President Obama Counter-Violent Extremism Remarks Video: We Must Not Grant ISIS ‘Legitimacy’ by Calling Them ‘Islamic’. No religion responsible for terrorism. President Obama spoke at the first day of the White House two-day summit on combating violent extremism. President Barack Obama delivered the keynote address Wednesday at a summit in Washington on combating and preventing violent extremism. Obama to American Imams: Be Less ‘Boring’ So We Can Stop Youth Radicalization. (USAToday) President Obama said Thursday he doesn't use terms like Islamic extremism because to do so would promote the false idea that the West is at war with Islam, thereby helping extremists recruit more terrorists. "No religion is responsible for terrorism -- people are responsible for violence and terrorism," Obama told delegates at the White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism. Obama also said military force alone will not defeat terrorism, and the nation must work with local communities to reduce the influence of those who advocate violent extremism. "They are not religious leaders," Obama said. "They are terrorists." He also said: "We are not at war with Islam -- we are at war with people who have perverted Islam." The summit — in which officials from cities in the U.S. and across the globe discussed their attempts to dissuade young people from embracing hateful ideologies — takes place as conservatives criticize Obama for avoiding the term "Islamic extremism." In fighting extremism, Obama said the nation must stay true to its heritage of tolerance and diversity and not target specific religious groups. "This is a generational challenge," he said. (US News) The summit comes as the United States and its allies are struggling with the rapid, bloody rise of the extremist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and recent terrorist attacks in Australia, Canada, France, and Denmark. In an opinion piece published Wednesday in the Los Angeles Times, Obama said groups like ISIL (IS) and al Qaida "exploit the anger that festers when people feel that injustice and corruption leave them with no chance of improving their lives. The world has to offer today's youth something better." But the administration has been careful not to put the focus of this week's summit solely on Islamic extremism, but on all forms of extremism, a strategy that has drawn criticism from conservative Republicans. Vice President Joe Biden opened the White House summit Tuesday touting the success of youth outreach programs in Boston, Los Angeles and Minneapolis, each with large population of immigrants. "Societies have to provide an affirmative alternative for immigrant communities, a sense of opportunity, a sense of belonging that discredits the terrorist's appeal to fear, isolation, hatred, resentment," said Biden. The vice president said he believes the United States has a lot more experience in integrating minority youths into society than European nations. Officials from 60 countries, as well as spiritual leaders and police officials from across the United States, are attending the White House summit video footage caught on tape cellphone camera surveillance raw dash cam air live on tv share comment like most popular

• published: 18 Feb 2015
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