Tonight, I addressed the nation from the Oval Office on my top priority
as President: Keeping the American people safe.
It weighs heavily on the hearts and
minds of all of us in the wake of the terrible tragedy in San Bernardino.
Fourteen Americans -- dads, moms, daughters, sons -- were taken from us as they
came together to celebrate the holidays. Each of them a public servant. All of
them a part of our American family.
The FBI is still gathering the facts
about what happened in San Bernardino, but here is what we know. We have no
evidence that the killers were directed by a terrorist organization overseas,
or that they were part of a broader conspiracy here at home. But it is clear
that these killers had embraced a perversion of Islam, stockpiled assault
weapons, and committed an act of terrorism.
Our nation has been at war with
terrorists since al Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 Americans on 9/11. Since then,
we've hardened our defenses. Our intelligence and law enforcement agencies have
disrupted countless plots and worked around the clock to keep us safe. Our
military and counter-terrorism professionals have relentlessly pursued
terrorist networks overseas -- disrupting safe havens, killing Osama bin Laden,
and decimating al Qaeda's leadership.
But over the last few years, the
threat has evolved as terrorists have turned to less complicated acts of
violence like the mass shootings that are all-too common in our society. For
the past seven years, I have confronted the evolution of this threat each
morning. Your security is my greatest responsibility. And I know that, after so
much war, many Americans are asking whether we are confronted by a cancer that
has no immediate cure.
So, tonight, this is what I want you to know: The threat of terrorism is
real, but we will overcome it. We will destroy ISIL and any other organization
that tries to harm us. Here's how:
First, our military will continue to
hunt down terrorist plotters in any country where it is necessary, using air
strikes to take out ISIL leaders and their infrastructure in Iraq and Syria.
And since the attacks in Paris, our closest allies – France, Germany, and the
United Kingdom – have ramped up their contributions to our military campaign,
which will help us accelerate our effort to destroy ISIL.
Second, we will continue to provide
training and equipment to Iraqi and Syrian forces fighting ISIL on the ground
so that we take away their safe havens. In both countries, we are deploying
Special Operations forces who can accelerate that offensive.
Third, we are leading a coalition of
65 countries to stop ISIL’s operations by disrupting plots, cutting off their
financing, and preventing them from recruiting more fighters.
Fourth, with American leadership, the
international community has established a process and timeline to pursue
cease-fires and a political resolution to the Syrian civil war. Doing so will
allow the Syrian people and every country to focus on the common goal of
destroying ISIL.
That is our strategy -- designed and
supported by military commanders, counter-terrorism experts, and countries
committed to defeating these terrorists. And we constantly examine further
steps needed to get the job done. That is why I have ordered the Departments of
State and Homeland Security to review the visa program under which the female
terrorist in San Bernardino originally came to this country. And that is why I
will urge high tech and law enforcement leaders to make it harder for
terrorists to use technology to escape from justice.
Here at home, we
can do more together to immediately address this challenge.
To start, Congress should act to make
sure that no one on a No Fly List is able to buy a gun. What possible argument
can be made for allowing a terrorist suspect to buy a semi-automatic weapon?
This is a matter of national security. I know there are some who reject any gun
safety measure, but no matter how effective our intelligence and law
enforcement agencies, we cannot identify every would-be mass shooter. What we
can do, and must do, is make it harder for them to kill.
Next, we should put in place stronger
screening for those who come to America without a visa so that we can know if
they've traveled to war zones. And finally, if Congress believes, as I do, that
we are at war with ISIL, then it should vote to authorize the continued use of
military force against these terrorists.
This is what we should do. But I’d
like to also say a word about what we should not do.
We should not be drawn once again
into a long and costly ground war in Iraq or Syria. That’s what groups like
ISIL want. We also cannot turn against one another by letting this fight become
a war between America and Islam. That, too, is what groups like ISIL want. ISIL
does not speak for Islam. They are thugs and killers, and account for a tiny
fraction of more than a billion Muslims around the world who reject their
hateful ideology.
If we are to succeed in defeating
terrorism, we must enlist Muslim communities as our strongest allies in rooting
out misguided ideas that lead to radicalization. It is the responsibility of
all Americans -- of every faith -- to reject discrimination. It is our responsibility
to reject religious tests on who we admit into this country. It is our
responsibility to reject language that encourages suspicion or hate. Because
that kind of divisiveness, that betrayal of our values, plays into the hands of
groups like ISIL. We have to remember that.
I am confident America will succeed
in this mission because we are on the right side of history. Even as we debate
our differences, let’s make sure we never forget what makes us exceptional: We
were founded upon a belief in human dignity -- the idea that no matter who you
are, or where you come from, or what you look like, or what religion you
practice, you are equal in the eyes of God and equal in the eyes of the law.
Let’s not forget that freedom is more
powerful than fear. That we have always met challenges -- whether war or
depression; natural disasters or terrorist attacks -- by coming together around
our common ideals. As long as we stay true to who we are, then I have no doubt
that America will prevail.
Thank you,
President Barack Obama
No comments:
Post a Comment