The terror attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas on New Year’s Day have left us with quite a few uncomfortable questions, like, “Are the two attacks connected?" and, “Why did the FBI discount terrorism in the New Orleans attack?” Perhaps we’ll find out the answers to these questions soon. But we also have another question begging to be answered: Why does the mainstream media refuse to call a terrorist attack by its name when the evidence is glaringly obvious?
By Thursday morning, enough details had come out that should have put the issue to issue to rest and no longer up for debate: this was terrorism. We know the suspect in the New Orleans attack converted to Islam, and his brother described him as “radicalized." Heck, there are multiple Facebook videos of the suspect pledging allegiance to ISIS mere hours before driving a truck with an ISIS flag into a New Year’s Eve crowd in New Orleans. The FBI confirmed that Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a truck loaded with an ISIS flag, weapons, and a potential improvised explosive device into the crowd.
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You don’t have to be a national security expert to see that this was terrorism.
CNN, however, hasn’t been completely convinced. On Thursday, host Pamela Brown and national security analyst Juliette Kayyem went to great lengths to downplay New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s decision to label the attack terrorism. Instead of addressing the details of the crime, Brown focused on questioning Cantrell’s judgment.
“I mean, I've sadly covered too many tragedies like this and it struck me because normally you don't come right out of the gate and label it a terrorist attack or not, Juliette, you know, you say ‘we're looking into all possibilities’ because it's so early, you don't really know,” she said. “And there were these explosive devices. This suspect shot at police and hit two police officers. Ten people are killed. More than 30 in the hospital.”
If you thought she was being obtuse, Kayyem wasn’t any better.
She dismissed the mayor’s words, saying, “I just think the mayor made a mistake.”
“Let's just, you know, in some ways, move on," she added. "It has to be clarified. I do not think she should have come out. You actually saw the people behind her, sort of, flinch. She was speaking as a politician and as someone who governs the city that this was terrorizing. It was terrible. It was terror for those there. But we are now in the investigation and prosecution stage.”
It’s funny how often the mainstream media is willing to jump to conclusions or report something as fact when it fits its agenda, but an act of terrorism must be all hush-hush and handled with incredible delicacy so as not to offend the easily triggered snowflakes on the left who take issue when the perp isn’t a Christian white male.
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The question remains: Why is the media so reluctant to acknowledge terrorism unless it fits a specific narrative? For an outlet that prides itself on being “The Most Trusted Name in News,” the lack of desire of CNN's on-air talent to call terrorism what it is says a lot about the failing network and why people aren't tuning it anymore.
