Article 1: ‘They would torture you’: ISIS prisoners reveal life inside terror group by Ivan Watson of CNN

Article 2:  ISIS after al-Baghdadi: What happens if the terror leader is killed? by Holly Yan and Brian Todd of CNN

In article one, the author goes inside of the life of ISIS prisoners. The interviews are conducted in the Kurdish prison, where the prisoners were brought out of their cells, blindfolded, and were put in a room to be interviewed. The prisoners stated that ISIS would give them money to complete a job, and they were told that it was for Islam and justice. Many of the prisoners stated that ISIS lied to them and took advantage of their minds and poverty. Moreover, some prisoners reported that ISIS drugged their fighters before they went into battles. One prisoner, Kareem, said, “Hallucinogenic pills that would make you go to battle not caring if you live or die.” Same prisoner reported that he fought for a year all across ISIS-controlled territory. He said other fighters he was with were promised wives by ISIS. Most of the fighters were foreigners, said Kareem, and he had difficulty communicating with them because they didn’t speak the local Syrian dialect of Arabic. At one point, he reported even meeting a fighter from China. While the prisoners who were interviewed said that it was a mistake for them to join ISIS, the Kurdish prison guards said that if they were released, they would go back and re-join the ISIS group.

The second article talked about if ISIS leader, al-Baghdadi, was to die, the group will still continue. Retired US militant James Marks said that if al-Baghdadi died, then a new leader will emerge and the group may even morph. The author reports that it is more likely that the ISIS leader has already planned a Plan B if something is to happen to him. The article goes on to talk about two possibilities of leaders that could take place if al-Baghdadi was to be killed.

In the first article, it seemed that the author’s intent was to show that many of the people that make up the ISIS group, may just be helpless people being controlled by the masterminds/leaders of the ISIS group. On somewhat parallel road, the second article talks about if the leader of the ISIS group was to die, there will be others, maybe people second-in-charge that will take over to control group. They both seemed to share the same opinion when it comes to having higher authorities controlling the weak-willed, helpless people that may build up majority of ISIS group.