Why Recruits Flock To Join The Islamic State

Photo: Captured Islamic State fighter Mohammed Ibrahim, photographed at a prison in Erbil, Iraq. Christian Werner/ DER SPIEGEL

Katrin Kuntz, Speigel Online: The Allure of the Islamic State: Money and Status Attract Fighters

A bricklayer got a $60 a month raise by trading his construction tools for a Kalashnikov and becoming a soldier for the Islamic State. Subsidies and other benefits appear to be part of the holy war's allure for some.

The prisoner enters the room with his eyes blind-folded, with stiff and uncertain steps. He's shaking and doesn't seem to know where he is, why he is here or what is happening to him. The guard leading him directs the man to one of eight stools. A second uniformed man stands in the room. He's the head of security at this high-security prison in Erbil, with simultaneous responsibility for the anti-terror unit. He doesn't want to reveal his name for security reasons.

"In this prison, we observe the rules of the United Nations Human Rights Conventions," he says, unsolicited. "There's no torture. We treat our prisoners well."

WNU Editor: Spiegel Online has also a posted a must read report on what is life like in Islamic State controlled Mosul .... Relentless Terror: The Everyday Horrors of the Islamic State (Uwe Buse and Katrin Kuntz, Spiegel Online).