•

  • When Pressed, Homeland Security Chief Refuses to Describe ISIS As ‘Islamic’ Terrorists

    07.29.2015 | News | |

    Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson told national security officials last week not to mention the word “Islam” when talking about ISIS (Islamic State) or terrorism in order to keep ISIS from radicalizing Americans inside the United States.

    Johnson made these comments at a national security forum in Aspen, Colorado centering on the U.S.’s strategy for Al-Qaeda and ISIS last Thursday, just one week after four marines and one navy corpsman were killed by Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez.

    “Why do you, and the Obama Administration, describe this as violent extremism and not – and refuse to use the phrase – Islamic extremism?” Washington correspondent for The New Yorker Ryan Lizza asked Johnson.

    “I believe strongly – and I hear this over and over again from Muslim leaders in this country – that to refer to ISIL as ‘Islamic extremism’ concedes too much. It dignifies them as occupying some part of the Islamic faith, which is about peace,” Johnson replied. “And so if you call it ‘Islamic anything,’ uh, we are dignifying this terrorist organization with occupying a part of the Islamic faith which Muslims in this country I know, push back very strongly on,”

    “If I went into these [Muslim] communities calling it ‘Islamic extremism,’ I’d get nowhere,” he added.

    Lizza then pointed out the obvious about Johnson’s assertion.

    “Isn’t the government denying the fundamental religious component of this kind of extremism by not using the word, ‘Islamic’? To some people, it sounds like political correctness,” Lizza contended.

    “I could not disagree more,” Johnson avowed. “ISIL, I think, would like to be referred to as ‘Islamic’ extremism because it therefore concedes that what they are saying and what they are doing occupies legitimately as some form of Islam, which is about peace.”

    Johnson said in order to build cooperation with the Islamic community domestically “we have to say to them ‘Look, we understand that what this depraved terrorist organization is doing is no part of your religion.’”

    The Obama administration has long avoided associating Islamic terrorism with Islam and Jeh Johnson is just following in the steps of his predecessor. Former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano replaced ‘terrorism’ with the term “man-caused disaster” to “move away from the politics of fear toward a policy of being prepared for all risks that can occur.”

    During the holy month of Ramadan, ISIS implored other Muslims to join them in using the religious observation as a reason to commit more acts of terror. The “Ramadan Bombathon” contest this year resulted in 2,988 dead bodies from Muslim attacks.


    Alicia Powe

    Staff Writer

    Alicia Powe is a staff writer for Daily Surge. She worked in the War Room of the Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee and served as a White House Intern during the George W. Bush administration. Alicia has written for numerous outlets, including Human Events, Media Research Center and Townhall.com.

    Trending Now on Daily Surge

    Thanks for sharing!
    We invite you to become an insider. Sign up for our free email newsletter, and we'll make sure to keep you in the loop.

    Send this to a friend