ISIS is a destructive extremist group whose victims are predominantly themselves Muslim.
ISIS is a monstrosity which didn't come from nowhere. Rather, it is one of the results of the U.S. hitting a very vulnerable society - Iraq - with a sledgehammer.
ISIS is a groups whose demise will be dependent on a years-long reconstruction of fragile state institutions and genuine political reconciliation among warring ethnic and religious communities.
ISIS is an extremist group whose growth can be directly ascribed to problems within U.S. leadership related to combating Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
ISIS is not part of the faith of Islam and should instead be thought of as a separate destructive extremist group.
ISIS is best characterized as medieval, and any well-intentioned but dishonest campaign to deny the Islamic State's medieval religious nature is misguided.