From The Atlantic---What ISIS Really Wants

IBD:  HILLARY'S TOUGH TALK CAN ABSOLVE HER FROM CONTRIBUTING TO ISIS EMERGENCE
ROGER SIMON ON VICTOR HANSON'S SEDUCTIONS OF APPEASEMENT  
THIS IS A LONG PIECE FROM THE ATLANTIC, but well worth a read.  If you're confused by all the rhetoric about ISIS (especially from our feckless president), then take time to read this and put it in perspective.  I'm glad I have:

WHAT IS THE ISLAMIC STATE?
 
Where did it come from, and what are its intentions? The simplicity of these questions can be deceiving, and few Western leaders seem to know the answers. In December, The New York Times published confidential comments by Major General Michael K. Nagata, the Special Operations commander for the United States in the Middle East, admitting that he had hardly begun figuring out the Islamic State’s appeal. “We have not defeated the idea,” he said. “We do not even understand the idea.” In the past year, President Obama has referred to the Islamic State, variously, as “not Islamic” and as al-Qaeda’s “jayvee team,” statements that reflected confusion about the group, and may have contributed to significant strategic errors.