We all know that President Barack Obama refuses to use the words “Islamist terrorism.” Now, his administration is trying to prevent other world leaders from using them as well.
According to MRC TV, the White House’s official website deleted a sentence containing the words “Islamist terrorism” from the video of a speech being given by French President Francois Hollande at the White House this week.
The video was originally pulled, and then re-uploaded with the offending translation expunged. Even Hollande’s original French was muted.
“We are also making sure that between Europe and the United States there can be a very high level coordination,” Hollande said in his remarks after a bilateral meeting between Obama and Hollande on Thursday.
“But we’re also well aware that the roots of terrorism, Islamist terrorism, is in Syria and in Iraq. We therefore have to act both in Syria and in Iraq, and this is what we’re doing within the framework of the coalition. And we note that Daesh is losing ground thanks to the strikes we’ve been able to launch with the coalition.
“We are continuing to support Iraq. This is also a decision we have taken, supporting the Iraqi government and making sure that they can claim back their entire territory, including Mosul.”
Note the bolded text. As you may be able to tell, that was bleeped out of the video, even though it was on the White House’s website:
I’m guessing the White House isn’t confident that the people they’re trying not to offend can read. That’s very seldom a good sign.
Sadly, the censorship of Hollande’s use of the words “Islamist terrorism” wasn’t the only example of pusillanimity during the joint press conference. The French president devoted most of his remarks to addressing the chaos in the Middle East and defeating terrorism in Syria, Libya, and the West.
While Obama made some references to discussions on the “necessity to be more effective in transatlantic exchanges of information” and “strategic decisions that have to be made” in regards to the Islamic State group (he is still, by the way, calling it ISIL), most of his remarks were used to encourage Europe to take in more migrants, to talk about how the “enormous strains on European unity” caused by the migrant crisis were affecting the United States, and to congratulate President Hollande on his role in the Paris climate change talks.
You can watch the video here:
Needless to say, the censorial decision caused plenty of exasperated consternation on social media.
@SteveGuest @CrazyHanSolo @DailyCaller The most transparent adminstration ever, eh?
— Jeff Godwin (@JeffGodwin) April 1, 2016
As well it should. It’s bad enough that President Obama isn’t willing to even address the problem head on. Now he wants to make sure that other people don’t do it, as well?
Barack Obama cannot lead on terrorism if he won’t even say what the root cause of it is. It’s time for a real leader.
H/T Allen West
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