Dem Rep. Gabbard: 'No Way We Can Defeat This Enemy' Without Recognizing Radical Islam Roots

Hawaii Dem Rep. Tulsi Gabbard said the horrific murder of Jordanian Royal Air Force 1st Lt. Muath al-Kasaesbeh “is just further proof right before our eyes about these Islamic extremists and how far they’re willing to go and what is fueling their ideology.”

Gabbard has been critical about the Obama administration’s decision after the Paris attacks to stop using the term “radical Islam.”

Gabbard, the first Hindu member of Congress, is a captain in the Hawaii Army National Guard and Iraq combat veteran. She is also a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee.

The House Armed Services Committee member noted that at a Tuesday hearing the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency “identified very clearly that it is this radical Islamic ideology that is fueling, not only ISIS, but also al-Qaeda, AQAP, Boko Haram.”

“This is the one common element with all of these different radical extremist, Islamic extremist groups, and that we have to identify this in order to actually come up with an effective strategy to defeat them,” she told Fox.

Gabbard, who called the pilot’s murder “sickening,” said the fight can be clearly defined without, as the administration has said it fears, calling it “a war between Christians and Muslims or a war against all Muslims.”

“This is clearly a war against this very specific faction of radical Islamic ideology that is fueling these activities and which we must defeat,” she said.

“And until we recognize that it is this radical Islamic ideology that’s fueling this, the name of the group can change. The tactics may change based on a different geographic location or based on what’s happening on the ground. And, again, we see this, because we have ISIS. We have al-Qaeda. We have Boko Haram and other various groups, especially in the Middle East, but people who are operating around the world,” Gabbard continued.

“Each of them have the one commonality of being fueled by this radical Islamic ideology. So we can’t say, well, this is about one organization only, because, if we do that, then there’s no way we can defeat this enemy and defeat this ideology, both militarily and ideologically.”