Obama: “If we act like this is war between US and Islam, we’re going to lose more Americans to terrorist attacks”
Wait… I thought Obama said that Islam had nothing to do with terrorism?
“We are fighting terrorists who claim to fight on behalf of Islam. but they do not speak for over a billion Muslims around the world. And they do not speak for American Muslims, including many who wear the uniform of the United States of America’s military. If we stigmatize good patriotic Muslims, that just feeds the terrorist narrative. It fuels the same false grievances that they use to motivate people to kill.”
Maybe they don’t speak for Muslims in the U.S. and worldwide. But they do appeal to them on the basis of Islamic texts and teachings and it does not “stigmatize good patriotic Muslims” to point that out. In fact, Obama is blocking examination of the motivating ideology of the jihadis, and effective action against them, by claiming that such actions would “stigmatize good patriotic Muslims.” Good patriotic Muslims should have no objection to study of the jihadis’ ideology; after all, they ostensibly reject it don’t they?
“If we act like this is a war between the United States and Islam, we’re not just going to lose more Americans to terrorist attacks, but we’ll also lose sight of the very principles we claim to defend.”
Why will we lose more Americans to terrorist attacks? Obama is apparently working from the assumption that any acknowledgement of how jihadis base their war against the U.S. on Islamic principles will be used by those jihadis to recruit more Muslims, on the basis of the claim that the U.S. is at war with Islam. We have to watch what we say, or else Muslims who might otherwise have been placid will turn to jihad. This, too, is a kind of capitulation. Obama is surrendering the freedom of speech without a murmur of protest. He is also foreclosing upon the possibility of any examination of the jihad ideology — because that would give the impression that the U.S. is at war with Islam.
“The United States of America is not a place where some citizens have to withstand greater scrutiny or carry a special ID card or prove that they’re not an enemy from within.”
President-elect Trump isn’t actually proposing that. That’s just establishment media propaganda that Obama is repeating.
“Obama: If We Make Terrorism a War Between the U.S. and Islam, We Will Lose More Lives,” by Pam Key, Breitbart, December 6, 2016:
Tuesday in Tampa, FL at MacDill Air Force Base, President Barack Obama said warned against the stigmatization of “good patriotic Muslims” and that it would feed the “terrorist narrative.”
Obama said, “We are fighting terrorists who claim to fight on behalf of Islam. but they do not speak for over a billion Muslims around the world. And they do not speak for American Muslims, including many who wear the uniform of the United States of America’s military. If we stigmatize good patriotic Muslims, that just feeds the terrorist narrative. It fuels the same false grievances that they use to motivate people to kill.”
“If we act like this is a war between the United States and Islam, we’re not just going to lose more Americans to terrorist attacks, but we’ll also lose sight of the very principles we claim to defend,” he continued. “So let me final words to you as your commander in chief, be a reminder of what it is you’re fighting for, what it is that we are fighting for. The United States of America is not a country that imposes religious tests as a price for freedom. We’re a country that was founded so that people could practice their faiths as they choose. The United States of America is not a place where some citizens have to withstand greater scrutiny or carry a special ID card or prove that they’re not an enemy from within.”…
