Perhaps you are casting your net too widely

Submitted by Bucephalus (United States), Feb 9, 2005 at 07:35

Perhaps authorities are simply unwilling to label as terrorism or jihadism private-initiative crimes which are religiously motivated, because terrorism implies a connection to a wider international network of organised violent activity. Was Charles Bishara Bishop, or the Beltway sniper, or the Houston murderer connected to some terrorist/jihadist group? Or were they private initiative actions? If the latter, to call them terrorism or jihadism would conflate things which shouldn't be conflated. Do we really want to blur the obvious distinction between (say) Hamas and Charles Bishara Bishop?

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