Obama on ISIS (ISIL to him): These are not the droids you are looking for....
The accepted meaning of ISIS is the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. To Obama it's the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. This is a big distinction. The levant is a broad historicl region that includes Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel in addition to Syria. Basically all the Middle Eastern nations on the Mediterranean east of Egypt. And as such he is giving ISIS a much larger claim to territory. Now the question is, does ISIS/ISIL actually claim the entire Levant or is Obama giving that to them?
I beleive I have heard that the real stated goal is that ISIS wants the entire Levant and their goal was initially translated as just Syria, probably because the concept of the Levant is sort of archaic and not well understood in the USA these days.
So technically I think Obama is right, they consider themselves ISIL and not (merely) ISIS. It indicates they are more ambitious then just ISIS would imply.
Of course were I President I would not honor their desire for the entire Levant region by recognizing it in their name. In fact I would call them ISH, the Islamic State of Hell. And I'd help them claim that territory that rightly belongs to them.
Whats going on in DC is definitely science fiction.