Obama:”Radical Islam” is a political talking point, not a strategy.
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama speaking at a meeting today at the Treasury Department, unleashed a blistering verbal assault on Donald Trump and his “dangerous” proposal for a ban on Muslims entering the country, saying the suggestion violates the principles of American democracy and generates rage among would-be extremists.
Dismissing the “yapping” from “politicians who tweet,” Obama described Trump’s suggestions as harmful to the country’s national security.
“What exactly would using this label accomplish? What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to trying to kill Americans? the president continued. “Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this?
The answer is none of the above. Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction. Since before I was president, I’ve been clear about how extremist’s groups have perverted Islam to justify terrorism.
As president, I have repeatedly called on our Muslim friends and allies at home and around the world to work with us to reject this twisted interpretation of one of the world’s great religions.”
He said the phrase “radical Islam” is a political talking point, not a strategy.
The president went on to talk about his plans to combat ISL/ISIS.
“We are doing everything in our power to stop these kinds of attacks,” he continued. “We work to succeed 100 percent of the time. An attacker, as we saw in Orlando, only has to succeed once.”
President Obama said ISIL continues to lose ground in Syria.
“This continues to be a difficult fight, but we are making significant progress. Over the past two months I’ve authorized a series of steps to ratchet up our fight against ISIL.”
The gathering of top officials at the Treasury Department was scheduled before Sunday’s mass shooting.
“These are not religious warriors. They are thugs, and they are thieves.”
“The reason I am careful about how I describe this threat has nothing to do with political correctness, and everything to do with actually defeating extremism.”
He also addressed “common sense” steps to reduce gun violence.
“We should give ATF the resources they need to enforce the gun laws that we already have. People with possible ties to terrorism who aren’t allowed on a plane shouldn’t be allowed to buy a gun. Enough talking about being tough on terrorism, actually be tough on terrorism and stop making it easy as possible for terrorists to buy assault weapons. Reinstate the assault weapons ban, make it harder for terrorists to use these weapons to kill us.”
