August 28, 2014

ISIS, ISIL, IS — Which One Is Correct?

So what to call the Islamist** terrorist front that now controls much of Syria and Iraq, and is metastasizing across the region and into North Africa (and Europe)? The Islamic State is the caustic by-product of Obama’s politically motivated retreat from Iraq, and it is seeking to establishing an Islamic caliphate in the larger region known historically as the Levant. The Islamic State has been known by its hybrid English and Arabic name — the Islamic State in al-Sham (ISIS), but media sources uniformly, and incorrectly assert the “IS” in ISIS means “Iraq and Syria.” Al-Sham refers to the Levant, the latter being a region that, historically, included Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Cyprus and parts of Mesopotamia (Iraq), Turkey, Egypt and most notably, Israel. It is an area much broader than “Iraq and Syria.”

ISIL has emerged from the Sunni al-Qa'ida terrorists network responsible for the September 11, 2001 attack on our nation. They are now the dominate asymmetric terrorist threat representing Jihadistan, that borderless nation of Islamic extremists that constitutes Muslim terrorist groups around the world.

Our Patriot Post editors use ISIL because it is the designation used by the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence community in order to more fully identify the scope of the territory (the Levant) over which ISIL asserts its rights to a caliphate. The Arabic form, الدولة الإسلامية في العراق والشام‎, is also referred to by American analysts as Da'ish (or Daesh), which is an Arabic acronym for ISIL.

No matter what it’s called, make no mistake, the Islamic State is no “JV team” as Barack Obama asserted. ISIL presents a clear and present danger to the U.S. homeland and national security interests worldwide, and demonstrably, a threat to other western nations. And notably, the frequency of Islamist attacks in the U.S. sharply increased beginning with Obama’s first year in office.

**For the record, all Islamist terror attacks in the West have been perpetrated by a global network of Islamofascist groups and individuals under the banner, “Allahu Akbar.” These include the al-Qa'ida network (the perpetrators of the 9/11 attack), and their contemporary manifestations, ISIL and the Islamic State. Point of clarification: “Allahu Akbar” translates “Allah is the Greatest.” The Demo/MSM propaganda machine often reports the translation as something quiet different: “god is great.” As properly translated, Allahu Akbar claims only the god of Islam is great, and has been the violent warring cry of jihadi terrorists for generations, in their centuries-long effort to conquer infidels and establish a worldwide caliphate. Under those words, countless victims of Islamic supremacists – men, women and children – have been slaughtered. As such, it perilously dangerous to erroneously refer to contemporary Islamic terrorists in the West as “lone wolves,” because they are connected to worldwide jihad by way of the Qur'an, the foundational fabric linking all Islamist violence.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.