The love that dare not speak its name: Islamism
The Right Scoop:
When asked by a Nigerian student about the war on terror and groups
like Boko Haram, Obama responded by saying that his belief is that
terrorism both emerges and takes root when “countries are not
delivering for their people and where there are sources of conflict and
underlying frustrations that have not been adequately dealt with.”
So basically he is saying bad governance is the reason Boko Haram
exists, which just shows how foolish he really is. The problem is Islam,
yet he won’t ever come close to admitting it. In fact he continues to
call it ‘extremism’ and never even comes close to mentioning any
derivative of Islam while talking about the “so-called war on terror.”
While in the same answer to this student, Obama also decries the idea
that America wants to expand its military reach around the world, as if
that is the assumption. He says it’s “simply not true”:
But I promise, this notion somehow that we want to somehow expand our military reach — I was elected to end a war. I’ve ended one. I’m now in the process of ending another one. …This idea somehow that we want to get more involved militarily around the world is simply not true.
Sounds like he’s apologizing for America again to me. Ugh.
And last, but certainly not least, Obama has the GALL to say this to wrap up his answer about the war on terror:
But what we won’t do is just stand by if our embassy is being attacked or our people are in vulnerable situations. And we expect countries to work with us to try to deal with some of these threats.
I just don’t know ho he says such things after we lost 4 great Americans in Benghazi while he did nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Below is the video of Obama’s full answer on this along with a full transcript:
QUESTION: Q Good
afternoon, Mr. President. My name is Aisha Myna (ph), and I represent seven
other people here…
My second question — it’s two-pronged, sorry, Mr. President
— considering how long the war on terror has been on for, would you say that
we’re winning the war on terror, seeing that there are new terrorist groups
developing in Africa, one of which is in Nigeria? Thank you.
…
OBAMA: Now,
with respect to the so-called war on terror, there’s no doubt that we’ve made
some progress in dealing with some extremist groups — for example, core al
Qaeda and bin Laden, that was based in the FATA area between Pakistan and
Afghanistan — that they have been greatly diminished. But what is also true is
that in some ways, the problem has metastasized. You have more regional
terrorist organizations, like a Boko Haram in Nigeria, espousing an extremist
ideology, showing no regard for human life. And although they may not have the
same transnational capacity that some of the earlier organizations did, they’re
doing great harm in Africa and in the Middle East and in South Asia.
People always talk about the terrorist threat to the United
States or the West, but the truth of the matter is, is that the number of
people who are killed by terrorist attacks in African countries, or in Muslim
countries, or in South Asia, far outstrips any deaths that are experienced by
westerners. It’s typically people right there where these organizations are based
that are most likely to be killed. When the Kenya Embassy bombing happened, the
overwhelming majority of people who were killed were Kenyans, not Americans.
And so this is not just a problem for us. This is a problem for everybody.
Now, the question is, how do we address this problem? It
is my strong belief that terrorism is more likely to emerge and take root where
countries are not delivering for their people and where there are sources of
conflict and underlying frustrations that have not been adequately dealt with.
The danger we have right now, for example, in a place like Somalia is that it’s
been two generations, maybe three since there was a functioning government
inside of Somalia. Now, we’ve started to see actually some progress, in part
because of intervention by African nations in Somalia to clear the space, to
create the space for governance.
But you look at what’s happening in Mali, for example, right
now. Part of the problem is, is that you had a weak central government and
democratic institutions that weren’t reaching out as far into the country as
were necessary, and we’ve got to build those institutions. A lot of what we
talked about in terms of responsiveness and governance and democracy, those
things become defense mechanisms against terrorism. They’re the most important
defense against terrorism.
So I don’t start with the attitude of a military solution to
these problems. I think the more that we’re giving people opportunity, the more
that we’re giving people education, the more that we’re helping resolve
conflicts through regular democratic processes, the less likely they are to
take root. Now, having said that, there are some extremist groups that will not
compromise or work through a democratic process, and we have to also be realistic
about that. And what we want to do is partner with African countries to figure
out how we can help.
But I promise, this notion somehow that we want to somehow
expand our military reach — I was elected to end a war. I’ve ended one. I’m now
in the process of ending another one. Every few weeks, I go and visit soldiers
who are your age, who have had their legs blown off in Afghanistan, or worse.
Every week, I’m writing letters to the families of fallen soldiers. Sometimes I
go to Arlington National Cemetery, where our heroes are buried, and I hug those
families and I feel their sobs on my shoulder.
This idea somehow that we want to get more involved
militarily around the world is simply not true. First of all, it costs a lot of
money, and the United States, just like every country around the world, has to
think about its budget. And where we intervene oftentimes it’s not very
effective because unless you’ve got a local population that is standing up
against terrorism, we end up being viewed as interlopers and intruders.
So with — in the Africa context, what we want to do is to
build African capacity. We want the African Union and other regional
organizations to build up the capacity to send in peacekeepers, to be able to
nip terrorist cells that may be forming before they start and gain strength.
And we can provide advice and training and in some cases equipment, but we
would love nothing more than for Africa, collectively, to say no to extremism,
say no to terrorism, to say no to sectarianism — which in the case of Boko
Haram, for example, is an example of essentially a religious rationale for this
kind of violence — and the United States to be able to step back and worry
about selling iPads and planes. That’s what we would like to do.
But what we won’t do is just stand by if our embassy is
being attacked or our people are in vulnerable situations. And we expect countries to work with us to try to deal
with some of these threats. And this is a global issue; it’s not just one
related to the United States. Okay. All right.
(h/t: GWP)
http://tinyurl.com/najhuhs
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