601/iraq-isis-tikrit) from ISIS's control. While that was a major victory over ISIS, the operation came too late for many of Tikrit's residents. The militant group's rule had already devastated civilian life in the city — as this stunning piece by Zaid Al-Ali in the New York Review of Books (http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2015/may/04/tikrit-after-isis/) shows.
By the time Iraqi forces liberated Tikrit, Al-Ali reports, the city's prewar population of 200,000 had been reduced to "a few hundred locals in the city, and few thousand in the surrounding countryside." It's easy to see why. Al-Ali's account of life in ISIS-occupied Tikrit depicts a parable of horrors, ranging from the total collapse of basic social services to brutal summary executions.
One story — about a man named Basil Ramadan, who killed seven ISIS fighters after they murdered all four of his sons — really captures just how terrible life in Tikrit became:
I have mentioned this several times. ISIL did not so much conquer parts of Syria and Iraq, as it was invited in. Yes, ISIL's goal is a Caliphate. But when you kill or drive out the vast number of your new citizens, what sort of State is it going to be? When infrastructure collapses, what sort of State is it going to be?
In early April, Iraqi forces retook the city of Tikrit (http://www.vox.com/2015/4/2/8331601/iraq-isis-tikrit) from ISIS's control. While that was a major victory over ISIS, the operation came too late for many of Tikrit's residents. The militant group's rule had already devastated civilian life in the city — as this stunning piece by Zaid Al-Ali in the New York Review of Books (http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2015/may/04/tikrit-after-isis/) shows.
By the time Iraqi forces liberated Tikrit, Al-Ali reports, the city's prewar population of 200,000 had been reduced to "a few hundred locals in the city, and few thousand in the surrounding countryside." It's easy to see why. Al-Ali's account of life in ISIS-occupied Tikrit depicts a parable of horrors, ranging from the total collapse of basic social services to brutal summary executions.
One story — about a man named Basil Ramadan, who killed seven ISIS fighters after they murdered all four of his sons — really captures just how terrible life in Tikrit became: