News & Events
QUOTE: The Islamic State is waging war on technocrats
By Susannah George, December 29, 2014
THE GLOBAL POST: “[From the point of view of the Islamic State] they’re basically the worst of the possible traitors,” says Zaid al-Ali, a former legal advisor to the United Nations in Iraq. “Theoretically it’s because they don’t recognize Iraqi law. For them Iraqi law is apostate law.”
But the real motivation behind the Islamic States threats, al-Ali argues, is economic. “They want to take over people’s property. They’re thieves basically,” al-Ali says. “All this is just an excuse to steal people’s houses and their cars and their money.”
A similar campaign is underway in Mosul.
Unlike Tikrit, Mosul is still home to a sizable civilian population, about a million residents according to estimates from aid organizations.