Obama went to lengths before the summit began to avoid linking extremism to the Muslim faith; his intent, aides say, was to avoid giving credence to the ideologies of Islamic State or al Qaeda terrorists.
READ: Obama summit aims to battle extremism
On Wednesday he sought to explain his wording, declaring al Qaeda and ISIS “desperate for legitimacy.”
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He also pointed to the case in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where Muslim Americans were the victims in a high profile murder case. The outcry from Muslim American groups led to a mass prayer outside the White House last week.
“We do not yet know why three young people, who were Muslim Americans, were brutally killed in Chapel Hill, N.C. But we know that many Muslim Americans across our country are worried and afraid,” Obama wrote in the op-ed.
