Demotix/Stefano Montesi. All rights reserved.“The Islamic State has taken the Iraqi city of Ramadi” … “The Islamic State beheaded British aid worker Alan Henning” … “The Islamic State beheaded American Journalist Steven Sotlof” … “The US discusses with its allies how to respond to the Islamic State” … “Russia is taking a tough stance against the Islamic State”.
These are not made up phrases. They are headlines in British and western media. While other terrorist groups, such as Boko Haram and Al Qaeda, were referred to by their foreign names, this notorious group was given the honour of becoming both ‘Islamic’ and a ‘State’. The question is why have the western media decided to brand a barbaric terrorist group first and foremost as ‘Islamic State’ when it is neither Islamic nor a state?
I do not subscribe to any conspiracy theory. Nor am I one of those who believe the west is innately anti-Islamic. On the contrary, I think the west, and Britain in particular, has tolerated extremist groups for too long and offered many of their leaders, such as the notorious Abu Qatada and Abu Hamza, among others, safe sanctuary, to the dislike, if not horror, of most Muslims.
