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Obama
talks tougher gun control & fighting ISIS in key address; slammed
for lack of new strategy
RT,
7
December, 2015
Calling
the San Bernardino mass shooting a terrorist act, President Barack
Obama stressed that the US must adopt rules making it harder for
people to purchase powerful assault weapons, as well as ban all those
on the US no-fly list from doing so. He also called for Congress to
support the war on Islamic State.
“On
Wednesday, 14 Americans were killed as they came together to
celebrate the holidays. They were taken from family and friends who
loved them deeply,” Obama said. “So far, 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 the two of them had gone down the dark path of
radicalization, embracing a perverted interpretation of Islam that
calls for war against America and the West.”
Obama
noted that the suspects had stockpiles of assault weapons,
ammunition, and pipe bombs. He added that terrorism has evolved
into “a
new phase.”
“Terrorists turn to less complicated acts of violence like the mass shootings that are all too common in our society. It is this type of attack that we saw at Fort Hood in 2009, in Chattanooga earlier this year, and now in San Bernardino.”
“Terrorists turn to less complicated acts of violence like the mass shootings that are all too common in our society. It is this type of attack that we saw at Fort Hood in 2009, in Chattanooga earlier this year, and now in San Bernardino.”
Obama
called for tougher gun control measures, urging Congress to pass
legislation that would prohibit individuals on the US no-fly list
from purchasing a gun. “What
could possibly be the argument for allowing a terrorist suspect to
buy a semiautomatic weapon? This is a matter of national
security,” he
said.
The White House
"What could possibly be the argument for allowing a terrorist suspect to buy a semi-automatic weapon?" —@POTUS
Moreover,
Obama said that the US needs more stringent laws when it comes to
buying powerful assault weapons, similar to those used in the San
Bernardino.“I
know there are some who reject any gun-safety measures, but the fact
is that our intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, no matter how
effective they are, cannot identify every would-be mass shooter,
whether that individual was motivated by ISIL [Islamic State / IS /
ISIS] or some other hateful ideology. What we can do, and must do, is
make it harder for them to kill,” Obama
said.
Saying
that the battle against Islamic State is far from over, Obama called
on Congress to authorize continued use of military force against the
terrorist group.
He also said that the US will press on with airstrikes, special forces missions, and the training of local military and rebels fighting IS on the ground in Iraq and Syria. “We will continue to provide training and equipment to tens of thousands of Iraqi and Syrian forces fighting ISIL on the ground so that we take away their safe havens.”
He also said that the US will press on with airstrikes, special forces missions, and the training of local military and rebels fighting IS on the ground in Iraq and Syria. “We will continue to provide training and equipment to tens of thousands of Iraqi and Syrian forces fighting ISIL on the ground so that we take away their safe havens.”
Obama
claimed the US is also working to cut off IS financing and quash its
recruitment efforts.
Other measures Obama listed in his speech aimed at overcoming the “real threat” of terrorism to “make our country safe”include making it more difficult for people enter the US without visas, with special attention paid to whether they have travelled to war zones.
Other measures Obama listed in his speech aimed at overcoming the “real threat” of terrorism to “make our country safe”include making it more difficult for people enter the US without visas, with special attention paid to whether they have travelled to war zones.
“The
strategy that we are using now – air strikes, special forces, and
working with local forces who are fighting to regain control of their
own country – that is how we’ll achieve a more sustainable
victory, and it won’t require us sending a new generation of
Americans overseas to fight and die for another decade on foreign
soil,” he
said.
Obama
also called on high-tech companies and law enforcement to work on
solutions that would make it harder for terrorists to use technology
to hide.
The
speech comes just days after the San Bernardino terrorist attack on
Wednesday that killed 14 people and injured 21 at a holiday party for
the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health. Syed Rizwan
Farook, 28, and his wife Tashfeen Malik, 27, were the suspected
gunmen behind the massacre. Farook worked at the department as an
environmental specialist.
Both suspects were killed in a shoot-out with police about four hours after the bloodbath.
The FBI said that the San Bernardino shooting is being investigated as a terrorist act. Malik reportedly pledged allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a Facebook post immediately before the attack, official sources told several media outlets.
Both suspects were killed in a shoot-out with police about four hours after the bloodbath.
The FBI said that the San Bernardino shooting is being investigated as a terrorist act. Malik reportedly pledged allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a Facebook post immediately before the attack, official sources told several media outlets.
While
the suspects scrubbed their social media accounts and destroyed their
cell phones, computers and other electronic devices prior to the
attack, the FBI is hoping to piece together enough digital
information to lead them to a motive.
The importance of Sunday’s speech is unmistakable, since during his presidency Obama has delivered only two Oval Office addresses to the nation. The first took place in June 2010, when Obama described the national response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill following negative press coverage on how his administration was handling the environmental disaster. The second Oval Office address was in August 2010, when he marked the end of the US combat operations in Iraq.
The importance of Sunday’s speech is unmistakable, since during his presidency Obama has delivered only two Oval Office addresses to the nation. The first took place in June 2010, when Obama described the national response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill following negative press coverage on how his administration was handling the environmental disaster. The second Oval Office address was in August 2010, when he marked the end of the US combat operations in Iraq.
Nothing new?
However,
as the US president’s live speech was broadcast by media and
online, it came under immense criticism from both critics of Obama’s
policies and those who thought the American leader was basically
stating there would be no change in US strategy at home and
abroad.
Republican Senator and presidential nominee hopeful Rand Paul dismissed the address as “an attempt to turn a necessary discussion on terrorism and national security into a[n] ineffective gun control debate.”
Republican Senator and presidential nominee hopeful Rand Paul dismissed the address as “an attempt to turn a necessary discussion on terrorism and national security into a[n] ineffective gun control debate.”
A
Republican hawk, Senator John McCain, was quick to tweet that Obama’s
speech “again
failed to offer any clear strategy to defeat ISIL.”
Former New York governor, presidential candidate George Pataki – who was recently involved in a controversy over saying that “we must declare war on radical Islam” and “kill them” – went as far as comparing the speech to a “hostage video.”
Former New York governor, presidential candidate George Pataki – who was recently involved in a controversy over saying that “we must declare war on radical Islam” and “kill them” – went as far as comparing the speech to a “hostage video.”
Many
viewers were skeptical about Obama being able to influence Congress
to pass any gun control measures. Chris Baginski from Pittsburgh
tweeted: “Obama
calls on Congress for gun law reform. Spoiler: It won’t happen.
This country has already decided it likes guns more than people… So
just hope that the next mass shooting doesn’t include you or anyone
you care about, because that’s all you can do. America.”
‘Obama won’t take responsibility and admit US needs coalition with Russia & Syria to defeat ISIS’
Obama’s
speech came at a time when Americans feel the terrorist threat is
getting closer to home and polls are showing that most US respondents
think the White House’s strategy on fighting IS is failing.
US
officials have had to acknowledge recently that the Pentagon’s
training of so-called ‘moderate’ Syrian rebels utterly failed.
Moreover, a year of US-led coalition’s airstrikes has not stopped
IS from capturing more territory in Iraq and Syria or disrupted the
illegal oil trade or funding of the extremists from abroad.
Consequently, even the Democratic camp did not appear happy with the
current strategy, which shows so little success on the ground.
Hours
before Obama’s speech, former secretary of state and Democratic
presidential front-runner, Hillary Clinton, told reporters that the
US is “not
winning” the
war against Islamic State. Clinton implied that Congress should let
the US president do more by updating the use-of-force authorization
passed in the wake of 9/11.
However,
there was a lot more missing in the outline of the US government’s
strategy on fighting IS, believes the director of anti-war ANSWER
Coalition, Brian Becker.
One
of the biggest concerns remains Obama’s inability to work with
Russia and the Syrian government to fight against Islamic State,
Becker told RT.
“This
speech was not worthy for what it didn’t say. It didn’t say that
the primary force in Syria fighting ISIL is the Syrian national army
that has lost 65,000-80,000 men during the last four years,” Becker
told RT.
“It
didn’t take responsibility for the US role in fueling the conflict
in Syria, and of course the war in Libya, both of which, along with
invasion and occupation of Iraq, gave the political space for ISIL.
It didn’t mention that Russia military intervened in Syria in a way
that irreversibly changes the military dynamic and allows for an
international coalition. And that the US government even to this day
refuses to join with Russia and Syrian Arab Army embattling ISIL.”
If
IS really is an “existential
threat” to
the US, Obama’s government must acknowledge that there is a need
for a broad international coalition, and that there is a
responsibility to ensure that the American allies in the region, such
as Turkey, are really into fighting IS.
“If
the US says that the existential threat is ISIL, if ISIL is the real
party, then there must a congruence of interests with Russia and with
the Syrian Arab Army to defeat it. And even though the rhetoric has
shifted slightly by the Obama Administration since the Vienna summit…
Obama won’t take responsibility – and he could have done that
tonight on the national television, and explain to the American
people why that [coalition] was an imperative need, but he won’t do
that.”
This less-than-neutral, sychophantic headline from the Guardian characterises the newspaper's attitude towards Empire
This less-than-neutral, sychophantic headline from the Guardian characterises the newspaper's attitude towards Empire
The official story of the San Bernardino attack is falling apart like all the previous false flags. When is the US going to wake up to the real terrorists who, by way of a coup on 9/11...took over their government?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=125761