ISIS Will Cut Out The Tongue of Any Iraqi Who Uses This Acronym Instead of Their Full Name
I saw this interesting but horrifying tidbit in an AP post about why they’re using the name, “Islamic State Group” instead of ISIL or ISIS:
Arab governments have long refrained from using Islamic State, instead referring to it by the Arabic acronym for its full original name, Daesh — short for Dawlat al-Islamiyah f’al-Iraq w Belaad al-Sham.
Several residents in Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city which fell to the extremist group in June, told The Associated Press that the militants threatened to cut the tongue of anyone who publicly used the acronym Daesh, instead of referring to the group by its full name, saying it shows defiance and disrespect. The residents spoke anonymously out of fear for their safety.
That seems a little extreme. But then I wouldn’t want to “demonize” these terrorists or MSNBC will get angry at me.