Benjamin Hall - Inside ISIS: The Brutal Rise of a Terrorist Army

Life inside the ISIS capital of Raqqa goes on, though with a cloud hanging over it. Thousands of foreign fighters roam the streets, morality police patrol the neighborhoods, businesses and individuals are subjected to extortion, and women live in fear as ISIS drives them back to the Middle Ages.

Every day people are beheaded in public, stoned to death, whipped, or have their hands chopped off. They are thrown into prisons where the sound of torture is constant, and from where many people never return. Music is forbidden and prayers are forced upon the people. Gay men are thrown from roofs as punishment, babies are slaughtered in battle, all while the fighters of ISIS laugh, joke, and encourage the enslavement of girls, whom they buy, rape, and kill.

Every day that passes it becomes harder to shake them from their hives. The longer we allow them to consolidate gains, the longer they have to persuade people that there is no alternative.

A new generation of children will grow up knowing nothing but contempt and blood lust toward us. Already they want to carry guns, they tell on their own parents, and they are forbidden any education other than the Koran. If we allow these children to be brainwashed, it will lead us toward a clash of civilizations and the end of any reformationthis is exactly what ISIS wants.

No, we must be proactive, we must root them out, and we must not give them the semblance of a statethey are not a state, they are terrorists. They are fanatics, and theres no room for them in todays world.

ISIS is intent on our destructionthere is no doubt about thattheir beliefs are in direct contrast to ours, and they will continue attacking us as long as they breathe.

Even though the administration claims theyre not gaining more ground, the situation is getting worse. They are increasing their hold in the cities, tightening control on the areas they rule, encouraging people to strike at us, and still murdering and torturing thousands of innocent people. We must not allow a fanatic state to grow strong in the center of Syria and Iraq, we must not allow these peoplewho are set on our destructionto create a base from where they can attack us, and above all, we must not kowtow to others in our attempts to prevent this.

Its almost impossible to gauge their true numbers, but in December 2014, the CIA believed that ISIS could muster between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters between Iraq and Syria, and their ranks continue to swell as extremists flock from around the world.

Ill never forget the first time I faced ISIS; the first time I saw their black flags fluttering in the dry heat, and the first time I saw their men pacing up and down, just fifty meters away; laughing, playing, and goading us. There they were, on the other side of a bridge, a bridge that marked the front line between us and them, which marked the unfathomable gap between right and wrong, good and evil.

There was confidence in their steps, and I could hear them laughing. They brandished their weapons, put their arms around each other, and waved at us. They were better armed, better prepared, and better funded than the soldiers we were with, and they knew it.

They were eager to fight, hoping to die, and they hid behind nothing, while at the same time the company of Kurdish troops which was crouched beside me, hid low behind sand banks; peeking out, hoping for the best, and praying to be saved.

It was this confidence that really struck me, and which they exhibit to this day. Their soldiers, versus those they face, are so full of zeal, so eager to kill, so sure of themselves, that its put fear into the hearts of their enemies. Its their sheer belief that is so terrifying to others. But despite their brutality and strength, they can be beaten.

Photographer Rick Findler and I have covered conflicts in the region for six years, moving, as others have, from conflict to conflict, watching revolutions intended to usher in freedom, be hijacked, as a far greater evil takes hold.

I remember the sheer joy of fighters in Libya, as they freed their cities and reclaimed their countryprisoners being freed and families reunited. I remember the early days of the Syrian revolution, when people believed they were shaking off their dictator, and cheered in the streets; and in Egypt, where Tahrir square symbolized a new democracy, one which would define the region. But today all that hope has goneand the Middle East is faced with a greater enemy than before, one intent on spreading its web, and which is doing so successfully.