John Brennan, Obama's top counter-terrorism adviser, called jihad a "legitimate tenet of Islam," and further argued the term "jihadists" should not be used to describe the jihadists that are America's enemies.
At Center for Strategic and International Studies briefing, Brennan described violent extremists as victims of "political, economic and social forces," and said that those planning attacks on the US should not be described in "religious terms" even though they are driven by religious belief and dogma.
According to Fox News, "He repeated the administration argument that the enemy is not "terrorism," because terrorism is a "tactic," and not terror, because terror is a "state of mind" -- though Brennan's title, deputy national security adviser for counter-terrorism and homeland security, includes the word "terrorism" in it.
He also stated "we should not describe 'jihadists' or 'Islamists' as 'jihadists' or 'Islamists' because jihad is a holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam," and we wouldn't want to disparage Islam by "recognizing 'jihadists' are engaged in jihad."
In closing, he indicated we should be focused on American, male, christian, republican gun owners, because they are more likely to attempt to set off a bomb in times square than Muslim terrorists or the Somali terrorists authorities are on alert for along the US-Mexican border.
