The proper title is "terrorist", homegrown or not

What if Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar from Iran, had actually been Bubba from Backwoods, Bayou who ran his pick-up truck into the crowd of students at UNC Chapel Hill. Sould we be calling him a terrorist? Well, YES.

What is a terrorist anyway? "One that engages in acts or an act of terrorism."

OK, so what exactly is terrorism? "The unlawful use or threatened use of force or violence by a person or an organized group against people or property with the intention of intimidating or coercing societies or governments, often for ideological or political reasons.

Now, what Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar did at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill fits that definition perfectly. So why are authorities so reluctant to call him what he is? His bail was set at $5.5 million, which is slightly more than a ticket for bad driving would require. He is charged with attempted murder and I doubt the judge would have required $5.5 million for that charge either.

Everyone knows he commited an act of terror. So why not call him that? Could it be 'political correctness' lurking again? The UNC students are asking these questions also.

In Chapel Hill, a handful of UNC students held a campus rally at The Pit, calling on school administrators to declare the incident a terrorist attack. Critics said such language would just worsen relations between Muslim and Christian students, which already have been strained this year.

In a statement released Sunday, Chancellor James Moeser described the incident as a "contemptible act of violence."

"It's important to call it terrorism because it's an attack on the American people," said Amanda Zalaquett, 19, a sophomore from Charlotte. She and others passed out U.S. flags and held up signs at the rally that read, "Call It What It Is" and "United We Stand." source

In the 911 call to give himself up to authorities, when asked why he drove into the students, he said, " It really is to punish the government of the United States for their actions around the world." I want to hear the media and law enforcement use the 't' word, terrorist.

Comments

[Stefano]

Hi,

I took a brief look of the Jewish Defense League. From what I understand, it looks like some extremist Jewish but in self-defense. I don't think I will have to agree with that as they're not the only ones who are targeted. I found out they did lots of bad things in the 70's (I didn't read carefully thought) from this website: http://www.adl.org/extremism/jdl%5Fchron.asp

In another subject (similar topic), I don't know if you're aware that we did have a terrible event in October 1970 called "The October Crisis". The FLQ (Front de Libération du Québec -political party turned to be terrorists) kidnapped a British Trade Commissioner and the Minister of Labor (and killed) in exchange of some things. You can check out there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLQ
and you can watch videos there: http://archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-71-101/conflict_war/october_crisis/

I wasn't born, but my mom remembers a bit with soldiers patroling the streets and go into houses without warrants.

Anyways, I have lots of TV watching tonight, so we'll talk later!