The Chattanooga Shootings: Can Attacking Military Sites of a Nation at War be “Terrorism”?

(updated below)

A gunman yesterdayattacked two military sites in Chattanooga, Tennessee, killing four U.S Marines. Before anything was known about the suspect other thanhis name — Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez — it was instantly and widely declared by the U.S. media to be “terrorism.” An FBIofficial announced at a press briefing: “We will treat this as a terrorism investigation until it can be determined it was not.”

That “terrorism” in U.S. political and media discourse means littlebeyond “vio...