POLITICS- POLICY_ Islamic State Defeat Hinges on Stable Syria, Obama Says

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Politics and Policy

Islamic State Defeat Hinges on Stable Syria, Obama Says

President claims Assad regime fanned sectarian tensions



President Barack Obama speaks at the Countering Violent Extremism Summit Thursday at the State Department in Washington. Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press

By Carol E. Lee, Felicia Schwartz and Byron Tau
Updated Feb. 19, 2015 1:58 p.m. ET
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WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama suggested Thursday that U.S. and international efforts to degrade and ultimately destroy Islamic State militant group may only be achieved after a political transition in Syria.

Mr. Obama, addressing dignitaries dozens of nations at a White House-sponsored summit on violent extremism, said the civil war in Syria gave rise to Islamic State and charged President Bashar al-Assad with stoking sectarian tensions.

“The Syrian civil war will only end when there is an inclusive political transition and a government that serves Syrians of all ethnicities and religions,” Mr. Obama said.

Mr. Obama also said that the lack of inclusion in Iraq’s previous government helped boost Islamic State militants there. The administration, however, has already succeeded in facilitating a government transition in Iraq, with the replacement last August of Prime Minister Nouri al-Malaki with the current Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

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Mr. Obama called on Muslim leaders across the world to do more to counter extremist views which he said perpetuate the idea that the U.S. and other Western nations are against Islam. It was his second address to the gathering in two days.

“The notion that the West is at war with Islam is an ugly lie,” Mr. Obama said. “Muslim communities, including scholars and clerics, therefore have a responsibility to push back not just on twisted interpretations of Islam, but also on the lie that we are somehow engaged in a clash of civilizations; that America and the West are somehow at war with Islam or seek to suppress Muslims, or that we are the cause of every ill in the Middle East.”

Earlier, Secretary of State John Kerry stressed the global nature of the challenge and said good governance, economic improvement and recognition of other voices would help counter extremism.

“If we let them, their singleness of purpose could actually wind up giving them a comparative advantage,” Mr. Kerry said, describing the singular determination of terrorist groups to wreak havoc and recruit new members. “We have to match their commitment, and we have to leave them with no advantage at all.”

Mr. Kerry also said the U.S. gathering would be the first of many such events, and other international officials said there would be follow-on summits, including a meeting of religious leaders at the United Nations.

Most of Thursday’s programming was closed, including panels on economic opportunity, social media strategy and community interventions. Ministers from more than 60 countries attended events at the State Department, where an open morning session was devoted to what drives people to join terrorist organizations and included comments from foreign ministers and a terrorism researcher.

Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary-general, said improved political and economic environments would be as important as military efforts in combating extremism. “Missiles may kill terrorists, but good governance kills terrorism,” he said.

French and Danish ministers thanked those attending for global support following recent attacks in their countries. Jordan’s minister of foreign affairs, Nasser Judeh, said the Arab world needed to lead efforts to target extremism and those efforts must address its root causes.

“It is all about education, education, education. Opportunity, opportunity, opportunity. Empowerment, empowerment, empowerment,” he said.

Write to Carol E. Lee at carol.lee@wsj.com and Felicia Schwartz at Felicia.Schwartz@wsj.com

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