The Case of the Purloined Poultry: How ISIS Prosecuted Petty Crime

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/01/world/middleeast/islamic-state-iraq.html

 

It was there that Zaid Imad Khalaf, 24, made a living selling chickens, scraping by next to a grocer who sold onions by the kilogram and a trader who sold flour by the scoop.

 

And it was there that an Islamic State soldier, one of the thousands who ruled the plains of northern Iraq, walked by and pointed to Mr. Imad’s plumpest chicken. “That one,” he said.

 

Mr. Imad butchered the bird, plucked it, weighed it and then asked for the 8,000 dinars he was owed, around $7. That’s when the problems started. “When he went to pull the money from his pocket he said that he only had 4,000 dinars and said he would pay me the rest tomorrow,” Mr. Imad recalled.

 

Normally, the story should have ended there, with a poor man being stiffed by a more powerful one.

 

And yet a week after the incident in 2016, Mr. Imad did something that might seem foolhardy when the rulers of your city have a reputation for unbridled brutality: He lodged a complaint for the missing $3.50 with the town’s Islamic Police station. The next day, the Islamic State fighter hurried in to pay the amount he owed.

 

Basically, ISIS won the trust of the citizens by being law and order. Be it anything from children having disputes over fights to goats trampling a field to yes...being stiffed $3.5 over a chicken ISIS prosecuted and swiftly resolved disputes

 

This was in stark contrast with the old government which ignored most complaints. It's a really worthwhile read

Edit: They were quite willing to prosecute their own fighters, that might be key

[Astolfo]

While on one hand it is still fear-based, and the group itself has undertaken absolutely unforgivable actions, seeing them doing at least something better for their people than their own government is still appreciable.

 

When both options are bad, in the end, ISIS is still the less of the worse of the two for the citizens there.

Of course, this doesn't excuse any of their other actions and other such crimes, but still.

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

ISIS executed one of their fighters for raping a woman. Not sure the Iraqi gov would have done that. Sad as it may be, corruption fed Daesh

[Snatch Steal]

Doesn’t make me want to sympathize much with people who are trying to spread an ideology that wants to take over the world and ruins the lives of modern Muslims

 

Bear in mind what ISIS does for publicity and how they love claiming terror attacks as their own. If the right people see ISIS as benevolent, then they earn more soldiers.