White House press secretary Josh Earnest said he was not “particularly concerned about the flack” President Obama has received for not denouncing so-called Muslim extremism, saying the controversy over the language used by the commander in chief distracts from the administration’s policy to root out terrorism.
“This is not a religious war. This is not a war on Islam,” Josh Earnest told reporters as the White House hosts the second day of a summit on “violent extremism.”
Obama has been on the defensive for not using the phrase “Muslim extremism,” with critics accusing him of downplaying the religious motivations behind a spate of recent terrorist attacks.
But Obama’s top spokesman suggested Wednesday said that using such language would harm U.S. efforts to keep terrorist leaders from recruiting new members.
“Anybody who wants to evaluate that strategy can do so by taking a look at the way Osama bin Laden himself described the state of al Qaeda and his frustration [with] our ability to prevent him from succeeding in declaring a religious war between Islam and the West,” Earnest said. “It was frustrating the efforts of that organization to recruit new members. And it prompted him to even contemplate changing the name of his organization to try to get people to identify them as a religious organization as opposed to what they are, which is a terrorist organization.”
The White House summit on “violent extremism” is devoted to showcasing ways other than military intervention to stop the spread of the Islamic State. Obama will focus heavily on efforts to limit the influence of the terrorist organization on social media.
He is scheduled to address the summit at 4:15 p.m. eastern time on Wednesday.
