But what else can you call this?

A University of North Carolina graduate from Iran, accused of running down nine people on campus to avenge the treatment of Muslims, said at a hearing Monday that he was "thankful for the opportunity to spread the will of Allah."

Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar was accused of driving a sport-utility vehicle through the Pit, a popular campus gathering spot, injuring nine people Friday. None of the victims was seriously hurt.

University Police Chief Derek Poarch said Taheri-azar told investigators he intentionally hit people to "avenge the deaths of Muslims around the world." In a 911 call after the incident, Taheri-azar said he wanted to "punish the government of the United States for their actions around the world."

Taheri-azar, 22, appeared in Orange County District Court on nine counts of attempted murder and nine counts of assault.

His bail was set at $5.5 million and he was assigned a public defender, but he said after the hearing: "The truth is my lawyer."

And the truth is that we have had a low-grade Islamic terrorist attack on an American college campus, but no one wants to call it terrorism.

Well, that isn't quite true -- no one in an official capacity wants to call it terrorism. Students at UNC are not so hesitant.

On campus, UNC students held what they called an "anti-terrorism" rally. "We don't want terrorism here, and we're not going to stand for that where we live and where we go to school," said Kris Wampler, a student at UNC and member of the College Republicans, which helped organize the rally.

About 50 students attended the rally, including several Muslim students who debated with organizers and said Taheri-azar had not been linked to any terrorist group.

One Muslim student tried to discount the connection to terrorism.

"When you think in terms of a global context, this was an isolated incident," said student Khurram Bilal Tariq, 22.

While that is true, that does not meant that we are dealing with a terrorist attack -- just that we are dealing with a terrorist attack. It simply means that we are dealing with someone who is engaging in terrorism independent of the larger groups. UNC student Stephen Mann put it well.

"If you try to hurt someone in the name of a cause, that's terrorism," he said.

While I might polish that statement just a little bit, I think he is essenially correct.

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