Posted: 02/18/2015 at 11:09am | IP Logged

White House 'Terrorism' Summit Missing the Point?

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CBN News

The White House has convened a three-day summit on terrorism, but you won't hear the words, "Islamic terror" mentioned.

The meeting convenes just days after the gruesome beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya, and at a time when the Islamic State's reign of terror is spreading.

An unconfirmed report suggests ISIS fighters burned 45 people to death in the Iraqi town of Al-Baghdadi, a city that was captured by the Islamic State last week. The town is near an air base where American Marines are stationed.

Obama administration critics are voicing concerns about the summit and the administration's response to the ISIS crisis. Some say the president has refused to call ISIS what it is: an Islamic terrorist organization motivated by the Quran to kill Christians, Jews, and others.

Also, there is criticism of summit word choices. Instead of calling it a summit on Islamic terror, the administration said the summit's focus is on "countering violent extremism."

State Department deputy spokesman Marie Harf was ridiculed after she made a statement on MSNBC where she told "Hardball" host Chris Mathews, "We cannot kill our way out of this war.... We need in the medium-to-longer term to go after the root causes that leads people to join these groups, whether it's a lack of opportunity for jobs ..."

And several Republicans on Capitol Hill have expressed concern over the president's Middle East immigration policy. The president plans to allow thousands of Syrian refugees into the country.

Members of the House Homeland Security Committee say that raises serious security concerns because many of the Syrians allowed in could be terrorists. They say the government lacks the resources to fully investigate the background of Syrian refugees.

Meanwhile, the FBI continues to investigate the possible identity of the masked ISIS leader who appeared in the Egyptian Christian beheading video.

In the video he is heard saying, "Today we are on the south of Rome...all praise be to Allah."

Intelligence officials are analyzing his face and speech patterns.

Professor Eric Thomas, with North Carolina State University, said his accent would suggest that he's from North America.

"He says south instead of southe, so he's not from Canada," Thomas explained. "I think he sounds pretty American."

The masked leader is perhaps just one of thousands of Westerners and others who have now joined ISIS in its reign of global terror.

Source: CBN News