In Spain, Mr. Obama said the world needs Spain’s contributions to the campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS,) to counterterrorism efforts that prevent attacks and to its fellow North Atlantic Treaty Organisation members.
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The gunman who killed five police officers at a protest march had practiced military-style drills in his yard and trained at a private self-defense school that teaches special tactics, including “shooting on the move”, a maneuver in which an attacker fires and changes position before firing again.
Instead of spending two days sightseeing in southern Spain and tending to more pressing business in the capital of Madrid, the White House has scrapped some of Mr Obama’s events – including a staple of his foreign travels, a question-and-answer forum with young people – and crammed the rest of his schedule into Sunday. He plans to travel to Dallas on Tuesday, where he will take part in an interfaith memorial service.
The president will revive his task force on community this week, inviting police, activists and civil rights leaders to the White House for a meeting.
Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson defended the president Sunday, saying “we absolutely reject any such notion” that the administration has fomented anger at police.
“This has been a tough week, first and foremost for the families of those who have been killed, but also for the entire American family”, Obama said at a news conference here.
Some of Obama’s critics have accused him of helping create an environment for attacks on law enforcement by blaming police conduct in previous incidents and sympathizing with Black Lives Matter and other groups that complain about racial bias in the criminal justice system.
“Americans of all races and all backgrounds are rightly outraged by the inexcusable attacks on police, whether it’s in Dallas or anyplace else”, Obama said from Warsaw, where he attended a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit.
Obama is squeezing in a visit to a key North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and European Union partner before dashing home to deal with the aftermath of a wrenching shooting in Dallas. Tourists and curiosity seekers lined some streets in hopes of catching a glimpse of Obama, and local TV aired live coverage of his movements and comments.
Obama’s meeting with Rajoy came as Spain grapples with high unemployment and remains in the grip of a political crisis sparked by two general elections that produced no clear victor.
He will also hold talks with King Felipe at the presidential palace, before heading back to the United States, a country that now seems as divided in its politics as Spain.
Spain has been in a political stalemate for months, with Rajoy unable to garner the necessary support to form a new coalition government following a late-June election, the country’s second round of inconclusive balloting in the past year. Obama addressed USA and Spanish troops, saying, “We are going to keep standing together to meet the challenges of our time in the face of terrorists networks that seek to destroy”.
Obama had been scheduled to return to Washington on Monday.
His appeal followed the arrests of scores of people in St. Paul, Minnesota, during protests late Saturday and early Sunday that left more than two dozen law enforcement officers with injuries after they were pelted with rocks, bottles and other objects.
On the shootings by police of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana, Obama called for more activism and reforms.
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“We can’t just ignore that and pretend that’s somehow political or the president is pushing his policy agenda”, Obama said. He said Spain’s food, culture and climate are “hard to resist”.
