As focus shifts from our own president to the 2016 presidential candidates who share their views in regards to a multitude of political issues, it becomes even more important to not forget where President Obama stands in regards to the pressing issues of terrorism, the increasing threat of Isis in our country, and how exactly he plans to resolve them. On Sunday night, December 10th, President Obama addressed the American people in regards to the key elements that are needed to take out Isis and the threat of terrorism, all while staying at home. The president stated that his strategy to combat the forces of ISIL were to “continue military campaigns to hunt down terrorist plotters in any country necessary, provide training and equipment to Iraqi and Syrian forces fighting ISIL on the ground, stop ISIL’s operations by disrupting plots, cutting off finances, and preventing recruitment of more fighters.” Lastly he expressed that to “defeat ISIL abroad the U.S. and international community will also have to establish a process and timeline to pursue cease fires and a political resolution to the Syrian civil war.” Following the Paris terrorist attacks, the U.S. and partners in the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL “intensified” their efforts even more. The White House described the many actions that are being taken across the Globe to counter attack the acts of recent terrorists. Despite this all, President Obama made sure to recognize that the issue of terrorism does not only exist abroad, but here at home. He expressed that is it imperative that “no one on a ‘No fly list’ should buy a gun or a powerful assault weapon, that stronger screenings will be put in place for travelers to the U.S. without a visa to check if they’ve travelled to wazones. “ and most importantly to “vote to authorize the continued use of military force against ISIL.” Overall, the president spoke to the idea that the war on ISIL is not a war on Islam but a war on the terrorist groups who seek destruction and mass killing. He made sure that although we are fighting a Muslim extremist group, the anti- muslim bigotry in our country must come to an end, for the survival and well being of our country is at stake if we cannot all live side by side.
How do you feel Obama’s address covered the issues of terrorism our country currently faces?
Do you believe his strategy is ideal for our current situation? Should more be done? Less?
Did he touch upon the most prominent issues in regards to terrorism that our country faces? Why or why not?
5 comments:
I feel that Obama is doing a good job addressing the issues of terrorism in our country and abroad. He is demonstrating that America is not afraid of ISIS and will not back down from them. However, he is not being too aggressive, because he realizes how sensitive this situation is. I agree with him that our efforts need to be intensified after the recent attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, especially on gun control in our nation. To me, perhaps the most impressive way he addressed the situation was how he recognized that ISIS is not only an issue abroad, but also at home. However, he did this while also defending the fact that this is not a war against Islam, but rather on ISIS and radical terrorists. By addressing both sides of this heated argument, Obama is able to come to reasonable conclusions as to how we should act. Obviously, it is America's duty to provide aid to the refugees in need, but as Obama said, we must also be concerned with our own nation's safety, and must therefore take the precautions needed.
I agree with Brian that Obama did an excellent job in finding the middle ground on such a touchy topic like this. However, I do believe that Obama made a distinction between ISIS related terrorists and those that we suffer from here. It is extremely important to recognize that not all terror attacks that occur on US soil are related to ISIS or even extremist Islam, but rather radicalism in many forms. Thus, the core issue is NOT Islam, but hatred and fear that breeds radicalism, and extremism as a whole. Obama's speech comes at a critical time for America, not least because of the seemingly looming threat of ISIS, but also because of the anti-Muslim diatribe we are hearing from Trump almost every day. As ridiculous and disgusting as his comments seem to us, there is a minority (unfortunately a vocal one) that believes him and spouts similar beliefs. Even if a person does not support or agree with Trump, they are liable to have anti-Muslim sentiment. Obama has highlighted the importance of evaluating a person's worth as a whole, not solely by their religion. Fear-mongering leads to violence and oppression, which fosters the exact attitudes that lead to the extremism and terrorism that plague us today. So, overall, Obama succinctly and eloquently addressed a few of our biggest issues in the US--how we deal with ISIS and how we avoid racism and xenophobia.
Personally, I agree with Brian and Sarah that Obama did deliver a promising address in regards to ISIS, and how to combat them for the future. I thought he touched upon an important aspect that has been brought up numerous times by the media and the candidates, and that is that people on the no fly-zone list, can still purchase a fire arm legally. President Obama clearly stated in the address that people who are too dangerous to fly on a plane, are without a doubt too dangerous to own a gun. This statement is undeniably true, and President Obama went on to say that he already submitted a bill to Congress asking to disallow people on the no-fly list from purchasing a fire arm. I also admired how President Obama didn't make his solution to this problem one that involves bombing ISIS into the ground, and killing innocent people. I'm glad Obama recognized that all Muslims should not be subject to discrimination and segregation simply because of ISIS attacks. This is an issue that many Americans are naive about, and jump to conclusions that all Muslims are bad, when that is just not the case. President Obama's approach is absolutely the correct way to approach an issue like ISIS, because being too forceful could end up hurting more innocent people, than actually taking out the bad guys. As of right now, I believe that President Obama is doing a fine job of handling the situation, and he is not using too much force to combat ISIS, but definitely the right amount of force.
I agree with all of the above, his speech addressing terrorism abroad and in the US. He ultimately showed that America is powerful and will not be weak on terrorism and related issues. And I completely agree with Sarah that there must be a distinction be tween ISIS and all other terrorism. In the US people automatically relate any terrorism to the Islamic religion. This cannot persist. Blaming terrorist actions on one religion is completely horrific. Our country is built upon freedom of religion, for the very representation of this ideal to turn on a certain religion is horrible. There have been comments of taking action regarding this certain religion, even from powerful people such as Trump. This simply cannot go on. I also agree with Jefe about the fire arm regulation based on the no flu list, I think this is a very smart. If someone is not allowed to fly they should certainly not have the ability to purchase a fire arm, because they are considered a dangerous person. Over all I think President Obama gave an insightful and strong speech, that should be well respected and learned from.
I thought Obama did an excellent job in his address to the nation. Although he's faced a lot of pressure from the right, and many have questioned his ability to "take a stand " on radical terrorism, but he did a good job singling out ISIS, and laid out a logical, sensible approach to the recent developments that I hope all Americans will heed. The President distinguished between the ISIS "thugs," and our Middle Eastern Muslim allies. As Obama said, these nations need to be our biggest allies and advocates in the Middle East amidst our fight against the radical jihadists who have waged war on us, and our foundations as a nation. The only thing that could make this current dilemma worse is alienating our Muslim friends in that powder-keg region of the world. With disparaging comments about Muslims from US presidential candidates making headlines, Middle Eastern nationals could be pushed towards the radicals, and their gang-like indoctrination tactics. All in all, I think Obama did a great job, and he brought up some great points that need to be discussed and addressed by our 2016 candidates.
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