Anti-Muslim Groups March in Germany, Europe; White House Refuses to Call Attacks "Radical Islam"
BERMAN: The words "radical Islam" have been used to describe what we witnessed in Paris. But you don't hear that phrase uttered by the White House. The White House prefers a different label, not "radical Islam" but "violent extremism."</s>JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We have not chose to use that label because it doesn't seem to accurately describe what happened. We also don't want to be in a situation where we are legitimatizing what we consider to be a completely illegitimate justification for this violence, this act of terrorism.</s>BERMAN: So, is this semantics, not using the word "Islam" or "Muslim" to describe what happened here, or is it an important distinction? Harris Zafar is vice president of Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association, one of the oldest and largest American-Muslim organizations in the world, and the author of the book, "Demystifying Islam, Tackling One of the Tough Questions." And this is one of those tough questions. And Michael Smerconish, a CNN political commentator and host of his show at 9:00 a.m. eastern on Saturdays. Michael, I want to start with you. You are not pleased with the White House decision not to use the word "radical Islam" or "Muslim extremism." I think that's probably putting it lightly.</s>MICHAEL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR & CNN HOST, SMERCONISH: I think it's dishonest by omission. Nobody is suggesting we describe these terror acts as having been committed by Islam. That would be ridiculous. They're not committed by Islam. They're committed by individuals that represent a violent strand of radical Islam. I think to not say so is frankly to be misleading. To me, John, it would be like discussing pedophile priests but saying don't utter the word "Catholic." It would be like saying we're going to have a conversation about the mafia but never going to mention individuals of Italian heritage. I don't like this censorship. I think the censorship assumes if you say these words, there will be a revolt among all followers of the Islamic faith. That's as bad as individuals that say in the aftermath of one of these attacks, it's representative of the entire faith, when it's not. I'm for transparency and honesty.</s>BERMAN: Harris, what do you make of that? Does the word "Muslim" or "Islam" have to be included to accurately describe what happened?</s>HARRIS ZAFAR, VICE PRESIDENT OF AHMADIYYA MUSLIM YOUTH ASSOCIATION & AUTHOR: That's a fair point that your other guest brought up. For us, it's not a matter of being offensive. I don't take offense if somebody calls it Muslim extremism or Muslims terrorists. But some people do take it forward. On other networks, the called this an Islamic attack. So the word "terrorism" is removed. For us, instead of validating the assertion that this is Islamic and empowering those groups that claim this is Islamic and saying, see, this is, we, at the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association, a worldwide organization, our effort is to save youth from becoming radicalized. We stop it at the core and say, if you want to know what Islam is, no matter what your beliefs are, come, we'll teach you. Don't get duped into thinking that's Islamic. For me, the far more offensive thing is the manner in which Muslims react, and like this terror attack. When bad things happen, we have to be out front in condemning it in word and, indeed, like the youth association. We hit the streets to condemn these types of acts.</s>BERMAN: We, as in all of you, think that Muslim, moderate, not radical -- I used the word "radical Islam" there, even though the White House didn't -- everyone needs to condemn, even if they have no involvement or connection to it, Harris?</s>ZAFAR: I think any time people behave badly, the human decency is to feel bad about those that suffer and to say this is not right regardless of who that is. I don't think it's fair to ever expect a Muslim to have to apologize or condemn an act, especially when we have a 10, 20 year track record of doing that every time. Part of us has to be able to push back. The stop the crisis campaign is push back on ISIS and those types of groups to say we need to have a war of ideas to prove that Islam does not sanction what you're saying. We need to save Muslims from becoming targets of recruitment.</s>BERMAN: It's easy to say any person of any faith, any human can freely speak out about things that a happened here. Michael, there's an interesting quote from Kareem Abdul Jabar who talks about this idea -- and Harris voices this -- that many moderate Muslims need to go out of their way to speak out. Listen to what Kareem Abdul Jabar wrote in "Time" magazine. He said, "When Ku Klux Klan burns a cross in a black family's yard, prominent Christians aren't required to explain how these aren't really Christian acts. Most people already realize that the KKK doesn't represent Christian teachings. That's what I and other Muslims long for, the day when these terrorists, praising the Prophet Muhammad for Allah's name, as they debase their actual teachings, are instantly recognized as thugs disguising themselves as Muslims." Michael, your reaction?</s>SMERCONISH: Well, I think it's an apples and oranges comparison. I'm no expert KKK, thank god. To the extent the KKK ever acted in the name of the Bible or under the name of Jesus Christ or one of the apostles, then I think it would be fair to call out the KKK and say these are lunatics who are acting in the name, some perverted notion of their faith. As far as I know, that's not the basis on which they were conducting themselves. If it were, I'm for disclosure of whatever the facts are. I think unless you're transparent, you're never going to get to the root of the problem and deal with it. That's what I'm trying to say.</s>BERMAN: The fact is what you're saying is these people are doing it in the name of Islam even if it's only in their perverted view of what Islam is, correct?</s>SMERCONISH: That is what I'm saying. If they said they're going to undertake acts of terror in the name of Walt Whitman, I'd say we've got to tell that part of the story. To not share that is playing a censorship role, which I think is unhealthy precedent for us to set. I'm by no means trying to equate what these individuals did at "Charlie Hebdo" with the faith at large. Let's single them out. They're individuals acting with perverted interpretation.</s>BERMAN: Michael Smerconish, Harris Zafar, appreciate your input here. Thanks so much. Brooke, let's go back to you in New York.</s>BALDWIN: All right, John Berman, thank you very much. One person is dead, more than 80 people injured after smoke filled a tunnel in the D.C. Metro. This is the subway system. Passengers had to evacuate themselves, raising a number of questions about the city's emergency response. We'll take you to D.C. next.