The Absurdity of Obama’s Violent Extremism Summit

How can a summit be held on a dire threat to international security when the host refuses to acknowledge the cause of this threat?  This question will hover over the summit on violent extremism that President Obama will hold at the White House next month.

French President Hollande was unequivocal over the weekend in stating that France is at war with radical Islam and jihadism.  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after participating in the massive rally in Paris on Sunday held to demonstrate unity after the attacks on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, police officers, and a kosher supermarket, “Radical Islam is an enemy to us all.”

By contrast, Obama officials still cannot bring themselves to say “radical Islam,” “radical Islamist,” or “Islamist terrorist.”  In response to direct questions during two Sunday morning talk show interviews last weekend, Attorney General Eric Holder refused to say the United States is at war with radical Islam.

It was painful to watch the tortured responses by White House and State Department spokesmen yesterday as they tried to explain why the White House will not focus on the threat from radical Islam at next month’s summit.  White House spokeswoman Marie Harf told Fox News this is because “there are people out there who want to kill other people in the name of a variety of causes.”

Adding to this absurdity, the credibility of President Obama and the United States in the war on terror took a major hit by the absence of the president and any senior U.S. official at the Paris rally.

Since President Obama refuses to acknowledge that radical Islam and its dangerous shariah ideology are behind the terrorist attacks in Paris and the atrocities of the Islamic State, next month’s White House summit will be just a photo op that will further diminish American leadership in the war with radical Islam.  Hopefully other world leaders will use the summit to talk some sense into Mr. Obama about the growing threat from radical Islam and how this threat will not be defeated until U.S. officials recognize it and agree to work with Europe and other countries around the world to combat this threat.