Remarks at the World Economic Forum
John
Kerry. Secretary of State
Davos,
Switzerland January 23, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY:
Good afternoon, everybody. Klaus, thank you very, very much for not just a
very generous introduction, but thank you for your extraordinary leadership
here for so many years. I have enjoyed taking part and coming here for a
great one-stop shop, and I thank you for this institution.
And before I begin, I want to
take a moment to say how I think all of us were saddened to hear the news
that King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia had died. I am here today to talk about countering violent extremism, and
King Abdullah had a long history of being a brave partner with us and with
the world in his work, not just in counterterrorism, but in his work on
interfaith understanding. I remember as a young senator meeting with him and
listening to him and being encouraged by his commitment to putting together
an interfaith conference and efforts to bring people together to create
better understanding. And he saw that as a tool against extremism, and
recently through his very strong endorsements of the anti-Daesh coalition in
Jeddah, which has been a key to building the broad coalition that we have
today, he’s made a special contribution.
I was privileged to spend many
hours with the king as a senator and particularly over the last two years. I
saw him two months ago; he was obviously not well, but he was courageous, a
great sense of humor even in the midst of all the crises. And the people of
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and we will miss his wisdom, his partnership, and
his friendship.
I also listened carefully to the
introduction of – by Klaus, and he indicated to me privately in the room just
before we came out here that there’s obviously much on all of your minds. It is a moment of turmoil, a moment of
upheaval – the world in transition. I, nevertheless, remain very
optimistic about the possibilities. And I’ll share a few thoughts about that
today. But we have to understand what
we’re facing.
Six weeks ago, a 14-year-old Nigerian girl was discovered in a
crowded marketplace in Kano. She had explosives strapped to her body. But
unlike a pair of companions, she had refused to pull the tab, saving herself
and others. Two weeks later, a teenage boy approached a Shiite mosque in
Baghdad. And unbuttoning his jacket, he told the guards, “I’m wearing a
suicide vest, but I don’t want to blow myself up.” Last November, a young man
defected from al-Shabaab because he was no longer wanting any part of it – as
he put it, “a bunch of heavily-armed sociopathic militants.” He said they
promised him money, a bungalow, and paradise. And instead, he said, “I had no
life, no family, no future.”
Well, ladies and gentlemen, those three examples represent just about
the basic – most basic choice there is: between death and life, between
destroying and building. And it ought to be an easy choice. And yet in Nigeria
last month, a Boko Haram video showed thugs shooting defenseless people on
the ground, with the narrator saying, “From now on, killing, slaughtering,
destruction, and bombings will be our religious duty.”
On December 16th in Peshawar, Pakistan, authorities intercepted a
radio message between a gunman and his boss. Quote: “We have killed all the
children in the auditorium. What do we do next?” The answer: “Wait for the
army to arrive. Kill them, then blow yourself up.”
A few weeks earlier, before pulling out of a town in Somalia,
al-Shabaab buried a young woman up to her neck, and then they smashed her
head with rocks.
In Syria and Iraq, Daesh sells little girls into slavery.
And it seems like every day I’m asked by people, “What makes someone
decide to do some of these things? Why does someone decide to join a group
like Daesh? Why would anyone leave their home and loved ones to fight for
such a collection of monsters?”
Well, the fact is there are a lot of explanations. Some say
it’s because of long-held cultural grievances – a sense that a person’s creed
or clan is under attack or has been disrespected or treated unjustly. Many
point to the inclination to see the world in black and white terms and
believe that they alone possess the truth. Others are lured by basic,
material considerations – the promise of regular meals, a paycheck, the
chance to plunder and loot. And then there are the mundane and personal
choices: to escape boredom, go where the action is; be lured by a false sense
of success; perhaps trade anonymity for notoriety, at least for a few hours,
on the internet. In many cases, it’s almost certainly a combination of these
inputs.
But one thing is clear: If we’re going to successfully combat violent
extremism, we better understand all of the factors, because we can’t change
minds without knowing what’s in them.
And we have to do so mindful of the fact that understanding and
acceptance are not the same.
When I was in Pakistan last week
and I had intended to go out to the school to pay tribute to those kids and
their families but we were unable to fly because of the weather, Pakistani
officials instead showed me time-stamped photos of the sequence of the
military school’s assembly hall before and after the December 16th assault.
And at first, I looked and I saw this picture of an auditorium with school
kids all dressed in their smart uniforms, sitting there attentive, their
faces filled with the joy of listening and watching. And minutes later, the
scene changed horribly from a learning center into a killing chamber. There
was blood everywhere, broken eyeglasses, scattered textbooks, torn jackets,
small lifeless bodies piled on each other, sprawled across a chair on the
floor. And on that day, the school’s principal, having already been escorted
to safety, returned to try and save her students. And when she was challenged
by the assassins, she pointed to the children saying: “I am their mother.”
Her last words.
So let me be clear: There are no grounds of history,
religion, ideology, grievance, psychology, politics, economic disadvantage,
or personal ambition that will ever justify the murder of children, the
kidnapping and the rape of teenage girls, or the slaughter of unarmed
civilians, whether for ideology or for some false religious assertion – none.
[unless we declare
war…then such deaths as collateral damage is acceptable.] And no matter the input –
(applause). (Inaudible). (Laughter.) No matter the input, this kind of
atrocity can really never be rationalized; these kinds of actions can never
be excused; and they have to be opposed with every fiber of our being. They
have to be stopped. [Even if
we have to wage war to do it?]
And while obviously there are many international priorities that demand our
attention, I never imagined the number of simultaneous crises that we might
possibly be able to face, which we are [NOT], by the way, I believe, managing far more
effectively – Ukraine, other things – than people are prone to automatically
see. But we can’t shy away from this
reality that terror networks in some places are operating with near impunity,
and imminent danger in others, and a potential threat everywhere. And a few
of these networks, such as Daesh and Boko Haram, are attempting to govern
land. That’s a first-time event in
this transition to these terror groups. And they’re looking to expand. And greatly adding to the risk of the
so-called – are the so-called lone wolves and copy cats. And it seems that
terrorists are now competing with each other for recruits and perpetrating
evermore macabre crimes.
[wait until they get their hands on nukes, biological weapons, drones, cyber
skills, or genetically targetable viruses…]
Now need I remind you the 20th century was defined by the civilized
world’s struggle to develop the rule of law as an alternative to chaos,
disorder, and dictatorship. [because the primary US organization that was doing it -- gave it up
after 9-11]. And today we are witnessing nothing more
than a form of criminal anarchy, a nihilism which illegitimately claims an
ideological and religious foundation. [But instead of
dealing with them as criminals, we decided to wage war against them giving
them a warrior status]. Against
this enemy, we are increasingly organizing and fighting back, but in doing so
we have to also keep our heads. Obviously, the biggest error that we could
make would be to blame Muslims collectively for crimes not committed by
Muslims alone – crimes that the overwhelming majority of Muslims oppose,
crimes that their faith utterly rejects, and that Muslim leaders themselves
have the greatest ability to address. [But waging war unfortunately
may result in the deaths of some of those Muslims as Collateral damage. Sorry!
Our bad. Couldn’t be avoided
without risking more of our own lives.]
Religions don’t require adherence
to raze villages and blow up people. [War does that for them]. It’s individuals with a distorted
and an even ignorant interpretation of religion [and the rule of law] who do that, abetted by
networks [and nations with
volunteer armies] of individuals who have a different agenda and who
incite and finance those actions. And we will certainly not defeat our foes
by vilifying potential partners [Iran, Pakistan, Israel,…] or by suppressing the very freedoms
that terrorists try to destroy. Unless we direct our energies in the right
direction, we may very well fuel the very fires that we want to put out. [as we have done so far by waging
war instead of law.]
So what should we do? [Try something different than
war?] Well, the first step is to make clear that the civilized world
will not cower in the face of this violence. Violent extremism has claimed
lives in every corner of the globe, and Muslim lives most of all. We are each
threatened, regardless of faith, ethnicity, homeland, or tribe, and so it is
imperative that we each – all of us – respond. There’s no room for sectarian
division; there’s no room for anti-Semitism or Islamophobia; and no way
forward except to demonstrate to the terrorists that every time they try to
divide us, they strengthen our resolve. Like the million souls that last week
spoke with a single voice in the streets of Paris, we must act as one.
And the place to begin is quite
simply by defeating Daesh. [With
war. ] Why? Because they are better armed, better trained, better
funded, and have been more able to hold onto territory than any other
terrorist group in history; because they directly threaten the peace and
stability not of one group in Iraq, but of every single country in the
region; and because they have further overtly threatened to take their threat
around the globe and are working to do so. [Because we just aren’t willing to commit to the global
rule of law just yet]. This is a threat to the entire structure that
we have worked so hard to put in place since the end of World War II. [where national sovereignty
reigns supreme over human rights]. It’s a threat to nation-states. [It’s not such a serious problem
threatening poor people in Africa, Iraq, Syria or Palestine.] It is a
threat to rule of law.
[Because some nations like ours just refuse to give up the right to wage war
when our special interests are at stake.]
And freeing Iraq from its ruthless occupiers is the critical,
crucial first turning point.
[in preserving our access to cheap oil].
Now just four months ago, Daesh
was trumpeting plans for seizing Baghdad. To many, they seemed unstoppable.
You remember those days only a few days ago? Some media reports frantically
predicting that Iraq might fall and Daesh was about the drag the entire
Middle East back into the Dark Ages. But then two things happened, and not by
accident. In Iraq, a new government was assembled that is intent on reform.
Iraqis themselves came together, determined to move to a different future,
determined to earn the confidence of all of their citizens. [at least I dreamed these
things] And you just heard from
Prime Minister Abadi who we met with yesterday in London.
And second, we forged together –
all of us – an international coalition, 60-plus members strong now, with a
mandate to disrupt, degrade, and ultimately defeat Daesh. [via war] President Obama
and the United States are proud to say we’re deeply involved in leading both
of those developments, but we acted in partnership every step of the way with
our Arab friends, European allies, [military industrial complex] and others from across the globe [who continue to believe that war
is the path to peace].
And since September, our
coalition has pursued a carefully crafted, comprehensive strategy to weaken
Daesh on multiple fronts.
We have launched some 2,000 air strikes, disrupted Daesh’s command structure,
undermined its propaganda, squeezed its financing, damaged its supply
networks, dispersed personnel, forced them to change tactics. [Someday we hope to do the things
that will kill their ideology but right now we prefer waging war that only
feeds it].
Today in much of Iraq, Daesh’s
momentum has dissipated. [as
they regroup, wait for more recruits and new weapons]. And with coalition support, Iraqi forces
have retaken Mosul and Haditha dams. They have retaken territory near the
city of Tikrit. And in Syria, Daesh has seen its command facilities attacked,
its oil infrastructure damaged, and its siege of Kobani blocked. No large
Daesh unit can [overtly] move
forward aggressively without worrying what will come down from the skies now.
And progress also continues in
the political arena. Yesterday at this coalition meeting we held in Paris,
Iraqi Prime Minister Abadi described the steps that his team is taking – I
know he described some of them to you today – to bring the country together.
Reform efforts have been launched in the judicial and other sectors. After
years of delay, Baghdad and the Kurdish region have finally reached an accord
on oil. The Iraqi Army is becoming more inclusive and professional. Iraq is
strengthening ties to its neighbors, who are reciprocating with open arms and
helping hands – yet another warning sign for Daesh.
But yes, we need to be cautious –
and we are. Even while the changes are taking place in Iraq – and those changes
are unmistakable – they are not yet irreversible. And there is much yet to be
done. And even though we have slowed Daesh’s momentum and pushed it back in
some areas, we’re not satisfied yet with the pace of our progress. And
General John Allen and his team are visiting regularly. We’re starting
training in a matter of days at three additional sites and we are already
training in Iraq itself and it is making a difference. But to succeed, the
Iraqi Government must enhance and expedite its outreach to Sunni communities,
the coalition must remain united, and the world must see Daesh for what it
is, not for what it claims to be.
Daesh pretends to be presiding
over a paradise for Muslims,
[as we pretend to be supporting the global rule of law] the self-declared
new caliphate [vs our
self-declared coalition]. But in fact, the areas under its control are
languishing. [as our is in
Yemen, Syria, Nigeria, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon…] In many places, there
are shortages of clean water and insufficient supplies of food and medicine. [but we ignore most of them unless
they are in oil rich areas] In
Mosul, militants have seen their pay slashed by 75 percent. Fighters trying
to defect have been executed. Children are forced to witness and even
participate in the torture of prisoners. [Even worse torture than we do] Teenagers have been crucified. All
of which emphasizes the degree to which Daesh is guilty of shamelessly
deceptive advertising: [unlike
our capitalist corporations] the
advertising about its path to paradise, like that promised by al-Qaida, Boko
Haram, al-Shabaab and similar groups, is in fact a road to nowhere [just like unregulated
capitalism].
But our challenge, the one I want
to talk about today, is in fact bigger than just Daesh. And I want to talk
about it with this audience because all of you are opinion leaders and all of
you need to help make choices in order to do what we need to do to turn the
corner. In the weeks to come, we have to not only continue moving ahead with
urgency to eliminate Daesh as a threat to international security, but we also
have to strengthen Somalia, intensify our effort to defend [defeat?] violence in
Nigeria, which I will go to in a couple of days, and strike at the tentacles
of al-Qaida in Yemen,
[before they own the country] the Maghreb, and wherever else they
appear [unless they are in
the US…then we wage law…not war]. There
is nowhere that you can leave as an ungoverned space with this crowd, and
believe me, there is nothing to negotiate. [just like on Capitol Hill in the US]. These are the front line battles
I’ve just listed, and they require that we not waver in our solidarity or our
courage [unless American
lives are at risk].
Eliminating the terrorists who confront us today actually only solves
part of the problem. We have to do more to avoid an endless cycle of violent
extremism, a resupplying on a constant basis. We have to transform the very
environment from which these movements emerge. [That’s where the enforcement of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights’ can help…and we are at least thinking about
it] And that’s why we are
committed to enlarging our strategy in ways that respond effectively to the
underlying causes, as well as the visible symptoms of violent extremism.
That’s why we’re developing an approach that extends far beyond the short
term, and which cannot be limited to the Middle East or to any other region.
We need – all of us – to take
these steps so that a decade or two in the future, when the economic forum
meets and you hear from leaders, they’re not standing up here responding to a
new list of acronyms to the same concept, but different players. We cannot
have our successors come back here to face the same questions and the same
challenge. The terror groups may have those different acronyms in the future
and they may be targeting different countries, but if we don’t do what is required now, then I guarantee you the
fundamental conflict will either stay the same or get worse.
As my counterparts in the Gulf
states and North Africa have told me over and over again in graphic anecdotes
– and by the way, in South Central Asia and in East Asia and elsewhere – they
tell me that the terrorist leaders are
planning for the long term. They tell me about how they grab these young
kids, pay them a little bit, get into their heads, then they don’t have to
pay them. Then they become the acolytes and they go out because they’re
brainwashing the very young. They are creating networks flexible enough to
survive even after commanders are eliminated and operational centers are
crushed. And they see themselves as ready to fight to the death.
So let me tell you in response, we need a commitment for the long term.
We have to take more risks.
[with your soldiers] We have to invest more resources. [in our military because foreign
aid is considered humanitarian rat hole filler] We need a global partnership that legitimately implements this
broader strategy, and that is why President Obama is hosting a summit in
Washington at the White House on the 18th of February in order to exchange
ideas and galvanize support for what is needed on the road ahead.
[its unfortunate CGS is in such a quandary regarding their survival
and fearful of saying what really needs to be said].
Now inevitably there will be,
yes, a military component to the strategy. [Can we limit it to swat teams capturing suspects for
trial and killing ONLY those who resist?] You have to be ready to
defend yourself and take the fight to wanton killers of innocent people who
give no quarter. As President Obama emphasized last May in his speech at West
Point, we must – and we will – work constantly to improve the
counterterrorism capabilities of our local partners. But ultimately, this fight is not going to be decided on the
battlefield. The outcome is going to be determined in classrooms, work
places, houses of worship, community centers, urban street corners, in the
perceptions and the thoughts of individuals, and the ways in which those
perceptions are created.
It will be determined by our success in creating prosperity that is
widely shared. Measures of growing GDP will only matter if they translate
into greater opportunity for those currently denied a fair chance. Just go
back and look at the story of that Tunisian fruit vendor who started what
happened in Tunisia when he got slapped around by the police and rebelled
against the corruption and felt he had nowhere else to go but
self-immolation. This future will be determined by accountable and accessible
political and justice systems, so that people everywhere feel they can be
protected by the government – not fear it – and that they can express
themselves and have their voices heard.
In short, we have to do a better job of creating alternatives to
violent extremism – alternatives that are as credible, as visible, as empowering,
and broadly available as we can make them. Start with the basic issue of
governance – obviously not the most exciting topic, and no one’s going to
spend millions of dollars to make a movie about the delivery of social
services or tax policy or judicial reform, and the effectiveness of a
parliament. [Ask David
Lionel…he can do it for a small price] But exciting or not, we have learned the hard way that ungoverned or
barely governed spaces on the world map are an open door to chaos and to
disorder that breeds terrorism.
Chaos in Afghanistan [after Charlie Wilson’s war and US
congressional refusal to fund education there] created an opening for
the Taliban which, in turn, provided a home to al-Qaida. In Somalia, [after we bugged out of there
after losing about two dozen soldiers] anarchy provided a vacuum that
al-Shabaab tried to fill. In Nigeria, Boko Haram has taken advantage of the
government’s inability to secure its territory and provide for its people. In
Syria, Daesh wouldn’t exist if a so-called president wasn’t respected – was
respected instead of reviled; if he wasn’t attracting terrorists for the
purpose of his removal. In the Central African Republic, the government was
too weak to prevent horrible violence between Christian and Muslim gangs. In
Libya, Ansar al-Sharia is both a product of the government’s demise and a
cause of it. And in Yemen, governance has been challenged by an
al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist organization that has launched attacks inside
and outside of the country, by a secessionist movement in the south, and most
recently by a rebel group in the north that has now spread across the country
and challenged the sovereignty of the
entire state. [That’s
where we draw the line. Protecting
that sovereignty…but only if the nation is on our side.]
And to understand better how this vicious cycle is perpetuated, let
me offer an illustration. A few weeks ago, one of my assistant secretaries
shared with me a conversation that he had with members of a minority group in
a country that has been hard hit by terror. The diplomat asked their opinion
of the extremists and they all expressed disgust. They all wanted them gone.
But when asked whether they would report a terrorist recruiter to the police,
every single one of them said no, because they were afraid the terrorist
would bribe his way out of prison and come back and kill them. They worried,
as well, that they would be arrested and also therefore forced to pay bribes.
For them, silence seemed the only choice. And for us, it should be obvious:
that circle of paralysis is destructive and dangerous. [even in our own legislative process and
unlimited financing of campaigns.]
The hard truth is that too many people in too many places see
themselves as trapped in a world where, as they told my assistant secretary,
“The terrorists bully
us; the police rob us; the government ignores us; and the West doesn’t see us
or wants to kill us.” Now whether or not these perceptions are accurate, they
exist – and that is a challenge for all of us [but we are grand at ignoring such challenges as long
as we can keep our national sovereignty].
Despite the huge investments that we have made in fighting terrorism
militarily and [the
pittance] through law enforcement, we need to do more to prevent the
list of embattled countries from growing. We should begin by identifying the
zones of greatest vulnerability, the places that have not yet descended into
chaos – places where governing institutions are weak, grievances are few, and
the potential for terrorist infiltration is high. [like on the Moon or Mars?] These may be near current hot spots [the Sun], the Horn of
Africa, segments of the Swahili coast, the area around Lake Chad, and certain
parts of the greater Middle East or parts of south central – there are plenty
of places to identify. And we then
need to tailor our efforts to meet the specific needs that we have
identified. [cause we really
don’t care what the real needs are. That
might cost too much money] For example, teach minority groups in their
own language; train young people in marketable skills; prevent radicalization
inside prison walls; encourage police and judicial systems to actually treat
people fairly [except in Ferguson
MO]; and address the feelings of alienation and exclusion. And given
the scope of the challenge, a few modest programs here and there obviously
are not going to get the job done by themselves. And quite frankly,
government resources alone will not be enough. [Because we are already tapped out spending on old
people and new weapons systems]. We all know that massive private
funding goes to the extremist groups. [like the Tea Party and the Wall Street traders].
In one of our significant lines of effort – we have about nine, five
to nine major lines of effort that we are working on in our coalition
strategy. One of them is stopping the financing [of terrorists…not US political campaigns]; one
is stopping the foreign fighters [if they are threatening US troops]; one is obviously the
military efforts [in every
country]; another is humanitarian [when we have spare change]. But one of them,
significantly, is to do the work of countering these extremist groups –
enlisting mullahs, imams, clerics, grand muftis, people all around the world
to come together and to speak out as the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia did
recently when he said that Daesh is an order of Satan. That’s what the street
has to hear, and that’s what we need to work at.
But we need to put resources into helping to build the enterprises
that can counter these extremists. And using many of the same mechanisms that
we use to deal now with global challenges like disease and famine, Ebola,
AIDS, poverty – we need to start funneling more into the fight against
violent extremism and the organizations that are leading this effort. The
bottom line is we need everyone involved – governments, foundations,
philanthropists, NGOs, corporations, faith leaders, the private sector. And
that’s what we’re going to talk about at the White House on February 18th.
But our collective security, and through it – I mean, this collective
security is not divorced from everything that every single one of you is
trying to do, because the collective security brings you the stability that
allows our economies to grow and to flourish, that allows innovation to take
place and education to take place. And what we have to do is recognize that
we have to bring this together into a holistic strategy, and it depends on
all of us stepping up to deal with it. No one is divorced from this.
So let me tell you, historically
– this is important – when we have believed we need to do something, we found
the money. We did it. We found the resolve. We made things happen. Almost 75
years ago – we’ll celebrate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II –
when the United States and our allies made stopping fascism a priority, we
found the $3.6 trillion to pay for it. In the decade-plus since we went to
war in Iraq, we found the several trillion to pay for it, too. And let me
just note: Imagine the difference it would have made if instead of spending
trillions on a war we didn’t have to fight, we had invested that money in one
that we do have to.[like a
symbolic war against waging war].
Just yesterday, the European
Central Bank announced they have plans to purchase more than a trillion
dollars’ worth of public and private sector bonds as stimulus. They perceived
a clear need to combat inflation and stagnation, and so they found the money.
Leader after leader in country after country has said that fighting the
scourge of violent extremism is a global priority. Well, let’s prove it. We have to get serious about investing in
the things that really make a difference. And make no mistake: If we don’t
make those investments today, we will pay far more for it down the road. As
extremists assert their reign of terror wider and broader, more violently,
remember the stakes.
In recent years, the Taliban attacked more than 1,000 schools,
denying people education. Is that the future? Are we content to allow that to
happen somewhere? Does that make a difference to all of us, or doesn’t it?
Boko Haram’s principal tactics are to butcher teachers, kill boys, and kidnap
girls. In all of the areas under its control, Daesh has shut down classrooms,
entire societies have been disrupted – countless opportunities lost for young
men and women who deserve the chance to pursue their dreams. Just imagine
what the threat level would be and what life would be like if we do not choose
to do what is required of us now.
Pakistan’s Malala, who was shot in a school bus, says that her most
ardent wish is for the children of her attackers – boys and girls – to get a
real education. And one of the major sources of hope in Afghanistan today is
that millions of girls who once were denied schooling – in 2001, when we went
in, there were about less than a million kids in school in Afghanistan, and
almost none of them girls – today, there are more than 7 million and about
40, 45 percent of them are girls.
But still there exists a large and growing gap between the multiple
of people entering the workforce and the availability of jobs in key regions.
Already, the global youth unemployment rate is at a record level, above 12
percent on average, but much higher in developing lands and in near-failing
states. In some countries – and I hate to say this, but including in Europe –
as many as 60 percent of young people are both out of school and without
regular jobs. Each one of these men and women, my friends, is a story that
will end either in frustration or opportunity. And the outcome of the race
between hope denied and hope fulfilled will be one of the most significant
factors to shape the world that we will live in and that our children will
inherit.
So we need to do much more in the areas of vocational education,
training in modern technology, ensuring the workforce the participation of
women and minorities, and no one here can tell me when you look around the
world, much of which is living on less than two dollars and even one dollar a
day, that there aren’t schools to be built, roads to be built, hospitals to
be developed, and children to be educated. And there is an amazing amount of
money to be made and work to be done in the doing of that enterprise.
Economists tell us that a 50 percent cut in youth unemployment would increase
global economic output by $3 trillion. It would also sharply reduce the
pressure on young people to pursue socially destructive options, including
terrorism in some cases, and crime.
It has now been more than 20
years since the first World Trade Center bombing and more than 13 since 9/11.
In the time since, we have seen acts of terrorism from Madrid to Mogadishu,
Bali to Boston, London to Mumbai, Algeria to Jerusalem, and many, many points
in between. [and we just
keep waging war like its finally going to work].
And we have responded with
determination [ignorance,
stupidity, hardheadedness] and guts. Thousands of military personnel
and police from dozens of countries have paid the ultimate sacrifice already
in this confrontation [using
war]. Intelligence and security officials work around the clock in
order to keep us safe. [by
eliminating any level of privacy].
In the battle of ideas, President Obama, the late King Abdullah of Saudi
Arabia, King Abdullah of Jordan, Pope Francis, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon,
Ayatollah Sistani, many others have tried to point the way. Working with
international partners we have already taken some important steps, yes. We’ve
created a Global Counterterrorism Forum and established a Fund on Community
Engagement to develop local solutions. In Abu Dhabi, thanks to the Emiratis,
there is an International Center for Excellence in Countering Violent
Extremism, and it is engaged in training and dialogue and research. There are
many other initiatives. But we have yet to fully implement all of the tools
available to us to win this battle. [The only thing we haven’t
tried is the global rule of law putting human rights above national
soverighty].
And at the beginning of my
remarks, I mentioned two 14 year olds – a Syrian boy and a Nigerian girl –
two children who, when faced with the starkest choice imaginable, bravely and
thankfully chose life. [too
bad we don’t have the courage to choose life and abandon war]
It’s pretty simple: [yes. Go on]
We face choices of our own every day. We can continue along the
road [to war and oblivion] that
we have been traveling or shift gears onto a path that will demand more from
us militarily [in the form
of swat teams], politically [in the form of democracy and protection of human rights],
economically [investments in
human capital], and socially [laws that are just]. We
can sit back and we can assure ourselves that somehow it may not touch us –
you, wherever you are – that the threat of violent extremism is somehow
hopefully containable – you can think that, if you want – or we can go
forward with a truly comprehensive
and long-term strategy to destroy its very roots. And in the doing so, make far better for far more people in far more
places than we are prepared to today. [why didn’t we think of that?]
So in making this choice, we
might reflect on the claim that some have made in recent years, especially
due to events in the Middle East, that the entire international system is
somehow unraveling. My own view, my friends, is very different. In the course
of my travels, I don’t see an unraveling; I see just the opposite. [cause I have body guards,
lifelong pension and health care… and the US military at my back]
I see nations working together to
negotiate new and far-reaching trade pacts, to bring an end to the Ebola
epidemic; to seek a peaceful resolution to the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear
program; [we just need to
bomb the into submission if the murderious sanctions don’t work] to
restore peace based on law in Ukraine and having come together around
sanctions and held together and made a difference; to reach an ambitious,
global [enforceable] agreement
to address climate change with a recent agreement between China and the
United States that begins to set the targets to try to make the Paris
negotiations this year a success; with efforts to curb the strife that
plagues the Central African Republic, Colombia, and the Democratic Republic
of Congo and other places.
I see countries sharing ideas
about the post-2015 Millennium Development Goals, determined to move beyond
the impressive gains that we have made already [but never really meet the actual goals]. We
are making progress in reducing extreme poverty. We know the tools that work [we just don’t want to fund them],
and we’ve learned a lot of those that don’t [but will continue to fund them because they have
connections on capital hill]. We’re
expanding access to primary education, increasing life expectancies, fighting
back against HIV and AIDS, improving maternal health, aiding child nutrition,
and growing the middle class in countries that have through history never
enjoyed even a glimmer of prosperity.
And while I have focused at
length purposefully today on the very real threats that violent extremism
poses to us, the truth of the matter is that we have faced even more
significant threats in the past – and we have prevailed. Statistics show that
even with these increased acts of terror, a smaller percentage of people
today are dying violent deaths than at any point in modern history. [That could change with one
biological weapon or limited nuclear exchange but we feel lucky]
But one of the principle reasons
we are achieving this progress is because we’ve never been content to settle
for the status quo [except
for national sovereignty]. We are where we are because we, especially
this group here, are builders
[of weapons not laws]. We’re the descendants of innovators and doers
who survived slavery, plagues, global conflicts, depressions, fascism,
totalitarianism, and the Holocaust. We are the inheritors of an activist
tradition that is utterly unafraid of great challenges [at influencing government for
ourselves] and, in fact, is most effective when we are put to the
test.
So now, it’s our turn. The rise of violent extremism is a challenge
to the nation state and the global rule of law [if it really existed] . And the forces that
contribute to it and the dangers that flow from it compel us to prepare and
plan, to unite, and to insist that our collective future will be
uncompromised by the primitive and paranoid ideas of terrorists, but instead
it will be built by the universal values of decency and civility, and
knowledge and reason and law.
[Someday…we hope].
That is what we stand for. [not what we do or spend money
on]. That is where we stand. [and refuse to go no further].
And with the images of Paris and Peshawar fresh in our hearts, no one should
doubt that we are going to stand together [and continue to ignore human rights violations in
Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Israel/Palestine, North Korea, Fergeson MO…].
Thank you all very, very much. (Applause.)
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