Oval Speech

From the Stars and Stripes:

"Obama: Terror threat against US has entered 'new phase'"

 

In a rare Oval Office address, President Barack Obama vowed Sunday night the United States would overcome a new terror threat that seeks to "poison the minds" of people here and around the world, as he sought to reassure Americans shaken by recent attacks in Paris and California. "I know that after so much war, many Americans are asking whether we are confronted by a cancer that has no immediate cure," he said, speaking from a lectern in his West Wing office. "The threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it," he declared. The president's speech followed Wednesday's shooting in San Bernardino, California, that killed 14 people and wounded 21. Authorities say a couple carried out the attack and the wife pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and its leader in a Facebook post. Obama's speech was likely to leave his critics unsatisfied. He announced no significant shift in strategy and offered no new policy prescriptions for defeating IS, underscoring both his confidence in his current approach and the lack of easy options for countering the extremist group. He did call for a review of the visa waiver program for people seeking to come to the U.S. and said he would urge private companies and law enforcement leaders to work together to ensure potential attackers can't use technology to evade detection. He also called on Congress to pass new authorization for military actions underway against IS in Iraq and Syria and to approve legislation to keep people on the "no-fly list" from buying guns. The president implored Americans to not turn against Muslims at home, saying the Islamic State was driven by a desire to spark a war between the West and Islam. Still, he called on Muslims in the U.S. and around the world to take up the cause of fighting extremism. The spread of radical Islam into American communities, he said, is "a real problem that Muslims most confront without excuse." The president's critics — and increasingly, some members of his own party — have questioned his strategy. Hours before he spoke, Hillary Clinton — his former secretary of state and the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination — said the U.S. is "not winning" the fight against IS. Obama has insisted that the Islamic State is contained in Iraq and Syria. However, the group has set its sights elsewhere in the world, launching attacks in Lebanon and Turkey and downing a Russia airliner over Egypt. The Nov. 13 attacks in Paris marked the group's most aggressive actions in Europe, a coordinated effort that left 130 people dead and wounded hundreds more. Last week, the terror threat drew even closer for Americans when a couple — a 29-year-old woman originally from Pakistan and her 28-year-old American-born husband — launched an attack on a holiday luncheon in San Bernardino. The woman pledged allegiance to IS and its leader in a Facebook post, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. A Facebook official said the post came about the time the couple stormed the San Bernardino social services center.

 

 

^ His speech really didn't do or say anything new. He was right when he said Muslims in the US and around the world have to do more to fight IS? After every terrorist attack carried out by Muslim extremists you always hear Muslim groups do a lot of talking about how violence isn't part of their religion yet they don't seem to do more than talk. People who sit by and see bad things happen and do nothing are just as guilty as those that physically commit the crimes so Muslims around the world need to stop talking about how peaceful and open their religion is and actually start showing the rest of us with tangible actions. All the non-Muslims have seen since 2000 are countless attacks around the globe (the US, UK, Tunisia, Egypt, Russia, France, Spain, Israel, etc) where Muslims kill non-Muslims in the name of their religion. It's long over-due for the world's Muslims to start showing the world that they aren't all a bunch of violent terrorists. ^

http://www.stripes.com/obama-terror-threat-against-us-has-entered-new-phase-1.382425