Except he wasn't really inspired by Al Qaeda, was he? Not exclusively, anyway. It goes deeper than that.

I mean, we don't say that every single baseball player in the world is inspired by the famous New York Yankees. Baseball players just want to play baseball. By the same token, jihadists want to carry out jihad. When it comes to reporting these stories, is it not worth mentioning the Islamist ideology that has inspired countless jihadists, many of whom were slaughtering people long before anyone ever heard of Al Qaeda? Responsible reporters do make the connection crystal clear sometimes... but not always.

Certainly, Quazi Nafis was motivated to blow up the Federal Reserve building in New York City after reading the Al Qaeda magazine known as Inspire. But it's also reasonable to assume that Nafis was radicalized long before he ever read that particular magazine. As with many Islamists, it could have started in a mosque, or even in the comfort of his own family home. Ultimately, he is acting out what he (and many millions of others) believe to be the commandment of his god and prophet.

Al Qaeda is neither the first nor last terrorist organization motivated by the teachings of the Koran -- indeed, if one looks at the list of designated terrorist organizations in Canada or the American Bureau of Counterterrorism's list, there are few that are not Islamic.

Sometimes it seems media organizations are more comfortable using "Al Qaeda" as shorthand for Islamist terrorist when the connection is not so clear (Not that these terrorists tend to walk around with business cards in the first place, but still...). Let's be clear about what motivates these people. It's not necessarily the dark, infamous terrorist organization that's fundamentally inspiring these psychopaths, but the ideology behind the dark infamous terrorist organization... and dozens like it.

Jonathon Narvey is the Editor of The Propagandist