PHOTO: REUTERS
“Destroying [Islamic State] is not only a realistic goal, we’re going to get it done,” he said at a news conference in Kuala Lumpur after a meeting of Asian leaders in Malaysia.
“We will destroy them. We will take back land they are currently in, take out their financing, hunt down leadership, dismantle their networks, supply lines and we will destroy them.”
With Brussels in lockdown, cities from Beirut to Bamako reeling from attacks, and Americans jittery that they too may come under assault, Obama said they must use the most powerful tool they had against terrorists: say that we’re not afraid.
“It’s absolutely vital for every country, every leader, to send a signal that the viciousness of a handful of killers does not stop the world from doing vital business,” he said as he called Da’ish “a bunch of killers with good social media”.
They must also show that “Paris, one of the most beautiful, enticing cities in the world, is not going to be cowered by the violent demented actions of a few”.
His comments come as the Belgian capital spent a second day under lockdown with police patrolled the streets, hunting for suspects and a possible biological attack. The measures were taken in wake of the November 13 coordinated attacks in Paris which had left 130 people dead and over 300 injured.
Obama said that they had to go to the heart of the problem that exists inside Syria and Iraq [Da’ish strongholds]. “And we have to address the broader issues that exist in a tiny fraction of the Muslim community.”
Pointing to countries with large Muslim populations in Asia, Obama said, “If just a tiny fraction of those [Muslim community] are in some ways attracted by a vicious ideology like ISIL’s, then that’s a real problem for us.”
He urged that such narrative needs to be countered and that political and community leaders along with Muslim clerics had to come forward to ensure the younger generation do not fall for Da’ish’s narrative.
“The American people in the past have confronted some very real, enormous threats. And we beat them. We vanquished them,” he said. “This will be no different.”
Russia should target Da’ish
Obama said it ‘would be helpful’ if Russia directed its focus on tackling Islamic State and he hoped Moscow would agree to a leadership transition in Syria that meant its president stepping down.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also urged Russia and the US on Sunday to cooperate in rooting out terrorism and said he would unveil a comprehensive plan to fight extremism and violence early next year.
“All these terrorists and ideology extremists should be defeated in the name of humanity,” Ban said during a meeting in Malaysia with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at the annual East Asia Summit.
“We need to show global solidarity to address ... the common enemy of Da’ish, some other extremists and terrorist groups,” he said.
Russian PM Medvedev called on all countries, especially those with large Muslim populations, to coordinate efforts for thwarting Da’ish.
“Terrorists have blown up a Russian airplane over the Sinai Peninsula. They’ve conducted a massacre at the heart of Europe,” he said. “These acts are atrocious. The whole world has shuddered.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 23rd, 2015.
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