President Barack Obama on Tuesday lambasted Republican presumptive candidate Donald Trump for his criticism of the White House’s decision not to use the label radical Islam, arguing that the use of term would in no way help contain violence but on the contrary could be counterproductive to security efforts.
“What exactly would using this label accomplish? What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this?” Obama questioned, challenging Trump’s assertion to paint American lone wolf terrors like Orlando shooter Omar Mateen as part of the radical Islam.
“The answer is none of the above,” Obama said, repudiating Republican critics of his administration’s counterterrorism policy.
At the same time, Obama pointed out that the mere use of term radical Islam – anathema to Muslims around the world – does nothing to any counterterrorism strategy, and challenged Republicans if there was any strategy in the term they use.
Here are some of the remarks Obama made after meeting his security advisors on combating ISIS, a terror outfit operating out of Iraq and Syria, and also took issue with Trump’s insistence on using term radical Islam:
“If the implication is that those of us up here and the thousands of people around the country and around the world who are working to defeat ISIL aren’t taking the fight seriously, that would come as a surprise to those who have spent these last seven and a half years dismantling al Qaeda in the FATA, for example — including the men and women in uniform who put their lives at risk and the Special Forces that I ordered to get bin Laden and are now on the ground in Iraq and in Syria. They know full well who the enemy is.
“So do the intelligence and law enforcement officers who spend countless hours disrupting plots and protecting all Americans, including politicians who tweet and appear on cable news shows. They know who the nature of the enemy is.
“There’s no magic to the phrase ‘radical Islam.’ It’s a political talking point. It’s not a strategy.”
“Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction.” Obama admonished.
“Not once has an adviser of mine said, ‘Man, if we use that phrase, we’re going to turn this whole thing around.’”
Obama, who has endorsed Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee after she staked claim to nomination by winning the highest number of delegates, is likely to regularly weigh on the security issues and differences between Democratic and Republican strategies in the political battles ahead of November 8 presidential election.
