Obama: US must ‘battle for hearts and minds’ against extremists

President Obama is calling on the international community to expand the fight against violent extremists and their ideology, arguing they cannot be defeated through military power alone.

{mosads}”Our campaign to prevent people around the world from being radicalized to violence is ultimately a battle for hearts and minds,” the president wrote in an op-ed published late Tuesday in the Los Angeles Times.

“We know that military force alone cannot solve this problem. Nor can we simply take out terrorists who kill innocent civilians,” according to Obama. “We also have to confront the violent extremists — the propagandists, recruiters and enablers — who may not directly engage in terrorist acts themselves, but who radicalize, recruit and incite others to do so.”

The piece is likely a preview of a keynote address Obama is set to deliver Wednesday afternoon to the White House summit on countering violent extremism.

Representatives from more than 60 countries are set to attend the three-day conference, which Obama will address again on Thursday.

The administration has come under fire in recent weeks from conservatives who believe the president should state that the U.S. is at war with Islamist radicals, a label Obama has refused to use.

In his op-ed, the president skewered extremist groups like the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Boko Haram, al-Shabaab and the Pakistan Taliban for carrying out attacks around the globe in the name of religion.

“Groups like al Qaeda and ISIL promote a twisted interpretation of religion that is rejected by the overwhelming majority of the world’s Muslims,” Obama said, using the administration’s preferred acronym for ISIS. “The world must continue to lift up the voices of Muslim clerics and scholars who teach the true peaceful nature of Islam.”

He also said the world community “has to offer today’s youth something better.”

Obama touted his administration’s work to degrade terror groups like ISIS and al Qaeda, but noted “the threat has evolved” and cited the deaths of Americans in places like Benghazi, Libya and Boston in recent years.

He highlighted last week’s killing of three Muslim students in Chapel Hill, N.C., saying “we know that many Muslim Americans across our country are worried and afraid.”

“Americans of all faiths and backgrounds must continue to stand united with a community in mourning and insist that no one should ever be targeted because of who they are, what they look like, or how they worship,” the president said.