Back in January and shortly after the Islamic terrorism massacre at Charlie Hebdo in Paris, the White House announced the development of a summit to combat extremism.
"On February 18, 2015, the White House will host a Summit on Countering Violent Extremism to highlight domestic and international efforts to prevent violent extremists and their supporters from radicalizing, recruiting, or inspiring individuals or groups in the United States and abroad to commit acts of violence, efforts made even more imperative in light of recent, tragic attacks in Ottawa, Sydney, and Paris. This summit will build on the strategy the White House released in August of 2011, Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States, the first national strategy to prevent violent extremism domestically," a White House announcement stated at the time. "Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) efforts rely heavily on well-informed and resilient local communities. Boston, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis-St. Paul have taken the lead in building pilot frameworks integrating a range of social service providers, including education administrators, mental health professionals, and religious leaders, with law enforcement agencies to address violent extremism as part of the broader mandate of community safety and crime prevention. The summit will highlight best practices and emerging efforts from these communities."
That summit is finally here and there's one giant thing missing: any mention of Islamic extremism. From AP:
A White House summit this week on countering violent extremism will not focus exclusively on threats from the Islamic State group, senior administration officials said Monday.The Islamic State "isn't Islamic" and the Taliban is no longer a terrorist organization but rather an "armed insurgency."
While the militant group, which has killed several Americans and others, poses a near-term threat, one of three officials previewing the summit Monday said violent extremists "come in all shapes and sizes."
The three-day conference will highlight domestic and international efforts to prevent extremists and their supporters from radicalizing, recruiting and inspiring others, particularly disaffected young people. The conference is designed to share best practices and emerging strategies to prevent extremists from carrying out violent acts.
This summit is nothing short of a worthless, cowardly spectacle as ISIS and other Islamic terrorists continue their brutality and extermination of religious minorities across the world.