United States President Barack Obama while speaking at a White House conference on countering violent extremism and reported by CNN, said his country is not at war with the religion of Islam but those people who have perverted the religion, and called for an effort to prevent “terrorists” from recruiting and inspiring others into joining their groups.
“We should not grant them [the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and al-Qaeda-linked groups] the religious legitimacy that they seek”.
“They propagate the notion that America, and the West generally, is at war with Islam. That is how they recruit, that’s how they radicalise young people,” the president said on Wednesday.
” It is a lie… We are not at war with Islam. We are at war with people who have perverted Islam. No religion is responsible for violence and terrorism. People are responsible,” he said.