Gene Kamp - WHY CALLING IT RADICAL ISLAM TERRORISM IS IMPORTANT

www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/06/answering_the_presidents_question.html

The president put on a trademark performance last week (he is so good at this, you forget why you disagree with him) two days after Orlando, discussing his non-use of the term "radical Islam."

He made his argument by asking rhetorical questions. A master of misdirection, the president asked all the wrong ones so that the implied answers did not address any of the points at issue in terms of Islam's war on America (and the West).

His principal question was...

What exactly would using this label [radical Islam] accomplish – what exactly would it change?

The president defined "change" as an effect on ISIL (as he calls it). But the change from the president using the label "radical Islam" is not on ISIL, but on us. Why? Because it names the enemy and thus defines the mission – taking out the enemy. Obama has steadfastly refused to do this – the consequences of which are numerous and grievous.

ISIS vs. ISIL

The president is the only figure of note to use the term "ISIL" to designate the caliphate organized by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, which arose out of al-Qaeda in Iraq as Iraq collapsed following our final departure. The more common term is "ISIS." ISIS extends over territories in Iraq and Syria, hence the term "ISIS," which means the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

Obama uses the term "ISIL," which did not catch on with anybody but himself. Although designating the same organization as ISIS, the term has a distinctly different meaning. ISIL stands for the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.

What is the Levant? The Levant includes Syria, so we are good there. But it also includes Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel. Lebanon has a Christian community and thus is not an "Islamic state" yet. Jordan is a kingdom with Islam as the primary religion, but it remains very much independent of ISIS.

And Israel. Israel is neither part of ISIS nor an Islamic state. But by using the term ISIL,
Obama is putting Israel in Dar al-Islam- the Land of Islam-presumably temporarily occupied by invaders who came from where ever. Using the term ISIL is a hostile act toward Israel.