There are groups more depraved than ISIL
The horrific rampage of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has captured the world's attention. Many Western commentators claim that ISIL's crimes are unique, no longer practiced anywhere else in the civilized world. They argue that the group's barbarism is intrinsically Islamic, a product of the aggressive and archaic worldview which dominates the Muslim world. The ignorance of these claims is stunning.
Not only are there other organised groups whose depravity and threat to the United States far surpasses that of ISIL, they fail to engender the same kind of collective indignation and hysteria. This raises the question: Are Americans primarily concerned with ISIL's specific atrocities or with the fact that it is Muslims who are committing these crimes?


