> Former CIA director Leon Panetta labeled last week’s deadly pager explosions in Lebanon a form of “terrorism.”

> “I don’t think there’s any question that it’s a form of terrorism,” Panetta said on “CBS News Sunday morning.”

https://thehill.com/policy/international/4893900-leon-panett...

I don't take anything Leon Panetta says as gospel, but the fact that someone like him says this shows how the position is not ludicrous in the way you and other similar replies are painting it.