Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio criticized Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton on Sunday after she refused to use the term “radical Islam” when referring to he Paris attacks during the 2nd Democratic presidential debate on CBS News Saturday night.
During the debate, moderator John Dickerson asked Hillary: “Marco Rubio, also running for president, said that the attack in Paris showed that we are at war with radical Islam. NDo you agree with that characterization, radical Islam?”
“I don’t think we’re at war with Islam. I don’t think we’re at war with all Muslims,” Hillary responded. “We are at war with violent extremism. We are at war with people who use their religion for purposes of power and oppression. And, yes, we are at war with those people. But I don’t want us to be painting with too broad a brush.”
Appearing on ABC’s “This Week” program, Rubio was asked to respond to Hillary’s refusal to call it what it is. “I don’t understand it. That would be like saying we weren’t at war with the Nazis, because we were afraid to offend some Germans who may have been members of the Nazi Party, but weren’t violent themselves,” the Republican presidential hopeful stated.
“We are at war with radical Islam, with an interpretation of Islam by a significant number of people around the world, who they believe now justifies them in killing those who don’t agree with their ideology. This is a clash of civilizations,” Rubio asserted. “Of course all Muslims are not members of violent jihadist groups. But there is a global jihadist movement in the world, motivated by their interpretation of Islam, Sunni Islam — in the case of ISIS. And it needs to be confronted for what it is. This is not a geopolitical movement.”
Rubio also suggested that in response to the terrorist attacks in Paris, he would ask NATO to invoke Article 5, which states “that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all.”
“This is clearly an act of war and an attack on one of our NATO allies. And we should invoke Article 5 of the NATO agreement, and bring everyone together to put together a coalition to confront this challenge,” said Rubio.
