14 June 2016

Why the words ‘radical Islam’ matter

In the course of denouncing Donald Trump on Tuesday, President Obama tried to explain why he still refuses to use the phrase “radical Islam” to describe the ongoing terrorist threat against America.

“Does anyone seriously think we don’t know who we’re fighting?” the president said, adding that US forces in the Middle East “know full well who the enemy is.”

But if we all know it, why refuse to say so?

Obama insists that naming the foe “would make us less safe, fueling [ISIS’s] notion that the West hates Muslims.”

Please. Does anyone seriously believe that ISIS and those who share its ideology haven’t always felt this way — or that avoiding the words “radical Islam” matters a whit to the terrorists? [NEW YORK POST] Read more