Which Extremists Will Obama Target Next?

posted on: Feb 17, 2015

This Wednesday, I’ll be attending a White House summit on violent extremism. Yes, we need to talk about Islam—but a lot more besides.
Will Wednesday’s White House “Summit on Countering Violent Extremism” focus just on Muslims? Or will the summit look at combatting extremist violence of all types including those related to white supremacists, “Patriot groups,” and even violence that is Christian inspired? If we truly want to save American lives, it needs to be the latter.

I will be attending the summit. In advance of this event, I spoke to several Muslim American leaders about their views of and concerns with it. The responses ranged from some having strong fears that it could further the false but often heard narrative that terrorism is committed only by Muslims. Others, however, unreservedly welcomed this summit as an opportunity to partner with the government to counter radicals.

There is agreement among all the Muslims leaders I reached out to that countering the radicalization of Muslims in the United States and abroad, together with the threats posed by ISIS and al Qaeda, must be addressed. Not only are innocent people being slaughtered by these groups in the name of our faith, but a poll released just last week alarmingly found that 27 percent of Americans believe that ISIS accurately represents Islam. 

Source: www.thedailybeast.com