“I know how real the danger is”, said Obama.
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The U.S. has been at war with terrorists since al Qaeda killed almost 3,000 Americans on 9/11: We’ve hardened our defenses, from airports to financial centers, to other critical infrastructure.
One senior administration official, who asked for anonymity to discuss strategy, said the speech was primarily aimed at explaining the president’s current plan to ordinary Americans who’ve been rattled by the rash of attacks in Paris, the Sinai Peninsula and, most recently, San Bernardino. President Obama has been very stubborn on all of these programs.
The rampage last week, which killed 14 people, was the first time that terrorists inspired by the Islamic State have successfully struck in the US.
He laid the blame on people he said had “embraced a perverted interpretation of Islam”.
Discrimination is not the answer: Just as it is the responsibility of Muslims around the world to root out misguided ideas that lead to radicalization, it is the responsibility of all Americans, of every faith, to reject discrimination. Authorities say a couple carried out the attack and the wife pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and its leader in a Facebook post.
But he said the United States has been ramping up its campaign against the Islamic State over the past few weeks, with more special forces troops being dispatched to advise and assist Syrian opposition forces and Iraqi forces. “If we’re to succeed in defeating terrorism we must enlist Muslim communities as some of our strongest allies, rather than push them away through suspicion and hate”.
During his address, Obama also called for Congress to give him authorization for military action against terrorist forces – a power that some believe he has dating back to a 2001 resolution. “What could possibly be the argument for allowing a terror suspect to buy a semi-automatic weapon?” he said. “But it’s also important for us to recognize it for what it is, and I think that’s, you know, why the president has taken the approach that he has”. U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, a Republican from Zeeland, told 24 Hour News 8 on Monday that he hopes that’s the case.
First, he said, the nation must avoid “a long and costly ground war”.
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President Barack Obama says the USA can and must make it harder for would-be mass shooters to kill by making it harder for them to obtain guns. This is what Americans are most concerned with, and if there really was no fresh information to share, what was the point of taking up all that time? It’s our responsibility to reject proposals that Muslim Americans should somehow be treated differently. Obama said, “When we travel down that road, we lose”. “He has definitely been on a different track I think with that message and acknowledging that there is a significant problem within the Muslim community internationally but even here domestically is new and something he should pursue”. That’s what groups like ISIL want.
