The Islamic State often cites comments by President Obama and former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, among other U.S. politicians in its official recruitment magazine, called Dabiq.
The slick, glossy publication uses the quotes alternately as proof that the U.S. is at war with the Islamic terrorist group, and therefore by extension, all truly devout Muslims, or to illustrate that it is winning its conflict with the U.S. Twelve issues of the magazine have been published since it debuted last year, mainly filled with articles geared toward convincing young men to join the group’s cause. Dabiq is translated into several languages, including English.
The 11th issue, which is available online, came out in September and features on its cover a picture of Obama speaking with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The accompanying text refers to the U.S.-led coalition to fight the group in Syria as “the new crusader coalition.”
It is a stark contrast to Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton’s claim Saturday that the Islamic State is using Donald Trump’s call for banning Muslim immigration as a tool to recruit jihadists. After critics pointed out that there was no evidence that the group had used Trump’s comment, the Clinton campaign on Monday refused to back down.
“Hell, no. Hillary Clinton will not be apologizing to Donald Trump for correctly pointing out how his hateful rhetoric only helps ISIS recruit more terrorists,” Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon said.
U.S. immigration policy is not an issue that comes up in the Islamic State’s magazine. Instead, it mainly focuses on U.S. foreign policy, which Clinton had a major hand in in crafting as secretary of state from 2009 through 2013.
It may address Trump’s proposed Muslim ban in a future issue. The most recent issue is devoted to the Nov. 13 Paris terrorist attacks and was presumably pieced together before Trump made his proposal.
U.S. politicians often appear in its pages. The second issue included an excerpt from a speech by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., as part of a regular feature called “In the Words of the Enemy.” McCain’s speech bemoaned that the group “now controls at least one-third of Iraqi territory and is rapidly gaining more.”
That is a common theme of the speeches that Dabiq uses for that feature: They are picked to give the impression that even U.S. leaders are publicly conceding that they are losing.
The fourth issue quotes Chuck Hagel as saying that the Islamic State has “gained strength” in Syria and Iraq, while the sixth issue quotes him stating that the group is “an incredibly powerful new threat.” Republican presidential candidate and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is featured in the eighth issue stating, “They are not losing ground. They are not being discredited … They will get stronger.”
Other articles attack U.S. policy in Middle East under President Obama. An editorial from the fourth issue stated: “You claimed to have withdrawn from Iraq – O Obama – four years ago. We said to you then that you were liars, that you had not withdrawn, and that if you had withdrawn that you would return, even if after some time, you would return. Here you are; you have not withdrawn.”
Another article in the same issue quotes President George W. Bush from 2001 referring to the fight against radical Islam as, “This crusade, this war on terrorism.” It then argues that Obama has adopted that same stance.
“Obama was more hypocritical by saying that Iraq was a ‘dumb war,’ starting his presidency with a promise to end the Iraq war only to return from where his predecessor had left off, sending troops to Iraq after promising not to send any. He then ordered airstrikes leading to killing Muslim men, women and children.”
Pictures of Obama and Kerry appear frequently throughout the magazine, often with captions identifying them as “crusaders.”
Clinton does not appear to rate a mention in the magazine, possibly because she stepped down as secretary of state more than a year before the first issue of Dabiq came out.
