An exception came this week at his summit on violent extremism: instead of ignoring the debate over using the words “Islam” or “Islamic” to describe terror threats, Obama addressed the issue head-on.
Obama told a crowd of foreign ministers Thursday at the State Department that groups like ISIS and al Qaeda are “desperate for legitimacy” — and that elected officials carry an obligation not to grant it.
READ: Obama calls on world to focus on roots of ISIS, al Qaeda
“All of us have a responsibility to refute the notion that groups like ISIL somehow represent Islam, because that is a falsehood that embraces the terrorist narrative,” he said.
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“When people are oppressed, and human rights are denied — particularly along sectarian lines or ethnic lines — when dissent is silenced, it feeds violent extremism,” Obama said on Thursday. “It creates an environment that is ripe for terrorists to exploit. When peaceful, democratic change is impossible, it feeds into the terrorist propaganda that violence is the only answer available.”
That reasoning, however, could apply not only to places like Syria and Iraq, where ISIS has gained footholds. Stable — but totalitarian — regimes in the region like Saudi Arabia and Qatar have provided staunch support to the U.S.
“If you accept the logic of the President’s argument, there is almost no one in this region that is immune from the notion that the way to get at ISIS is to reform these totalitarian regimes — the kings, the emirs, the sheiks — into something else,” said Aaron David Miller, vice president at the Wilson Center and a former adviser to both Democratic and Republican administrations.
