ISIS or ISIL?

  A friend asked recently why "our" President insists on referring to ISIS as ISIL.
  Well, that's simple. Calling this vicious terror group ISIL rather than ISIS is a form of respect, acknowledging that their goal is regional, far larger than just Iraq and Syria.
  This topic entitled "Obama’s use of ISIL reveals his true allegiance, and animus towards Israel"
was recently visited by Allen West, who contends that Obama's choice indicates his sympathies lie with Islamist Muslims' attempt to build a caliphate and a slam toward Israel as an "occupying" nation.
  West explains:

if you choose to refer to this group as ISIL, you have basically rewritten the map of the Middle East and fallen into the trap of not recognizing the existence of Israel and also Lebanon. If you use ISIL you are then validating the Islamic totalitarian and jihadist claim that the modern day Jewish State of Israel is an occupation state and does not exist in the eyes of Muslims.

What are words for? They’re for realizing what is a declared and recognized state as opposed to a terrorist organization that doesn’t deserve validation.

  From Wikipedia:

n 14 May 2014, the United States Department of State announced its decision to use "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL) as the group's primary name.The debate over which acronym should be used to designate the group, ISIL or ISIS, has been discussed by several commentators.

A derogatory term for this group is cited here:

Some Arab media outlets and politicians have meanwhile started using the term Da'ish. It appears to have originated from posts by Syrian opposition activists and social media users.

Da'ish is not an Arabic word and the use of acronyms is not common in Arabic. Furthermore, the jihadist group objects to the term and has advised against its usage.

  One can't help but remember George H. W. Bush's repeated and deliberate pronunciation of Saddam Hussein's name as Sad-dum, an act that indicated Bush's provocation of the dictator and made "uncomfortable" Leftists observing it:

Still, a vague sense of discomfort is felt by some editors, who worry that perhaps they are being manipulated by a White House seemingly intent on war, as they were 12 years ago when the president's father, George H.W. Bush, deliberately mispronounced Saddam Hussein's name. Putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable, experts say the first President Bush also converted the meaning of the name in Arabic, from sa-DAM, which means one who confronts, to Sad-um, which means a barefoot beggar.

    Yes, there we are at that comparison again. An accommodating Obama versus a defiant Bush.
    Huh.
    We'll wait for Obama to call the terrorists Da'ish.