Former Rhode Island Senator and Governor and prospective 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Lincoln Chafee argued that terrorists should be treated like criminals, and that “we have to calm it down” on Friday’s “Real Time” on HBO.
Chafee, in a discussion on the trials of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Aurora theater shooter James Holmes, remarked, “I we’re using [the term] ‘terrorism’ too much. And it’s coming down to it’s too much jihad, too much crusade. We should talk about them as criminals. And ever since 9/11, terrorism’s used, especially anything to do with a Muslim crime rampage.”
He added, “the question about why one crime is treated differently is really important for a country and where we’re going in the world, and what’s happening with Muslims around the world and the danger it presents to us here in America, and all this jihad, now it’s coming from within…and we just have to calm it down. Calm all this hatred and differences and these crimes of terrorism. It’s really important to where we’re going as a country. And take this terrorism word and let’s start treating them as criminals.”
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