Reorienting ourselves to the Levant
Deciding what to call a new threat is part of a government鈥檚 foreign-policy operation.
The Obama administration, with its steadfast use of its preferred term for the fighters now making trouble in Iraq and Syria, has dusted off a term most of us remember, if we ever learned it, from novels rather than the news: the Levant.
I first heard 鈥渢he Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant鈥� out of the mouth of Secretary of State John Kerry in a radio news clip. It triggered a thought process: Hmm, new enemy group appears; internal administration deliberations about what to call it follow, then come efforts to get news organizations to play along. Meanwhile, news organizations deliberate, too, consulting one another but making their own decisions, no matter what the White House says. (See the US Constitution, Amendment 1.)
Whatever the administration鈥檚 rationale for 鈥淟evant,鈥� the word is a bit old-fashioned, a bit Old World 鈥� but perhaps not out of character for Mr. Kerry. After all, he comes across as somewhat Old World at times, with his Swiss boarding school and all. Remember the 2004 presidential campaign, with those about how Kerry 鈥渓ooks French鈥�?
There鈥檚 more to it than that, of course. 鈥溾�� came into English in the late 15th century, indeed from French, meaning 鈥渢he Orient,鈥� the direction of the sunrise. It referred concretely to the 鈥淢editerranean lands east of Italy鈥� 鈥� principally Syria, Lebanon, and Israel on today鈥檚 maps. (The Levant had a particular meaning in the context of trade with the Ottoman Empire 鈥� Turkey 鈥� but let鈥檚 not go there now.)
Maureen Dowd of , for one, was not impressed with the use of 鈥淟evant.鈥� The term, she wrote, 鈥渃onjures up a colonial association from the early 20th century, when Britain and France drew their maps, carving up Mesopotamia....鈥� She speculated that it may be 鈥渁 nostalgic nod to a time when puppets were more malleable and grateful to their imperial overlords.鈥�
She was alluding to the , reached in 1916, as the Ottoman Empire was collapsing. The accord carved up the Middle East into British and French spheres of influence. Note that it wasn鈥檛 called the Sykes-Picot Agreement with the Peoples of Mesopotamia and Greater Syria, Who Have Been Painstakingly Consulted About the Political Arrangements They Prefer.
Critics on the right, meanwhile, have charged that the White House simply wants to avoid mentioning 鈥淪yria鈥� 鈥� as it would if it were to call these people 鈥�.鈥� With the start of US airstrikes in Syria, though, that argument may be less relevant.聽
has recently settled on 鈥渢he Islamic State group鈥� as its preferred term for the terrorist organization, but earlier this year opted for 鈥淚SIL鈥� over 鈥淚SIS,鈥� noting that to refer only to Iraq and Syria 鈥渟uggests incorrectly that the group鈥檚 aspirations are limited to these two present-day countries.鈥澛�
The group鈥檚 goal is, alas, broader, and, the said, 鈥淭he standard English term for this broad territory is 鈥榯he Levant.鈥� 鈥澛�
