Congresswoman and Iraq War veteran Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) said that President Obama’s continued refusal to use the phrase “Islamic extremism” gives her “great concern” because “unless you clearly identify your enemy, then you cannot come up with a very effective strategy” on Wednesday’s “Your World with Neil Cavuto” on the Fox News Channel.
“It’s a bipartisan concern for all of us to make sure that we keep the American people safe, and specifically when we talk about this terminology, the use of ‘Islamic extremism,’ terminology and the use of this specific term is important because words are an expression of your feeling and your understanding. So as, for example, last night, the president came and talked to Congress about coming to request an Authorization to use Military Force, by his not using this term ‘Islamic extremism’ and clearly identifying our enemies, it raised a whole host of questions in exactly what Congress will be authorizing? Who will we be targeting? Who is her enemy? And unless you understand who your enemy is, unless you clearly identify your enemy, then you cannot come up with a very effective strategy to defeat that enemy. So, this is what’s giving me great concern as we look specifically at this authorization, but also, as we look at this overall issue of how do we defeat this threat of Islamic extremism that’s not just occurring in the middle east, that isn’t just about this one group called ISIS or another group called al Qaeda, it’s a much larger war really that is as much an ideological war as it is a military war” she stated.
Gabbard later added “this is not a so-called indictment of all Muslims. you have people who are practicing in a spiritual way, studying the Koran and doing their best in their own way to develop their relationship with God, and the difference between those Muslims and these minority, but very radical and violent Islamic extremists is these extremists are advocating for a theocracy. It’s a political Islamism that they’re advocating for, they want to govern, they want to make laws based on this theocracy, based on their following and understanding of the Koran, not only for specific countries, but around the world. And of course, that’s where we see this violence coming from, their actions coming from, and that’s what’s so dangerous.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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