Letters: Grasping at straws to discredit Obama

In his Dec. 30 letter, “Obama’s language cedes Israel to Islamic State,” William Diello charges that Israel is somehow losing its sovereignty because President Obama refers to the Islamic State as ISIL, since the “L” refers to “Levant.”

I have no doubt that the Islamic State sees it that way, but Israel would only lose its sovereignty if all the other sovereign nations of the Levant — Jordan, Israel, Lebanon and, according to some definitions, Turkey, Cyprus and Egypt — also lost their sovereignty.

Unless Mr. Diello is asserting that all the countries of the Levant have lost their sovereignty, then his point is incorrect.

Does the fact that the United States of America is part of the Americas mean that it has lost its sovereignty?

This just goes to show just how much effort some will go to in order to discredit President Obama.

This story was originally published January 19, 2016 at 1:14 PM.