In an op-ed published online by the Los Angeles Times, Obama politely explains to us ignoramuses:
“Governments that deny human rights play into the hands of extremists who claim that violence is the only way to achieve change. Efforts to counter violent extremism will only succeed if citizens can address legitimate grievances through the democratic process and express themselves through strong civil societies. Those efforts must be matched by economic, educational and entrepreneurial development so people have hope for a life of dignity.”
And we thought their grievance was that they wanted to impose Sharia law.
As I pointed out before, many terrorists are quite well educated and rather well off financially.
There are people who want to kill us and impose a worldwide caliphate and Obama wants to send them foreign aid.
Then Obama dredged up this oldie: “Our campaign to prevent people around the world from being radicalized to violence is ultimately a battle for hearts and minds.”
Or as Lyndon Johnson said in a 1965 speech as I was about to graduate from high school and become eligible for the draft:
“So we must be ready to fight in Viet-Nam, but the ultimate victory will depend upon the hearts and the minds of the people who actually live out there. By helping to bring them hope and electricity you are also striking a very important blow for the cause of freedom throughout the world.”
How’d that work out? It didn’t work out. Ten years later we bugged out, even though Johnson, unlike Obama, put boots on the ground and Richard Nixon kept us there.
As a friend of mine says, those who do not remember history are condemned to quote George Santayana.
Bug out. (UPI photo)
4TH ST8 
I’ve read stuff written by terrorists. They aren’t in it for anyone’s hearts or minds, or to improve anyone’s lives. They’re in it for the HIGH they get from doing it. The excuses vary but the ultimate motivation is always the same — that personal high.
Yeah, its true. Endless war is the only answer.
It is if you keep doing the same damn thing over and over again and expect a different outcome. That is the definition of what?
So if the President exports his progressive leftist socialist programs (foreign aid) to the Muslim Jihadist countries…eventually their civilization will collapse…just as ours is doing. The only problem…it may take fifty years to spend all of the “other peoples” money to do so.
Dear Wingnut: to which “Muslim Jihadist” countries are we sending
“progressive leftist socialist programs”?
Now, now…don’t get yourself all in a tizzy. Perhaps you should address that question to Marie Harf and the President…they’re the ones who want to get the jihadists jobs.
How crazy to suggest that jihadi terrorism has some connection to broken Arab societies and economies! How could anyone possibly think that?
This latest statement by Obama dovetails with the State Department spokeperson who said what the Muslim Terrorists need to quit their “radical” ways is jobs. It is a reflection of the fact that Obama my upbringing and association has a both an anticapitalism bent and a sympathetic and unrealistic notion concerning Islam. If only the murderous thugs had jobs they would reform according to this administration. I am sure Obama would say that those jobs must be higher than minimum wage. Next, he may well propose “workfare” for Jihadists to be paid by American taxpayers. For those yet too blind to see, do some study on the history of Islam and past endeavors to establish an Islamic Caliphate across Europe. What an Alice in Wonderland world foreign policy we have.
Remember, Bill, the U.S. and a number of European nations paid tribute to the Barbary states’ so their pirates would not capture ships and enslave their crews.
As a former Marine, I learned in boot camp what the phrase “to the shores of Tripoli” meant in the Marine Corps Hymn and learned about Lieutenant Presley Obannon who was the hero in the fight against the Tripoli pirates. As I recall, we were paying tribute to several “countries” through the subterfuge of “treaties” but the Sultan of Tripoli was disstisfied with the amount and therefore resumed the piracy. Do you see any parallels today in our foreign policy?
ISIS and the Barbary pirates are two sides of the same coin. Both attacked and enslaved under the auspices of Muhammad.
We can and should win their hearts and minds- just make sure they still aren’t attached to their bodies.
Win hearts and minds? These barbarians are selling hearts (and other organs), and severing minds.
The President and his spokesman Josh Earnest (whose name itself is an oxymoron) continue to paint themselves into a PC corner over Islamic jihadist terrorism…and let ME be clear…they haven’t been clear on anything! You can’t make this stuff up…bravo to Ed Henry!
[…] day after publishing an op-ed on the Los Angeles Times website, Obama doubled down in a speech at his summit on […]
Here is the statement by the President that Mr. Mitchell finds so offensive:
“We have to confront the warped ideologies espoused by terrorists like al Qaeda and ISIL, especially their attempt to use Islam to justify their violence. These terrorists are desperate for legitimacy. And all of us have a responsibility to refute the notion that groups like ISIL somehow represent Islam, because that is a falsehood that embraces the terrorist narrative. At the same time, we must acknowledge that groups like al Qaeda and ISIL are deliberately targeting their propaganda to Muslim communities, particularly Muslim youth. And Muslim communities, including scholars and clerics, therefore have a responsibility to push back, not just on twisted interpretations of Islam, but also on the lie that we are somehow engaged in a clash of civilizations; that America and the West are somehow at war with Islam or seek to suppress Muslims; or that we are the cause of every ill in the Middle East. That narrative sometimes extends far beyond terrorist organizations. That narrative becomes the foundation upon which terrorists build their ideology and by which they try to justify their violence. And that hurts all of us, including Islam, and especially Muslims, who are the ones most likely to be killed. Obviously, there is a complicated history between the Middle East, the West. And none of us I think should be immune from criticism in terms of specific policies, but the notion that the West is at war with Islam is an ugly lie. And all of us, regardless of our faith, have a responsibility to reject it. “
Yep, that’s typical Obamaspeak…clear as mud & convoluted as usual…
And delusional …
yeah, right. We should declare war on Islam. That’s the ticket.