Why is the cruel fist of ISIS tolerated, embraced, even extolled? While we focus on their atrocities, the populace under the Caliphate experiences cleaning and repainting roads, rising employment, surveying for establishing new sidewalks and pathways, repair of sewage lines, running hospitals, running various markets in many cities and villages, running poultry farms, running sewing shops, providing zakat funds and food distribution to those eligible, repaving roads and sidewalks, decorating streets, running car dealerships, building a sports hall, resuming a water filtration plant, settling disputes and reconciling differences between clans, and starting the second round of tests in schools.
Atrocities, alas, may be viewed comparatively, especially by those who have experienced the mighty war machine of The West. Steal: lose your hand. Commit adultery: get stoned to death. Dare step out of 'the party line' and get cruelly punished. What does this leave you with?
Stability: a rarity in the faction torn Middle East, l0nged for by millions, and something 'we' take for granted. That, coupled with the devastating force used to eliminate opposition, is a powerful incentive to cease resisting.
The persistence of ISIS is real. Droning off a handful of fighters and leaders only adds to their arsenal of propaganda, pointing to the atrocities of the West while doing little to weaken their infrastructure. ISIS is thinking far ahead and are carefully grooming the youngest within their expanding realm. It's time to admit it. They are here to stay for quite a while and Western leaders had better start serious deliberations about the best way to deal with them in the long term.
