Barack Obama: Muslim elders too ‘boring’ to win Isil propaganda war
Islam is not to blame for rise of Islamic State says Barack Obama, arguing people not religion responsible for violence and terrorism
By Peter Foster, Washington
11:27PM GMT 18 Feb 2015
President Barack Obama has warned that Muslim community leaders are in danger of losing the propaganda war with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil) and are often too “boring” to prevent their young people from getting radicalised.
Paying Isil a back-handed compliment for the effectiveness of its gruesome social media outreach campaign, Mr Obama said it was imperative to reach young Muslims and address their social, political and economic grievances in a way that they understood.
“By the way, [to] the older people here – as wise and respected as you may be – your stuff is often boring,” he told a White House summit on combatting the rise of extremism, “compared to what they’re doing. You’re not connected. And as a consequence, you are not connecting.”
Mr Obama it was time to be “honest” that slickly-produced Isil videos of fighting scenes, beheadings other atrocities were succeeding in brainwashing young Muslims.