Flanked by the nation’s top generals, including the leaders of CENTCOM and AFRICOM, as well as the secretary of Defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, President Obama acknowledged “we’re going to have to pick up our game” to prevent attacks from ISIS.
But, Obama stressed, “we’ll constantly reaffirm through words and deeds that we will never be at war with Islam while fighting terrorists who distort Islam and whose victims are mostly Muslims.”
Looking down at the podium in the Pentagon briefing room frequently as he was reading off a prepared speech without the benefit of a teleprompter, Obama said the “larger battle for hearts and minds” to defeat ISIS “is going to be a generational struggle. It’s ultimately not going to be lost or won by the United States alone.”
“We’re going to work day and night with allies and partners to disrupt terrorist networks and thwart attacks and to smother nascent ISIL cells that may be trying to develop in other parts of the world. This also includes remaining vigilant in protecting against attacks here in the homeland,” the president said. “Now I think it’s important for us to recognize the threat of violent extremism is not restricted to any one community. Here in the United States, we have seen all kinds of home-grown terrorism and tragically recent history reminds us how even a single individual motivated by a hateful ideology with access to dangerous weapons can inflict horrendous harm on Americans.”