1. 6/3/2016 Kasia Anderson: In Address About San Bernardino Attack, President Obama Lays Out Plan to ‘Destroy’ Islamic State - Truthdig
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/president_obama_calls_san_bernardino_attack_act_of_terrorism_lays_out_plan_ 1/12
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AUDIO: Robert
In Address About San Bernardino Attack,
President Obama Lays Out Plan to ‘Destroy’
Islamic State Edit 45181
Posted on Dec 6, 2015
By Kasia Anderson
YouTube
During a televised address Sunday about the mass shooting that occurred four days
earlier in San Bernardino, Calif., President Obama made it clear that he considered the
incident an “act of terrorism designed to kill innocent people” and described his approach
to handling the ongoing threat. In outlining his strategy he urged caution on several
fronts.
The president characterized San Bernardino assailants Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik as
having gone down a “dark path of radicalization” prior to carrying out the attack that
killed 14 people and wounded 21 others. But Obama emphasized that “so far, we have no
evidence that the killers were directed by a terrorist organization overseas, nor are they
part of a broader conspiracy at home.”
That last point was likely to draw fire from the president’s critics who had been quicker to
draw explicit links between the perpetrators of the San Bernardino shooting and Islamic
State. Obama did go on to invoke the Islamist militant group several times throughout his
speech as he sought to convince Americans, as well as his opponents, that he is prepared
to handle this phase of the global conflict.
These are the kind of decisive, if unlikely, claims that presidents seem to need to make in
such crisis moments, although the reasons for that necessity are not typically up for
discussion on live television.
Before delving into his fourpoint plan,
Obama situated the current moment in
a broader historical context, stemming
back to Sept. 11, 2001. “Our nation has
been at war with terrorists since al
Qaida killed 3,000 Americans,” he said,
touching on how law enforcement and
intelligence operations have been
“hardened” and how the terror threat
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2. 6/3/2016 Kasia Anderson: In Address About San Bernardino Attack, President Obama Lays Out Plan to ‘Destroy’ Islamic State - Truthdig
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/president_obama_calls_san_bernardino_attack_act_of_terrorism_lays_out_plan_ 2/12
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has “evolved into a new phase” as
recruitment strategies by militant
organizations have reaped violent
results, such as the Boston Marathon
bombing and now the San Bernardino
attack.
“I have authorized U.S. forces to take
out terrorists because I understand too
well how real the danger is,” Obama
said, defending his efficacy as
commander in chief. Next came the
inevitable, possibly untenable, salvo:
“We will destroy [Islamic State] and any
other organization that tries to harm
us.”
The president’s scheme included the following components: First, he said, the U.S.
military will “hunt down terrorist plotters” around the globe. Next, our military will
continue to train and equip Iraqi and Syrian forces to help them combat terrorist
operatives within their borders. Additionally, he said, the U.S. and its allies will work to
cut off Islamic State’s finances and “prevent them from recruitment”—a job that will
require “cooperating with Muslim allies and with communities at home to counter the
vicious ideology that [Islamic State] promotes online.” Finally, Obama said, the U.S. and
a coalition of some 65 countries—including Russia—will work out a timeline to resolve the
war in Syria.
While he was at it, the president also outlined “several steps” that he said “Congress
should take right away” to do its part. First in that series came the call to pass legislation,
of the sort that Congress just voted down last week, to make it impossible for people on
the nofly list to purchase firearms. “What could possibly be the argument for allowing a
terror suspect to buy an automatic weapon?” Obama asked, completely aware of the
answers his opponents have given to that question.
He continued his push, also advocating that the U.S. government “put in place stronger
screening” standards, before he switched gears to point out what he believed “we should
not do” in response to last week’s tragedy: “We should not be drawn once again into a
long and costly ground war in Iraq or Syria,” he said, warning that militant groups know
that if the U.S. occupies their territory overseas “they can maintain insurgencies for
years” and use the presence of the U.S. military to their advantage in recruitment efforts.
Instead, Obama said he would continue the approach his administration has been
pursuing, which he described as “airstrikes, special forces and working with local forces”
that are working to reclaim their own nations.
In closing, Obama warned Americans not to turn on each other by defining this conflict as
a fight against Islam at large. “[Islamic State] does not speak for Islam,” he said,
bringing his focus to the domestic front in noting that “Muslim Americans are our friends
and our neighbors, coworkers and sports heroes,” as well as members of the U.S.
military.
And then came the whitehat finish. “We are on the right side of history,” Obama
declared, inviting his audience to associate America’s origin story with his current moves
on the global stage while viewing themselves, and him, as patriots and rejecting knee
jerk nationalism. “We were founded upon a belief in human dignity,” he said, and the
country’s tradition is one in which inhabitants are “equal in the eyes of God” and “equal in
the eyes of the law”—pushing back, perhaps, on recent rhetoric from rightleaning
presidential candidates who would seek to expel certain immigrant groups. “Let us not
forget that freedom is more powerful than fear,” he said.
In all, Obama’s speech contained few surprises and addressed not just the American
people but his enemies abroad and at home, as well as the need to justify his actions in
overseas wars both claimed and covert. His detractors will find cause to suggest he has
already fallen short of the goals he described, but whatever criticism or support he might
experience, the president and his words will no doubt be tested many times during his
final months in office.
Watch President Obama’s full address below (via YouTube):
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![6/3/2016 Kasia Anderson: In Address About San Bernardino Attack, President Obama Lays Out Plan to ‘Destroy’ Islamic State - Truthdig
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/president_obama_calls_san_bernardino_attack_act_of_terrorism_lays_out_plan_ 2/12
AUDIO: Robert
Scheer Speaks
With Nomi Prins
About the
Connection
Between
Washington and
Wall Street
A N I M A T I O N
Trump News
Tonight! (Video)
A R T S & C U L T U R E
You May Also Like
By Lisa Zeiden
Powerful Exhibits on
Both Coasts Explore
Borders and the
Plight of Refugees
By Liesl Bradner
Crimeless Indian
Village Suggests
People Can Live
Without Even Basic
Security Measures
Groucho: The
Comedy of Existence
By Allen Barra
Readings: Essays
and Literary
Entertainments
By Michael Dirda
$11.16
The Day Wall Street
Exploded
By Beverly Gage
$18.45
Baseball Cap
$17
has “evolved into a new phase” as
recruitment strategies by militant
organizations have reaped violent
results, such as the Boston Marathon
bombing and now the San Bernardino
attack.
“I have authorized U.S. forces to take
out terrorists because I understand too
well how real the danger is,” Obama
said, defending his efficacy as
commander in chief. Next came the
inevitable, possibly untenable, salvo:
“We will destroy [Islamic State] and any
other organization that tries to harm
us.”
The president’s scheme included the following components: First, he said, the U.S.
military will “hunt down terrorist plotters” around the globe. Next, our military will
continue to train and equip Iraqi and Syrian forces to help them combat terrorist
operatives within their borders. Additionally, he said, the U.S. and its allies will work to
cut off Islamic State’s finances and “prevent them from recruitment”—a job that will
require “cooperating with Muslim allies and with communities at home to counter the
vicious ideology that [Islamic State] promotes online.” Finally, Obama said, the U.S. and
a coalition of some 65 countries—including Russia—will work out a timeline to resolve the
war in Syria.
While he was at it, the president also outlined “several steps” that he said “Congress
should take right away” to do its part. First in that series came the call to pass legislation,
of the sort that Congress just voted down last week, to make it impossible for people on
the nofly list to purchase firearms. “What could possibly be the argument for allowing a
terror suspect to buy an automatic weapon?” Obama asked, completely aware of the
answers his opponents have given to that question.
He continued his push, also advocating that the U.S. government “put in place stronger
screening” standards, before he switched gears to point out what he believed “we should
not do” in response to last week’s tragedy: “We should not be drawn once again into a
long and costly ground war in Iraq or Syria,” he said, warning that militant groups know
that if the U.S. occupies their territory overseas “they can maintain insurgencies for
years” and use the presence of the U.S. military to their advantage in recruitment efforts.
Instead, Obama said he would continue the approach his administration has been
pursuing, which he described as “airstrikes, special forces and working with local forces”
that are working to reclaim their own nations.
In closing, Obama warned Americans not to turn on each other by defining this conflict as
a fight against Islam at large. “[Islamic State] does not speak for Islam,” he said,
bringing his focus to the domestic front in noting that “Muslim Americans are our friends
and our neighbors, coworkers and sports heroes,” as well as members of the U.S.
military.
And then came the whitehat finish. “We are on the right side of history,” Obama
declared, inviting his audience to associate America’s origin story with his current moves
on the global stage while viewing themselves, and him, as patriots and rejecting knee
jerk nationalism. “We were founded upon a belief in human dignity,” he said, and the
country’s tradition is one in which inhabitants are “equal in the eyes of God” and “equal in
the eyes of the law”—pushing back, perhaps, on recent rhetoric from rightleaning
presidential candidates who would seek to expel certain immigrant groups. “Let us not
forget that freedom is more powerful than fear,” he said.
In all, Obama’s speech contained few surprises and addressed not just the American
people but his enemies abroad and at home, as well as the need to justify his actions in
overseas wars both claimed and covert. His detractors will find cause to suggest he has
already fallen short of the goals he described, but whatever criticism or support he might
experience, the president and his words will no doubt be tested many times during his
final months in office.
Watch President Obama’s full address below (via YouTube):
Ho'olei at Grand Wailea
$1,712
Andaz Maui At Wailea
$537
Save 29% *
Save 5% *
Nissan JUKE®
CLICK TO CHANGE COLOR
Build Your JUKE
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