Islamic State Islamic would be “dignifying them as occupying some form of Islam”
February 22, 2015 5:56 pm By Robert Spencer 42 Comments
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson was reduced to stammering tautologies when George Stephanopoulos asked him why the Administration won’t call the Islamic State Islamic: “Now I have to say, when I travel around the country and meet with Muslim leaders in this country in these engagements that I have, they all tend to say pretty much the same thing, which is that ‘ISIL has hijacked my religion.’ And so, in my view, if we start referring to ISIL as occupying any form of the Islamic theology, we’re pretty much dignifying them as occupying some form of, of that faith, and I know that Muslim leaders in this country, uh, push back hard on that, and it seems to me, it’s, it’s going to a, a, a place where ISIL would very much like us to go, in that we’re dignifying them as occupying some form of Islam. They, they don’t. Islam is about peace and brotherhood. There are 1.6 billion Muslims in this world, and the true Islamic faith has nothing to do with what ISIL represents. And so, to, to start labeling them as ‘Islam’ or as ‘Islamic State’ in any respect, I think gives them far more dignity than they deserve. And so do a lot of Muslims believe that, too, by the way.”
Johnson took a long time to say, several times, that the Islamic State is not truly Islamic, and to call them Islamic wouldn’t give them an unwarranted dignity. The first point is arguable, although no one in the Administration or the mainstream media will argue it, and even if the jihadis are getting Islam all wrong, they still claim to be following it scrupulously, and the Administration’s policy forecloses on the chance for intelligence agents to study and understand their motives and goals. And as for refusing to dignify them, that is a feeble psy-op, if that is what it is, since the jihadis have nothing but contempt for the unbelievers whom they regard as “the most vile of created beings” (Qur’an 98:6). They are not seeking validation from the Department of Homeland Security.
Shut it down. It isn’t doing any good, anyway.
