Editorial — Let’s figure out what to call the terrorists

THURSDAY MORNING EDITORIAL — If the Western allies are going to get together to fight the terrorists in Syria, we’d better figure out what we’re going to call them.

Until recently, nobody had ever heard of ISIS, even though they’d been around for awhile. ISIS, when the word first came to our attention, stood for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Then it was Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.

Now, we’re hearing the same group referred to as ISIL, or Islamic State and the Levant. The terrorists themselves apparently like Islamic State, period.

So what’s it going to be? A good article in a British newspaper, The Independent, today (Thursday) says there’s some political sensitivity around using the word “Syria,”  having to do with the discussion of launching an attack in Syria. The Independent gives these explanations of the acronyms:

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis):

The original name for the group in Arabic was Al-Dawla Al-Islamiya fi al-Iraq wa al-Sham. The first three words translate to the Islamic State of Iraq while “al-Sham” refers to Syria or an undefined region around Syria.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil):
The undefined region around Syria is historically referred to as the Levant; it includes Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine, and Jordan. This name shows that the militants want their area of control to go beyond Iraq.

Islamic State:

The militant group announced in June that they were dropping the last two letters of their acronym and instead should be referred to as just Islamic State. However, in reaction to this leading Muslims have called for the name to be altered to discourage people from joining it. “It is neither Islamic, nor is it a State. The group has no standing with faithful Muslims, nor among the international community of nations” the letter signed by the Islamic Society of Britain and the Association of Muslim Lawyers, said.

There’s even discussion of calling it the “un-Islamic state.” It seems the issue of what to call this bunch of thugs has become as big a political issue as what to do about the group itself. Maybe if we could figure out what to call it, it would be a start. For the full article in The Independent, click here.