Then he blamed the problem on guns. We know if a gun ban were the answer, Chicago would be a safe place.
The most recent poll says 51% of American Muslims agree with Sharia law. And according to Pew Research, 60% of American Muslims under 30 are more loyal to Islam than to America.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO CALL THE ENEMY "RADICAL ISLAM"?
1. WORDS HELP US UNDERSTAND. Ever heard the term "bayat"? That is an Islamic word which means "allegiance". When the Orlando shooter took time to call around during that prolonged killing spree, his calls were to make sure everyone knew where HIS allegiance belonged. The bayat is part of the jihad and it was heard around the Muslim world, enlarging the shooter/his cause...and thereby encouraging other attacks.
We need to know how the enemy thinks...so that we can think ahead of them. Americans don't think like these barbaric people who jam planes into buildings and burn people alive. We need to see this "holy war" for the pure evil that it is.
"E PLURIBUS UNUM". I remember how American pride swelled when we heard JFK speak the words "ask what YOU can do for your country". Those words echoed down time and brought the country together for her good.
But what do we hear? We hear lots of discouragement ("you didn't build that") and discontent ("America has her problems") and mischaracterization ("their poverty causes them to act as they do") and deflection ("the future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Muhammed") and apologies ad nauseam.
We need to KNOW that our leadership doesn't think the fight is over the correct bathroom...or with Wayne LaPierre. We need to KNOW he has a plan for our good against terrorists that is to be fought on the terrorists' battleground. We need to KNOW he isn't making our protection more complicated.
The gun shop owner tried that. They smelled a rat and called the FBI when the shooter tried to buy body armor and bulk ammo. LINK Then the gun store called the FBI back days later, and they still didn't get a response; the shooter fell through a crack. (To be fair, the FBI didn't have a name to work with because the shooter didn't make a purchase.)
But Americans are unsettled. We don't understand with all the flags, why they missed the Boston bombers or Maj. Hasan or the San Bernadino husband/wife or now this Orlando shooter. We feel like if we say something, people will accuse us of being a racist (xenophobic, bigot, etc). That fear of labeling kept the aforementioned neighbors quiet. But if we all are on the same page with our focus on the problem, we can cooperate.
4. WORDS COME WITH POWER. We have been told that these acts of terrorism are "just the way things will be now". Well, that doesn't inspire courage. Doesn't a leader lift the flock's eyes to the solution? We don't want the armed forces and police cut. We don't want to bind the hands of our protectors with goofy regulations like "disallow monitoring in mosques" and "quit using terms such as "radical" or "jihad" or "radical Islamic terrorism". Let law enforcement follow the trail. All the logical efforts to fight the enemy flow out of a clear objective found in the words RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM and what that means.
Charles Krauthammer explains why semantics are important. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz8IQnQAiTI
Bill Maher helps us to see our denial about radical Islam. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75Zfgj2k0KM
Let's call this perversion of civilization for what it is and deal with it. Let's coalesce around a common sense approach to evil just as Americans did in WW2. These radicals who speak words of hate and murder have promised to come for the West...and now they have come REPEATEDLY.
When would be a good time to get serious?