Washington: Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Monday said she is "happy" to use the term "radical Islam" but underlined that she is not going to "demonise and declare war" on an entire religion which is "dangerous" and plays into Islamic State's favour.
She was responding to a question on the criticism by her rival and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump that she is not using the term radical Islam.
"To me, radical jihadism, radical Islamism, I think they mean the same thing. I'm happy to say either, but that's not the point," the former secretary of state said. She also said that talk, demagoguery and rhetoric will not solve the problem.
"All this talk and demagoguery and rhetoric is not going to solve the problem. I'm not going to demonise and demagogue and declare war on an entire religion. That's just plain dangerous and it plays into ISIS's hands," she said.
"I have clearly said that we face terrorists enemies who use Islam to justify slaughtering innocent people. We have to stop them and we will. We have to defeat radical jihadist terrorism, and we will," Clinton was quoted as saying by NBC news.
Clinton alleged that Trump is obsessed with name calling.
"And from my perspective, it matters what we do, not what we say. It matters that we got bin Laden, not what name we called him. But if he is somehow suggesting I don't call this for what it is, he hasn't been listening," she said.
"I have a plan to defend our country from the so-called 'lone wolves' and to work with our allies to dismantle the global networks that fuel this kind of radicalisation. I think we have to admit it's a complex challenge, but we are absolutely, absolutely up to facing it.
A gunman wielding an assault-style rifle and handgun opened fire inside a crowded gay nightclub in Orlando yesterday, killing at least 50 people before dying in a gunfight with police. Authorities identified the shooter as Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old US citizen from Florida. Clinton also said that she wants to reach out to vast majority of American-Muslims and Muslims around the US to seek help.
"We can call it radical Islamism. But we also want to reach out to the vast majority of American-Muslims and Muslims around this country -- this world, to help us defeat this threat, which is so evil and has got to be denounced by everyone, regardless of religion," she said.
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