In the Oval Office address Sunday night, President Barack Obama said he would seek cooperation from tech and law enforcement leaders to thwart terrorists in their use of communications technology to hatch plots. House Speaker Paul Ryan complained Obama offered no new plan but only a halfhearted distraction from what Ryan labeled a failing policy. The San Bernardino, California, shooting, following closely on the Paris attacks, has understandably raised anxiety among Americans, who wonder, as the president put it, “whether we are confronted by a cancer that has no immediate cure”. But Congressional authorization for the use of military force would create a more durable frameworkfor carrying out the current mission against the Islamic State and fighting terrorism more broadly.
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“It is clear that the two of them had gone down the dark path of radicalization…” said the president.
In a rare Oval Office address, Obama tried to counter mounting criticism he has not acted decisively enough to keep the United States safe from the Islamic State militant group, but he stopped short of offering any major shift in his strategy.
Obama stressed that the security of the nation remains strong, despite the real threat of terrorism. But he insisted: “We should not be drawn once more into a long and costly ground war in Iraq or Syria”.
The president implored Americans to not turn against Muslims at home, saying the Islamic State was driven by a desire to spark a war between the West and Islam.
“We constantly examine our strategy to determine when additional steps are needed to get the job done”, President Obama said. “The President believes the fact pattern in San Bernardino strengthens, not weakens, his gun control argument and he wanted to make that case”.
While the president vowed to defeat ISIS, he didn’t announce any changes in policy and said it is the responsibility of Americans to reject discrimination. ISIL fighters were part of the insurgency that we faced in Iraq. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for his part promised to “direct the Department of Defense to destroy ISIS” and to “shut down the broken immigration system that is letting jihadists into our country”.
In a 13-minute prime-time televised address, Obama called on Americans not to allow fear to dictate the response to the San Bernardino shootings last week – or the broader fight against terrorism. “I thought we should’ve helped the moderates in the very, very beginning, but the one thing that I do agree is that I don’t want to put American troops on the line there”. He is Muslim, and watched the San Bernardino attacks feeling disgust for the loss of life and fear for his own family and friends.
“We were founded upon a belief in human dignity that no matter who you are or where you come from or what you look like or what religion you practice, you are equal in the eyes of God and equal in the eyes of the law”, he said.
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“We would like to see leaders in the Muslim community stand up and speak out more forcefully, in terms of condemning these hateful, radicalizing messages that we see from extremist organizations”, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Monday.
