Interviews reveal what life is like in the Islamic State

Life is good for the few who serve, but the majority suffer.

Interviews with people from the Islamic State are painting a picture of daily life in the militant regime. Over the past several months, reporters, aid workers and other agencies have conducted interviews with survivors as well as with residents of the Islamic State. The picture they paint is of a nation with two classes and two divergent experiences.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Life in the Islamic State is a life of contrast between those who serve the regime and those who do not. For militant fighters and government officials who serve the regime, their wants are few. Food, housing, healthcare as well as the privileges that go along with being an insider such as access to attractive women as wives and slaves, are available. Many things are free.

For everyone else, life is dangerous and resources are scarce. Food prices have tripled in the past year, making it difficult for people to afford enough to eat. While single men who fight for the Islamic State are fed for free, those who do not serve the State are left to fend for themselves.

Electricity is turned on for just a couple hours a day, and water may run only every few days, forcing residents to store supplies.

For men, dangers abound. Young men are constantly pressured to join the ranks of the Islamic State fighters, and some eventually cave in to the pressure. Hunger is a powerful driving force and several men have joined just for the promise of regular meals.

Non-combatant men are endangered by the roving militias and police, intent on upholding Islamic law. Friends and neighbors are encouraged to inform on one another. Even a minor infraction, such as smoking, can result in the loss of a hand. More serious infractions, such as breaking the Ramadan fast, can result in the death penalty.

Executions are gruesome. Shootings, usually in the back of the head, compete for spectacle with beheading, which can be done with a knife or a sword. Crucifixion is a slow death where victims can be publicly ridiculed as they die. Heads and bodies are frequently displayed. Virtually every person interviewed has said they witnessed at least one public execution. Executions are recorded and re-broadcast on televisions in public areas. Even children view the executions.

Children are no longer educated, unless they attend a religious school designed to groom them to become fighters. Parents live in terror their children will rush to join the Islamic State's militias, where they will be used as fodder or suicide bombers in the frequent combat against outsiders.

Life for women is extremely difficult. Women are required to remain covered, from head-to-toe, wherever they go out. A male escort is also mandatory. Other women, in the secret police, go about, carrying AK-47s and whips, concealed under the folds of their burkas. Women can be flogged, arrested, and even kidnapped if they make the slightest infraction. Most find it easier to simply stay home, in a sort of self-imposed house arrest.

Cell phone service has been stopped and both cellular and internet usage is monitored. Internet cafes are dangerous for young men. Not only is internet use monitored, but Islamic State recruiters use the cafes to get at young men of fighting age. The propaganda is often good at luring impressionable youths into the militant forces.

Around the world, at least foreign 20,000 fighters have traveled to join the Islamic State, many with their families in tow.

People are escaping the Islamic State thorough smuggling networks, however those networks are also dangerous. Most people only get as far as southern Iraq, Jordan, or Turkey. For those who seek to go farther, to Europe, the trip is fraught with danger.

Once they escape, some are interviewed to learn more about what is happening in the Islamic State. Global intelligence agencies have a keen interest in learning what life is like in the terrorist-dominated State. Occasionally, escapees have information related to hostages, or operational knowledge of militant activity.

Unfortunately, fear is the common and universal feature and it is what prevents people from organizing and overthrowing the terrorist regime. Without global intervention, it is unlikely the Islamic State will diminish or die. The people who have escaped, and those who have dared speak from behind its borders, all know this. It is the rest of the world that remains naďve and ignorant of this tragic fact.

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