The first paragraph alone conveys the completely insane value system motivating these Muslims:
It wasn’t the slaughter of innocent women and children, the $150-per-month in wages or the strict rules enforced by torture and death that prompted Abu Almouthanna to desert the Islamic State army…
The fighters killed civilians with merciless glee, and didn’t have to be ordered to do so.
“They were all enemies,” he said matter-of-factly.
After one battle, Almouthanna recalled, Islamic State forces took 300 prisoners, including women and children. They held them for a day, before deeming them a burden and mowing them down in the desert, he said.
To spread terror among the civilian populations of small villages, Islamic State fighters would conduct public beheadings, he said. Townspeople would crowd into the main square to watch, bringing their children and exhorting the killers more out of fear than solidarity, he said. Islamic State members would fight over who would wield the blade, believing it “brings them closer to god,” Almouthanna said. They did the same for the privilege of carrying out suicide missions, he said.
What changed Abu’s mind wasn’t the above actions, mind you, but was when harsh punishments were meted out on fellow ISIS members.
