“Well, Obama refused to say [he just can’t say it], that we are at war with radical Islamic terrorists”, Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump tweeted after the address.
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“This was an act of terrorism created to kill innocent people”, he said in the 13-minute address.
In the wake of San Bernadino, what the nation wants from the president is a plan…a strategy to succeed. And in the first part of his speech, he did just that (or didn’t at all, depending on your politics).
“And I know that after so much war, many Americans are asking whether we are confronted by a cancer that has no immediate cure …” That’s what groups like ISIL are hoping for.
“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.
Speaking forcefully, Obama urged Americans not to turn against one another by letting this fight be defined as a war between America and Islam. He’s proposed specific changes in the visa waiver program, and he’s also floated a measure that would prohibit anyone on the “no-fly” terrorist watch list from purchasing a firearm – a measure already rejected by the Republican-controlled Senate.
In an appeal that is unlikely to move a strongly pro-gun US Congress, Mr Obama called for tighter gun laws to “make it harder” for terrorists to kill by being able to buy assault rifles.
Mr. Obama outlined strategies and policies that the government is already pursuing, such as waging a targeted military campaign, training and equipping groups fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria, using intelligence to try to disrupt plots and cut off financing and pursuing a resolution to the civil war in Syria, which the administration believes would allow all parties involved to focus on the threat of ISIS.
But the president’s critics said there was nothing new in his speech, except maybe his tying in gun control.
“Well, we are not winning”, Clinton said.
“ISIL does not speak for Islam”, the president insisted. It’s our responsibility to reject proposals that muslim-americans should somehow be treated differently.
“Moreover, the vast majority of terrorist victims around the world are Muslim”, he said. Instead, we will prevail by being strong and smart, resilient and relentless.
But he had also made another appeal, this one to Muslim communities.
The problem with linking religion and terrorism is that it paints all Muslims with the terrorist brush, according to George Lakoff, professor of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley.
That points up the greatest danger from ISIL – that Americans, acting from fright, will increase intrusive surveillance of all Americans or target Muslim Americans in ways that would undermine American values. Because when we travel down that road, we lose. The Islamic State has ably exploited the sense of isolation many Muslims feel, and stoking hatred toward Muslims would only play into the group’s hands.
That’s not to say Americans are defenseless. We have to remember that. That’s what our enemies want us to do. And non-Muslim Americans must reject religious tests for refugees or for elective office.
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The White House has slammed those calling for identifying threat coming from terror groups as “radical Islam” arguing that such a move would advance dreaded outfit Islamic State’s narratives.
